My baby is gone. I wasn't expecting him to disappear so soon.
If a bird ate you wormie I hope it was painless. Did you just have too much bud and you fell off the tree? I hope I didn't accidentally step on you in my search. If I squished you in the grass somewhere .... ooops! Sorry little guy!
ps ... If you are ok please tell your future wife to leave me just one egg this same time next year! Thanks for the memories.
The End
Did you brush your teeth this morning?
He looked pretty big.. maybe he went off and made himself a brug baggie
I'm sure it was a brug overdose. He saw visions of Blaines head floating around in his last Bud and jumped.
Maybe he really is making his brug baggie right now! I hope so! :)
They bury themselves to pupate so if he did you won't see him again until he's a moth
making a brug baggie? With the alkaloid buzz that boy must have now, he's probably down on the the corner.... Selling brug baggies!
Any eggs lain along the way, you know those babies will be born with an addiction. Vicki you may want to start keeping your blinds pulled and and use the payphone down the street. Something about them hornworms tells me the first time they get pinched they'll be singing like canaries and you'll have visitors.
According to "THE BOOKS" he was supposed to slow down the eating process and get a blue line down his back before he buries himself. He never stopped eating like a maniac and he didn't get the blue line. That is why I'm kinda worried about him. I was hoping he would stick around until he had the blue line so I could get pictures.
I imagine he will hallucinate Blaine heads the entire time he is snuggled in his baggie! No doubt he will be crazy when he comes out. I'm scared.
Ahhhh, I will miss the updates. :-(
Sorry you lost your little green friend. Maybe he just got sick of Brugs and decided to go next door for a different menu.
Mysterious disappearance of horny male. Film at 11.
Oh, I'm so glad to have found this thread! I said that I 'liked' hornworms in another forum and I think they all thought I was crazy!!
Take a look at this beauty . . .
I love the hawk and hummingbird moths - I have tons of them around here due to the four o'clocks I grow as well as all the moonvines, datura's and brugs ..
Sorry you lost your 'little' friend - hopefully he just went to change into a new friend!
Onalee
fabulous shot Onalee. Mine love the bat-faced cupheas the best. Gonna plant 4 0'clock next year too
That's a great catch Onalee!
Wow, Onalee, a pink one, thank you so much for sharing that one, too cool!
Great picture. They really have some nice markings and the color is nice too. I would never have thought that the green worm could produce a brown and pink moth. LOL!
Onalee that is a real pretty one! If you guys want to see some incredible hornworms take a look at this site. They will blow your mind. And this is only just 3 species.
http://www.birds-n-garden.com/hummingbird_moths.html
This is some of the damage done to my brug by the hornworm, just in case someone is interested to know. They not only eat the leaves, buds and flowers but they eat the bark too ... even the more woody bark.
LOL my lil' buddies don't usually live that long to get to that part of the plant!!!!! lololol! It's odd, I haven't seen but one this whole season. *knocking on wood* I've seen al whole lot of big beetle looking critters though that were stuck to the leaf stem....they kind of have a green metallic look to them and they FLY!!!!
Hugs
Vicki I'm so sorry to hear of your loss, Bless your heart and you were so kind and loving to him too. Did you post a sign out front...."Lost: Big Green Cuddly Buggly"??? Reward: ??? Im kidding with you lol...I know you got attached and then he bailed on ya *sigh*
Julie
Very cool vee8ch! Thanks for the link!
I have to admit that I have killed my share of horn worms - before I knew what they turned into - now, I galdly share my plants with them - I grow extra datura, brugs, tomatoes (they like hot pepper plants too, by the way!) just for them now! Some for me, some for them - so I can enjoy watching their alter-ego's zoom around my plants at night - pollinating like crazy!
Great thread!!
Onalee
This is wormie waving good bye! It is one of his last poses.
I never realized how damaging hornworms can be to the bark of brugs. These wounds might invite air-borne diseases. Maybe even soil-borne diseases too if the damage is closer to the ground. Seems possible.
One wormie at a time once a year is enough for me. I got real attached to this critter. I also learned alot about this worm and the damage they can do. Now I wonder what the lasting effects of the damage will be? When my brug drops dead I guess I'll have a clue as to why. :)
AWWWWWWWWWWw he's looking up to the Heaven's :-) WITH a belly full! lol
I got a shot of maybe a baby one??? Hmmm wonder where that moma is Grrrrrrrr she was all stretched out when I found her inside one of my BUDS!!! lol
Here she is lol....I pulled her out and tore up the bud that was full of holes,....dead giveaway! Ut oh...did I say DEAD??? lol oops hehehe
Nice pic Julie! I don't know what he is.
Baby hornworms are born with tails.
Now THATS a good shot, and look at the horn on that baby! Whoa, cool!
Vicki, I miss that lil' horn worm. Bring him back!!! I love this thread!
Hugs
Julie
My little buddy took off when I knocked him to the ground when I caught him munching tender leaves at the top near a bud one day. But yesterday I found two more in my Tomato plants--these ones covered with the little white things--parasitic wasps have already gotten these two!! It looks sooooo creepy but doesn't seem to interfere with their munching--not yet anyway. I guess the parasitic wasp pupae eat the cat from the inside out while growing?? SC Garden channel says to leave them alone. The parasitic wasps will hatch and prevent the spread of these cuties. Thanks for that photo Onalee. I don't think I have ever seen that moth before--that is what these cats become?? Kool!! I don't mind them--they haven't been able to destroy much and I don't mind them eating the larger leaves on the Brug which have nothing to do with the flower production!! Or the useless tomatoes I have growing. I don't know what is wrong with them. They do NOT have bottom rot but by the time they ripen they are all starting to rot in the sides! Urghhhh!! So Hormworms Eat away!! hehehe What they don't eat, when they are gone away I will just pull up and toss!!
Bonnie
Since I discovered what they become, I've started planting EXTRA just for them - extra brugs, extra datura, extra tomato - I can always find somewhere to let them eat with out them eating 'my' plants. When our tomatoes succumbed to the heat this year, we just left the plants for a good while, they looked terrible, but the hornworms didn't mind- they loved them!
I do for them as I do for the monarchs, I have 'nursery' milkweed and 'seed' milkweed plants. The nursery plants they can eat all they want, any I find on my seed plants get moved to the nursery - works out well for everyone that way and, I get the bonus of the lovely butterflies and hawk moths to pollinate my flowers!
Onalee
I found another one a different nothing special brug. He is still very much a baby but too well developed to squish. Here I go getting attached again but this time no pictures I promise! (unless I decide to dress him up or put lipstick on him or something)
LOL Vicki, PLEASE indulge us! I for one, WANT TO SEE PICS!!!
I think I speak for everyone, that they have a different perspective on these little boogers now lol! Well, at least some of us, hehehe....then there's the other part of us though....(not saying who) have a new perspective but short-lived I might add, BEFORE they send him to his worm Heaven :-(
Share him with us Vicki :0)
Julie you are always a bright sunny smile! We all learned together about Wormie and what a hornworms life is like in a brug and the damage they can do. This new guy is pretty and interesting but I don't imagine he can teach us anything that we haven't already seen. I'm still taking his pictures but now I'm posting them in the Butterflies and Hummers forum.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/538677/
hehehe ya think? Well I'm glad I putta smile on your face :o)
I'm as good as THERE now!
Come on Ya'll, whatta ya waitin' for? Let's GO!!!!!
HMMMM, Do little wormies reincarnate in India? Maybe wormie is back in a 2nd life...or does that only happen in India. Deep thoughts to ponder on a Friday afternoon.....
I tried real hard to ponder these deep thoughts. My brain can't handle it. Lets just squish him and see if he reincarnates.
Vicki!!!!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL....I NEVER! lol
Oh, poor little guy. I am afraid he didn't have a chance to learn much in this life!! I hope squishing him is not bad karma! LOL
Karen these are a few things he would probably learn:
1. I must stay away from brugs cause they are bad for your health.
2. I must beware of the human foot
3. It only took 2 hours in the baking sun for me to turn from a pile of green goo to a baked crispy cookie.
4. It was kind of fun to be transported in pieces by the ants.
He would come back a lot smarter than he was before! rofl!
As the Joker told TwoFace in Batman... paraphrased
" Don't do it! He won't learn nothing if you kill him."
Batman never did make any sense to me. I say if you squish a worm he will certainly learn something! He might not ever meet up with his head again to figure it out ... but nevertheless ....