I have been trying to get my garden in order. There’s not much planted, but I’d still like something to harvest. I have been watering the beans each evening.
It seems to be paying off since I am getting lots of blossoms.
I weeded the tomatoes yesterday.
Look what I found. It’s a tomato hornworm.
I don’t have much use for them. They’re okay for pictures and all, but I am still not a fan of them.
They get large, and they they do that is by eating lovely tomato plants.
I don’t want my tomato plants eaten because I want the tomatoes on it to turn red and have lots more grow and get ripe.
How do I deal with those pesky tomato hornworms? (Sorry for the photo quality. I forgot to switch from the sedentary macro setting to the action setting before entering the pen.)
It certainly makes the chickens happy! They go into a kind of frenzied fight over the thing.
Sorry to say, but yes, the hornworm was killed.
Okay, I’m not really sorry, and the chicken appreciated the snack. 🙂 They only wish I had brought more of them with me.
Linking to Summer Daze Photography Party, Camera Critters, and Macro Monday.
Teresa
Eden Hills 
I understand that the tomato hornworm is the larvae of the very sweet hummingbird moth. I have regrets that I destroyed many of them before I knew. I also understand the desire for homegrown red ripe tomatoes!
I didn’t know what they turned into, but I still think they make a good chicken snack. Now if they were endangered, that might change things.
Oh – I didn’t know the hornworm and the hummingbird moth were connected…Must research….
I do love a happy chicken and nothing like a slug or a worm or a snake carcass to make them happy…. typed harpy at first (heh heh)
I wish I could just let them out to free range and get their own delicious treats. Alas, the dogs and chickens must never come together.
Here’s a good article. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
Them chickens will poop out some nasty green eggs now that they ate that critter!
You didn’t know that’s how those green eggs came to be? Seriously, it will add protein and make their yolks delicious golden instead of pale like eggs from the store. An egg that is green and water indicates that it is contaminated with e-coli.
I must be very cold hearted, or maybe cause I’m a city gal, but I have no sympathy for bugs of any kind, even though I understand their place in the world, etc. Feed ’em to the chickens!!
I do enjoy the monarch and swallowtail caterpillars, but they just nibble the parsley. They don’t strip it bare and kill the plants. Most bugs I’m not real enthusiastic about.
Oh! I haven’t seen a tomato hornworm since I lived in Oklahoma. Can’t say I miss them either. 🙂 By the way, I LOVE your new sunglasses picture in the sidebar. 🙂
Myson thinks he’s a cool dude! I agree. I’m not a fan of the hornworm.
time to loose the hounds, er, chickens! 🙂
I would love to let them into the garden area, but they would probably eat my plants too. 🙂
Well we fed them to the fish in the pond and boy did they like them! Those horn worms can take down a tomato plant in nothing flat!
Do you have chickens? I’m sure the fish would find tasty too! Either one is a good solution.
I love it! Chicken wars over a tomato hornworm…it could be a new reality series on Animal Planet. I’d love to see a video of them scrapping over one. 🙂
You should see them when they get something bigger, like a frog or mouse. They really go crazy!
My chickens love them but I haven’t seen a single one this year 🙂
Good for you; bad for the chickens! 🙂
Can you turn your chickens loose in the garden to eat all the bugs?
They would eat the plants I want, and the dogs would eat them. Alas, they are confined for their own safety. I really miss the days when they were free-ranging, but I don’t miss seeing the dog with a chicken in his mouth.
Man, that is an interesting worm. Sorry, I have no idea how to control those pests naturally. I plucked a bunch of azalea caterpillars off my bushes and transferred them to the woods because I didn’t have the heart to destroy them.
I wouldn’t be able to just destroy them, but I have no problems with letting the chickens do what comes naturally to them. 🙂
The tomato hornworm turns in to a sphinx moth. They are quite pretty. The tobacco hornworm is another kind of sphinx moth… they are actually very cool!
Yep. I don’t care. It’s not like they’re endangered, and with them around, my tomatoes are in jeopardy.
If only the chickens could be free range…I can imagine how excited they were to have such a snack! I understand your dogs and chickens can’t mix…and even though our dogs and chickens can tolerate each other (kind of), the chickens would do more damage than good in my garden!
It really is a balancing act to keep everyone alive, healthy, and happy. The poor birds are generally on the losing end of getting greens, especially since I didn’t plant much for a garden. They usually get a lot more greens in the summer months.
Don’t waste the delicious tomatoes, they are to be eaten by you. :)))
That was my thought. They should go find something to eat elsewhere, or be a chicken snack!
Gorgeous! Visiting from Camera Critters.
Pomeranian Chelsea
Have a great weekend.
Thank you. I never thought of them as gorgeous since they are such a nuisance.
I have been diligently checking my tomato plants for tasty hornworm snacks for the chickens but nothing yet! 😉 I’m always surprised how quickly those nasty buggers can eat up a plant and have you ever heard them “clicking” when they are mad/threatened? Scary! Last year, they were even eating up the little Arizona Ash trees next to the garden. Bad bug, bad!
I usually see a few, but not too many. That’s the biggest I’ve seen in quite some time. Hopefully, I don’t find any more and you don’t either!
This is the first I heard of hornworms. I should start checking my tomato plants. Have a great day!
I hope you don’t find any (or have chickens to feed them to)!
We have the tobacco hornworms which are very similar and just as big. My chickens acted like they were afraid of them, though when I offered them to them. So now I just pick them off and put them in the woods in the hopes they will find something to eat there. 🙂
I can’t imagine a chicken being afraid of the worms, but I guess they are pretty big. Glad mine enjoyed it!
Excellent use of a hornworm. I don’t care what they turn into, when I find them on my tomatoes, I slam them down to the ground. WHAP!
Yep! I confess I do like to be removed enough from the death to let the chickens take care of them. Now ticks, I enjoy taking my hammer to them!
Great photos! I was raised on a crop farm and tomatoes was a staple crop – acres of it. I am VERY familiar with the green hornworm – I saw them all the time. They can devour the plant’s leaves, and leave just twigs in a short time. It’s a catch-22. They are not good for tomato farmers, but the moths are pollinators for other plants. When I was a kid, I would see them transform from worm to cocoon, to hummingbird moth.
I realize all those insects have a purpose (I still struggle with the mosquito), but this one was a lovely chicken snack. I’m sure that was its intended purpose. 🙂
My grandmother would toss them to the chickens too, and other times simply snip them in half with her pruners…really gross. I would hunt them down with my BB gun for her too. That was fine as long as there was no collateral damage to her tomatos. There wasn’t. I was a good shot.
Glad you were a good shot. Of course, with a small target like that, you had to be.
cool visitor in your garden! 🙂
Much better in the chicken pen! 😉
The worms are pretty, but I can understand that you’re more interested in getting tomatoes.
Well, what can I say. I did plant them and weed them and water them, so I think I should get to be the one to eat them.
I’m gonna have to see if I have any on my tomato plants… Ooo yeah the chickens love em for snacks, lol
Isn’t it nice that the chickens are so easy to make happy! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that excited over a little snack.
Teresa, you have a lovely blog here. I’ve nominated you for the kreativ blogger award. http://smallspacebigharvest.com/2012/07/16/bad-form/
Thank you. That is very kind.
This year I decided to plant an entirely organic garden and included 6 heirloom tomato plants. They are huge and gorgeous. Just yesterday I discovered this vile creature and was horrified. Two days ago I had discovered cut worms… Way too grossed out to pluck them off the plants…yuck! I do have chickens, but they will definitely eat everything if I let them near the garden. Again, I will not bring them to the chickens, so… Yuck. I am going to try an organic “pesticide” (homemade) of garlic, Cayenne pepper, dish soap and water. Let me know if anyone has tried this and had success…
Thanks much,
“Brad”
I’ve heard that works well. I plan on trying it out next year, but my garden this year is so small it isn’t worth it. I’ve since had two plants devoured by those nasty hornworms. 😦 Hope it works for you!
Sorry, this isn’t a tomato hornworm, it’s a white lined sphinx moth hornworm, aka Purslane hornworm. While you wouldn’t want tons of them, they probably won’t hurt your garden. This is the moth that hovers “hummingbird like” around tubular flowers. They eat a variety of plants, including lots of weeds. I’ll bet the hens loved it, though! 🙂
Those aren’t tomato hornworms. Im fairly certain that They’re lined sphinx moth larvae and they’re are feeding on the wild spinach you found them on.
Okay. The chickens still enjoyed it.