Tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) attack tomatoes and sometimes pepper, eggplant, and potato plants. They chew up the leaves and fruit and can destroy the crop if not controlled. This is devastating for the hobby farmer but could spell real disaster for the subsistence farmer.
Description Of The Hornworm
This caterpillar can get to be four inches long. It is green with ribbing on each of its several segments. The caterpillar has eye like spots along its side, as well as white and gray stipes. It has a horn on the rear segment that gives the caterpillar its name.
Important Pest
My grandmother talked about having to pick the hornworms off the garden before going to gather the chicken eggs each morning. The hornworms were put in a can and then fed to the chickens as part of their food. If the garden didn’t produce, much of the family’s food for the year was gone with it
I remember being paid a small sum per hornworm to pick them off our garden growing up. My family gardened as a hobby, though, and would not starve if we did not make a crop.
Five Spotted Moth
Hornworms are the caterpillar stage of the five spotted moth. The caterpillar goes through four or five molts, eating all the way. It then drops off the plant and burrows into the soil to pupate and become the moth.
Parasitic Wasp
Principle control is by a small wasp that lays her eggs on the caterpillar. They hatch and eat the hornworm from the inside, then spin white cocoons that stick out like a pin in a pincushion. The caterpillar dies when the cocoons rupture and the wasp go off.
Use BT To Kill
Hand-picking hornworms is often all that is required to keep them under control. If, however, you need help, you can spray Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) on your garden. This is an insecticide specific to caterpillars. Mammals, birds, and insects not in the caterpillar stage are not harmed.
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