I was out of town for 3 days and came back to find three of these on the patio tomato plant. Are the white bits eggs? There are many white bits scattered around on the plant. If they are not butterfly larvae, I will dump the plant all together. The leaves are also mostly gone.
Can anybody please help ID it? Thanks!
Either the Tomato or Tobacco Hornworm, which produce Sphinx moths. The larvae are a small wasp and are parasitic on these caterpillars. It is recommended to leave them to hatch out so the wasps can seek out more caterpillars.
http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/DesktopModules/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=1729
Wow! Amazing!
I always think gardeners should not fear bugs, but bugs always freak me out, especially those crawlies :-( Ok, I will leave them alone so that the little wasp larvae can hatch. There are LOADS of wasp larvae. Now I am starting to feel sorry for the hornworms :-)
Thank you for the prompt reply. Very informative.
donner, just wanted to sympathize with you re: feeling sorry for the hornworms. I know the feeling. It's like "what to do?" - he just wants to make a living too! And the sphinx moth is very cool, very large. But their caterpillars are eating machines and defoliate a tomato plant in short order.
Gardening is a learning experience and that is part of the joy.
It gives me the creeps looking at those poor caterpillars too! Nature is best left alone, it's been looking after itself for a very long time and has it all worked out.
You could pick those tomatoes, they look mature enough to ripen inside. :)
great shot of the hornworm. i've only seen photos of the wasp eggs on them, never in person (unfortunately for my tomatoes).
