Tomato Hornworm –
Hornworm is a great name. If you’re going to be a worm, might as well be an awesome one. They are huge, perfectly camouflaged, and if you touch one they start slapping their big bodies around to try and bite you. These guys are the science-fiction warlords of worms.
Tomato hornworms don’t only destroy tomato plants but also potato, pepper, eggplant, and tobacco plants. And they don’t just munch on leaves – they take out whole stems and sometimes even the fruit on the plant.
The horn on the back of the worm is mainly just for scaring off predators that may want to eat it. Hornworms can get up to 4 inches long. Of course, they aren’t actually worms, they are caterpillars. They turn into large moths called either the hawk or sphinx moth. They are as big as humming birds and fly in almost the same manner.
I don’t let them get my tomato plants. I watch for them and stab them with my pocketknife. Chickens know what to do with them too. They go after them like a velociraptor on a Jurassic Park guard.
