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Wednesday 1 August 2012

What The Heck Is This!

I sauntered over to my garden to look for the first ripe tomato and I find this! ~


Caterpillar:  Who...are...you?
Me:  Why I hardly know sir.  I've changed so much since this morning, you see...
Caterpillar:  No, I do not C.  Explain yourself!

Okay, maybe it wasn't blue, puffing on a hookah and talking to me, but it was freaky!

This, was merrily munching away on my tomato plant. ~





It was 4" long!  Like any good blogger, I grabbed my camera and started snapping, even though my shuddering made it hard to hold still.

I wasn't touching that thing, so I snapped the hole branch off. ~


The minute it lifted it's head and looked at me, I knew it would ask me all kinds of crazy questions and start yelling, so I threw the whole thing away!

A little Google effort and I find out this is a Tomato Hornworm and it will devastate your tomato crop in no time.  It will also blow smoke in your face and act verrrry mean!

I found a blog with some great info on dealing with this thing, Tammy's Recipes.  You might want to pay her a visit if you spot any in your garden.

Have a day where nothing creeps you out!

20 comments:

  1. you are funny! just gotta make a bit of room for the bugs of the world!

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  2. Ew GROSS!!! I wish you had come to get me...I would have liked to have snapped some disgusting photos of this devastating worm! Yuck! xo wendy

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  3. We had these in spades last year and lost all of our cherry tomatoes to them. It was the first time I had seen them. This year I have been going out every morning to squish them in their tiny caterpillar phase (Dino calls me the grim reaper). They are insatiable and it's crazy how much damage they can do. Plus, the ones we had were the exact green colour of the tomato stem. This year I've found the little guys on lettuce and kale (before the tomatoes were put in I guess). Good luck. Grab some gardening gloves and start squishing. :)

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  4. ugh. I don't blame you for not touching that thing. makes me not want to garden at all.

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  5. I cut them in half with my clippers. I am ruthless.

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  6. Maybe you should have sat out there and had a few puffs with him/her, then he might have left your tomatoes alone, you know kill him with kindness. haha, you are fuunnnyyy!!!!

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  7. I would have disposed of him the same way you did, but wouldn't have had the humor to write such a wonderful post.

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  8. It looks like some prehistoric "creature" doesn't it? I mean did God really find it necessary to make something that UGLY to eat tomatoes? Wouldn't a worm in a ruffled dress sufficed? I got some questions for Him someday- lol Imagine trying to find a mate looking like THAT!

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  9. I remember seeing these in my mothers garden from time to time. Bye bye!

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  10. I live in the deep south just a few miles from the everglades I always have tomatoe plants going on year round, I was devisted last year when I found these uninvited guests 4 of them stripped 6 plants overnight. The best thing to do without using chemicals is have a spray bottle with some warm water, a squirt of dish soap and a splash of vegetable oil they hate this and it wont harm your plants. Beware where there is one there are many more...good luck hope your plants will survive

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lisa, for sharing this recipe with all of us!

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  11. You don't usually see them until they are huge! I think they look kind of interesting! Hope they didn't eat too much though!

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  12. That is so wild and it's so ugly looking. Gotta protect those tomatoes. My dad has been bringing me some from his garden and I absolutely love garden fresh tomatoes!

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  13. oh yeah! keep a look out for more! As another commenter said, they can strip your tomato plant overnite! I have the huge green ones. Haven't seen any yet this year....knock on wood!

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  14. Wow that sucker looks huge!

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  15. Eww. Glad I haven't seen any of those. OTOH, we get slugs which will shave off a bit of whatever they start crawling over and leave slime to boot. They don't often go on my tomatoes, but strawberries area love of theirs.

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  16. Eeee, I like him though. So cute. I'd scoop him up and name him pin2.
    It's just a tomato he is upto...Im sure he is sayin: "Why so serious?" :D

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  17. I remember those worms from my garden back in Ohio. They are soooo creepy.

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  18. Glad you found the tomato worm before he ate all your tomatoes. The ones I had seen were green. The more they ate, the bigger they got. He might have made a beautiful butterfly or moth, but would not want to leave him around to see. I am cleaning out my garden that has been nothing but weeds for a lot of years and hope to grow tomatoes next year.
    Always enjoy your blog.
    Blessings,
    Audrey Z.

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