Hornworms Anonymous

I quit.  I’ve had it up to here with the dastardly hornworm.  He’s BACK in my garden and devouring my tomato plants at alarming rates.  Egads–have you ever seen anything so horrid?

It’s not pretty.  Probably can’t see him in there, tucked beneath the leaves.  But look closely.  Head like a walrus on one end, cute little tail like a puppy dog on the other, these creatures can eat their weight in tomato leaves in the space of ten minutes, taking out your entire plant by the end of the day.  (Those missing leaves are his doing.)

Yep, that’s him.  One of the “hims” and I assure you—it’s a him and not a her.  Do you think a woman would destroy a perfectly good tomato plant—because she was hungry?

No.  She would not.  She may destroy it by any number of other means—black thumb, forgot to water, inadvertently crushed it while escaping a bee she mistook for a wasp—you get the picture.  But never for food.  Besides, the leaves are poisonous for human consumption.  She knows better.  But this plump little guy?

He’s a pig, in every sense of the word.  Awful.  To make matters worse, these two little fellas aren’t my only problem at the moment.  Oh, no.  I have this little guy to worry about, too.

Looks harmless.  You might even say, “Why he’s so small, he can’t possibly eat much.”  But you’d be surprised.  This damage came from him, or perhaps a combined assault from caterpillar and cricket.

Saw a few of those hopping about his morning, as well.  Ugh.  So if you see a folded leaf on your plants (squash shown here), investigate further.

You’ll most likely find a little surprise hidden inside.

Not as much fun as digging through the Cracker Jack box, I assure you.  He’s trouble.  So be vigilant.  Visit your garden every day.  Admit when you have a problem.  Pluck, squish, remove and dispatch from the garden.  You have a hearty harvest awaiting you and cannot be dissuaded by such distraction!