Big Green Worms

Tobacco Hornworm

Another thing we found when we got home was a couple of enormous Tobacco Hornworms  happily devouring the leaves of the Boxcar Willie tomato plant.

I was able to get some good pictures of the insect, so we were able to determine that these are the Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta), which has seven diagonal stripes on its sides, rather than the similar Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata), which has eight chevron-shaped stripes.  As easy way to remember this is that the Tobacco Hornworm has stripes that are straight, like a cigarette, while the Tomato Hornworm has v-shaped chevrons that remind you of vine-ripened tomatoes.

Not that it matters all that much, because both worms have voracious appetites and either of them can strip the leaves from a tomato vine in pretty short order.

Since the tomato plant was at the end of its very productive season, Cindy just decided to take it out and make the bed available for winter crops.

And the hornworms?  She left those under the bird feeder for the birds to finish off, which they promptly did with enthusiasm.