Hornworm trouble...

I just found a hornworm eating the dickens out of my tomato plant. I am new to gardening so am a wee bit upset since the tomato plant was doing so well. I have the guy in a jar right now munching on the branch I cut off of my plant. He is rather fat so I'm not too concerned. I would like to keep him until he becomes either a sphinx moth or hummingbird moth but refuse to give him anymore of my tomato plant. Any ideas? Thanks!
~Christina

And what the heck are the wasp larve? Goodness knows I don't need more wasps around... Please help clarify!!

This message was edited May 22, 2007 9:57 AM

He's a beauty, looks like a Tobacco hornworm, which is a Carolina Sphinx moth cat.
He will also eat Tobacco and Potato plants, and Jimsonweed...do you have any of those? I've heard of them on those sweet potato vines that you can find everywhere too.

Here's a pic of the wasp eggs that will kill the cat. Yours looks okay.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3244

He may getting close to pupate time, he'll need some soil and leaf litter to make his cocoon.

Great find!

Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have any tobacco or a potato plant. I do have a white flowering potato vine that wouldn't mind losing leaves to him...
I was pretty upset when I found it but am now feeling sorry for the poor guy. Those wasps are horrid! How long do they stay in their cocoon? It's worth a shot because I don't want to release him as a cat and have him attack my tomatoes again!

I know, the braconid wasps are awful. Those white sacs are actually their cocoons. The female wasp stings the cat, lays her eggs below the surface. They hatch and feed on the cat then weave those cocoons until they are ready to fly away. Too gross!

I'm not sure how long the cats are in their cocoon. It's worth a try with the potato vine, hope it works.


This message was edited May 22, 2007 12:59 PM

Thanks again for your help! I was telling the SW gardening forum that I decided to keep him and named him George. He is sitting in a jar with holes in the top and some soil. He hasn't moved from the sprig that I cut off the tomato plant. Not too happy with me I guess. I did a bit more research and found that they are in their cocoon for about 3 weeks so I will have to mark the calendar so I don't kill the poor moth. I may need a bigger jar though. Maybe this afternoon I will go out and buy one of those special bug containers.

Sounds like a good plan Christina! And George is a fine name!

Rox

I found a baby hornworm on my tomatoes just day before yesterday. Moved him to my moon vine, aka, datura, jimsonweed and he's just munching away and happy as he can be.