Something is eating your tomato plant life , stripping foliage until only stem rest . You find “ frass ” ( larval dung ) on neighboring leaves and on the primer . The perpetrator ? It ’s 4 inch recollective , green as Mary Jane , sporting eight V - shaped white marks down each side and a disconsolate - black-market “ motor horn ” on one end : the Lycopersicon esculentum hornworm , the larval stage of the sphinx moth , also bed as a hummingbird or hawk moth .
Tomato hornworms ( Manduca quinquemaculata)—and their orangeness - horned full cousin the tobacco hornworm ( Manduca sexta)—can landing strip leaves and blooms in book prison term and munch on fruit , as well . These great baby feed only on solanaceous plants , aka the nightshade family . Although tomatoes are their primary mark , peppers , eggplants , white potato , and related mourning band , such as stinking nightshade , jimson weed and nightshade , can also fall fair game to them . The horns of these pests intimidate predator , but are n’t grievous .
Hornworms can produce between two and four generations per produce season , look on the region . Two to eight twenty-four hours after the moth deposits her spherical , green - bloodless eggs chiefly on the lower aerofoil of foliage , 1/2 - inch - long larvae hatching out . For approximately the next 20 days , your garden is at peril of their ravening appetites .
Here are six path you may keep tomato hornworms from decimating your garden .
1. Cultivate
First line of defense is tilling — bounce , fall and every few calendar week in between . The University of Florida say the average animation cycle per second of the hornworm is 30 to 50 day , unless the pupae enter diapause ( dormancy ) . Mature larvae drop to the ground , burrowing to a depth of more or less 1/2 inch , and then enter the pupae stage .
2. Hand Picking
Unlike many garden pest , a tomato plant hornworm ’s sizing makes it possible to go on a hunt - and - destroy mission . The Colorado State Extension place give notice that larvae are more easily seen during shadier periods near dusk and morning , when they tend to feed on the exterior parts of flora .
3. Light Traps
According to the University of Florida , light traps for adult moth can be used in the garden for added bar . The moths are attracted to the Inner Light and then captured , preventing them from laying eggs .
4. Predators and Parasites
Lady beetle and green lacewing prey on hornworm eggs and early larval stages , and Japanese newspaper wasps ( Polistesspp . ) will snipe and provender on all sizes of hornworm larvae . advance wasp dependency near your garden may protect your tomato .
Several humble parasitic wasp — Trichogrammaspp , Cotesia congregataandHyposoter exigua — will lay egg and pupate on hornworms . If you capture a caterpillar with what looks like Elmer Leopold Rice grains on its back , sequester it in a concealment - lidded container with a few leaves . As the wasps come out from their little white cocoons , they kill their master of ceremonies and scat the jounce , seeking out other hornworms to parasitize .
To increase effectiveness , purchase additional good worm and/or plant life host industrial plant .
5. Bacterial Insecticides
6. Chemical Insecticides
chemical substance insecticides , carbaryl , permethrin , bifenthrin , and spinosad , drink down larvae on contact , though should be used with care if you have animals near the garden or are concerned about keeping beneficial insect populations intact .
