What kind of worm is this?

   / What kind of worm is this? #1  
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MikeA57

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Found this little (or should I say BIG!) booger this morning while working out in my tomatoes. I found 2 more on other plants while I was out there so I guess there's a good bunch of them out there. What will take care of them?
 

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   / What kind of worm is this? #2  
MikeA57 said:
Found this little (or should I say BIG!) booger this morning while working out in my tomatoes. I found 2 more on other plants while I was out there so I guess there's a good bunch of them out there. What will take care of them?
Click to expand...

Hornworm

Tomato Diseases & Pests - All  Tomato

There is some type of wasp that will kill these worms...it's an interesting thing///if you see a hornworm with little white (rice looking) things sticking out of it...the wasp has already attacked the worm and it will die...but hornworms can strip a large tomato plant overnight...
 
   / What kind of worm is this? #3  
there is an organic spray that is supposed to do wonders on horn worms and most other worms called BT, it is sold under many names, if wanted ask at garden supply store.
 
   / What kind of worm is this? #5  
We don't usually see those this late in the season here, thankfully. Early summer and late spring they are an issue.
I suggest you pick then off by hand rather then spray. Unless you have a whole bunch of plants, it doesn't take but a few minutes. I usually see 2 or three per plant and remove them. They make good fishbait and once their gone they don't return.
 
   / What kind of worm is this? #6  
For sure - tobacco hornworm. Picked a many off 'baccer & 'mater plants:laughing: BT (bacillus thuregensis) is the way to go though there are beginning to be some isolated worm resistance cases in this pest. If you ever see one covered in little white oblong cocoons don't kill it. Those cocoons are the eggs of a hornworm killing wasp feeding on worm innards. Once infected the worm stops eating; same with BT (when that works).

Glad to see the OP still has blooming tomatos; drought has killed our crop for the year.:mad:

PH
 
   / What kind of worm is this?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Yeah, I noticed the little red "stinger" at the rear end of him and thought "What in the world is THAT?!?!" The drought burned everything else up but the tomatoes kept on sprouting and they still are but they're a lot smaller now. I was picking and weeding this morning and that's when I found him. Then I came back and put some Miracle-Gro on them and that's when I found the others. My next door neighbor has army worms right now (but I haven't seen any in my yard thankfully) and at first I thought it was just a completely engorged one of them. I'll check the plants carefully for more. Thanks for the help!

Mike
 
   / What kind of worm is this? #9  
Those things are hard to see unless they move a bit. I had 4 or them on one pepper plant and they stripped every leave overnight. Wife found one and asked me about it and then I found 2 more. I decided to water it to see if it would come back and low and behold there was one more looking just like a stem. I prefer to poison them than pick them as they are perfectly camoflaged
 
   / What kind of worm is this? #10  
When my hearing was better I used to find hornworms by listening for them as they ate. If you look carefully at your tomato plant and the ground beneath it you will see their droppings. Stand very quietly and you will hear them munching away on your plant- as has been said they are hard to pick out by eye only but with a bit of "audio focusing" you can usually find then early.

Good luck.

Frank
 
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