Hornworm or other?

Is this a hornworm or a lookalike? In other words, should I move him to a host plant or use him as fish bait?

Bait

Chicken feed. :)

Okay he is a tobacco hornworm (manduka sexta), and the kids went for option c: raise him to adult stage. So he is in a rotisserie chicken container on my kitchen counter, happily munching some tomato branches! He is getting released far far away from my garden though hehehe :))

Just so you know they complete their life cycle underground. So eventually it is going to need to dirt to bury itself in.

Oh shoot, okay chicken food for my lovely neighbor it is!! LOL

I only know this bc this adult picked option C. Lol I thought I was bad abt using kitchen apppliences for gardening things.

LOL Lisa! I'm glad you told me or I'd have learned the hard way.

While I DO love Harry Hornworm, I'm still working up the courage to hold one barehanded, like you're doing.

My Harries usually go sailing over the fence into the neighbors yards -- no chickens -- but, I figure it would take them some time to crawl back to my yard.

I give them a fighting chance to become those velvety luna moths, LOL! Of course, they do have to make it past the GAZILLION birds on constant patrol of my yard...

I killed this one today. Do you see him? He's just a baby, but still got dispatched to Hornworm Hades.

No horworms here yet !
Please send them all to me ... my DH tortoises eat them like candies !!

At the end of my very first season of growing some HUGE tomatoes, I went out to break down the tomato vines foliage for the trash. I discovered some LARGE poop pellets, and knew there was a Humongous Harry Hornworm somewhere in those branches!

I stood there forever, using my pruners to cut the long branches down to size for the trash bag, all the while keeping my eye out for a monster hornworm, LOL! Well, I got almost to the end of those branches, and there THEY were - at least three Harrys. They were thicker, and longer than my thumbs!

From that long process, I learned where to look for hornworms on tomato vines -- they'll head for the very tender tips of whichever branch will bear their weight, and then work their way down and back toward the main stem, pooping all the way!

So, now, when I look for them, I start at the TIPS of the tomato plants, above where the poop is, and stand still for a few minutes watching for either branch movement, or poop dropping, LOL! Harry can "play possum" only so long before he can't resist munching or pooping.

Hugs!

I HATE those things. They give me the willies! Ugly $%$%^^@'s!

They usually hang out on the underside of the branch. I haven't seen any of them yet, this year. But when they do I squish them to see how far the guts go....

Oh gross!

"I give them a fighting chance to become those velvety luna moths, LOL!"

actually, they turn into Sphinx Moths (also called hawk moths) ;)

http://texasbutterflyranch.com/2012/06/21/loathed-by-gardeners-tomato-hornworms-morph-into-magnificent-sphinx-moths/

Yeah, those, too!

OMG I just returned to a good laugh!

Drthor, is it you who posted a video of your tortoise 'fat mama' eating them? I saw a video like that somewhere in DG and it was the cutest thing really!

Yes they turn into hawk moths, my MIL calls them hummingbird moths since they hover from flower to flower just like one.

I couldn't find him (the hornworm) yesterday morning, he crawled out of the air vent and was in my kitchen sink w the dirty silverware! He's in transit to his final destination now, along with some grasshoppers.. Fish bait! LOL

It was "big Mama" ....

Oops! Please tell Big Mama I said sorry.. she is by no means 'fat' LOL! Wish you lived closer, she'd get all the hornworms I could find :))

I wonder if they can be shipped? They don't weigh much. I think Big Mamma is adorable.

Thanks y'all.When I lived in Orlando we attended the biggest reptile show in the world in Daytona Beach.
It was so huge ... they were selling tomato hornworms alive in little plastic containers ... yuk !

could source of protein,will keep going regularly,cheaper than nutrient system.LOL

Just had to start reading this thread when I saw the picture! YUCK! I can't believe you touched that! I have had about 10 or so. I get my sissors & hold them with 2 hands like an FBI agent sneaking around holding the gun, looking for the bad guy. They blend in so well with the tomato leaves. Another great feat of nature. Anyway, the only place I relocate mine is to hornworm hades--that's a good one, Stephanie! I see one, then snip. Quite a pretty green, I must say. Then water them into the soil. Don't mess with my veggies, buggies...

LOL!! I've been sick with stomach bug the past 2 days, haven't been in the garden until this evening to water. I hate to do it in the evening, but everything was wilting pretty bad after the past 3 days of inferno heat!!

Found chewed stems, poop galore and 9, yes NINE, hornworms!! Ugh.. they all got squished on the spot, I was so mad!!! They drilled into 2 of my beefsteaks!! I now have no tolerance for the little ugly buggers..

Get um!!!!

6 more today! What the??!! Where are they coming from all of a sudden??

Eggs?

I haven't got the stomach to kill anything large enough that I can see their juices leave their bodies. Definitely a problem for a gardener! Ants and aphids and the like are the only things that need be in immediate fear for their lives. No matter how much damage they've done to my crops. Sometimes I can cover them with a magnolia leaf or something, to squash, and pray afterwards, but jeez this is an uphill battle for me.

Am I really weird?

Turtles, my little one was helping me squish them, then he told me "you do it, mommy". Guess he got sick of it too! I have no problem killing bugs, but my biggest fear in life are cockroaches and you couldn't pay me to kill one of them, so I understand completely :)

I find 2" long grasshoppers eating my plants, and I twist and remove their heads, and leave them lie. I know, super gross but I figure if I were a bug,and I saw dead bodies everywhere, I'd run the opposite direction..

none here yet !

None for me yet but the Cabbage looper is raising havoc on my Dino Kale. Attacking with BT now and will make a cover out of Tulie next.

I found 2 small ones today, on my tomato plant.

I haven't found any but I have seen the poop so I know they are there, haven't seen much damage either. I have seen more red wasps then normal, I believe they are taking care of the horned worms. This is the 3rd yr in a row that I just let the wasps be and the horned worms have stayed under control.

Red wasps? I've never heard of them, but I have seen reddish wasps lugging huge spiders up the walls here and across my raised beds. Very strange sight to behold. I had no idea they were beneficials, I thought the spiders were..

I think the spiders are but the wasps don't care. Lol Some wasps lay eggs on horned worms and parasitize them. I'm not are what the red wasp does, ive read about it but i cant remember.. I've noticed that if I leave them alone that I don't find tomato woms and see very like poop.

...

Oops, that photo isn't what I wanted.

Cville_Gardener
what a fantastic picture !
I never seen this happen in my garden ... I hope soon.
WOW! great shoot !

Thanks. :)

Amazing.