Why do backyard gardeners even bother? We plant seeds that don’t sprout. When and if they do, the rabbits, deer or groundhogs decimate the young plants. If they don’t, we have a late frost or a hot, dry summer that will. And if somehow the gardener dodges all those bullets, invasive insects put the nail in the coffin.
Last week, my wife Nancy went out to check on her pepper plants and three of them had been leveled, almost overnight. Upon close inspection, she found the culprit. It was a huge, green caterpillar, still in the act.
Since the worm was close to our milkweed plant, we didn’t want to destroy it in case it was a monarch butterfly caterpillar. But it wasn’t.
Upon further review, we determined the thieving insect to be a tomato hornworm, one of the most destructive critters a backyard gardener ever faces.
These common pests will lay waste to tomato, potato, pepper and eggplants. They will even eat tobacco leaves. The tomato hornworms eat it all – leaves, stems and fruit.
At three- to four-inches, the tomato hornworm is one of the largest caterpillars you’ll find in the garden. When they pupate, they become four- to five-inch, heavy bodied moths. I have seen them occasionally on the side of our home at night. If I see any more, I’ll give them a good swat.
Since the hornworms are so large, they can be controlled simply by picking them off the vines. A tale-tell sign that they are around is dark droppings on the leaves of the plant.
A pesticide such as Sevin Dust or Safer Garden Dust will discourage the destructive worms. Roto-tilling after the growing season is also an effective way to control these pests.
By the way, not all caterpillars are destructive. If you come across one that has a parasitic wasp cocoon attached, leave it alone. Collect them and allow them to eat unwanted or volunteer tomatoes until the wasps hatch inside. The wasps represent an army of predators itching to go to work and destroy many of your garden’s enemies.