Tomato Hornworms, one of the most circumcised diseases, are caused due to Manduca quinquemaculata, which can harm the nightshade family like tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, and eggplants.
They are large caterpillars with horn-like tails which chew leaves and stems and sometimes chew holes in the fruits. It isn’t easy to spot them as they blend with green tomato leaves.
Physical removal is the most effective way to get rid of tomato hornworm. Using natural pesticides, rotating crops, tilling the soil, and planting companion plants can also help reduce and prevent Hornworms.
What Are Tomato Hornworms?
Tomato hornworms are one of the most destructive pests, which can destroy all nightshade families, including tomatoes. It consumes leaves, new stems, and pieces of fruit, especially the nightshade family.
They are green-colored caterpillars, 5 inches long, with horn-like tails. They are commonly found in North America & Australia.
It is challenging to spot them because of their appearance on the plants as they blend in green color. They cause defoliation in the plants and destroy them.
Adult Tomato Hornworms are also known as Adult Moths. They are large, have yellow spots on the sides of the abdomen, narrow front wings, and widespreads of 4-5 inches, and the hindwings have light and dark bands.
How To Identify Tomato Hornworms?
Tomato hornworms are Green colored, 4-5 inches long, and probably the longest caterpillars in the vegetable garden. They have seven v-shaped white stripes on their body. A red or black horn is spotted on the last abdominal segment.
The young caterpillars are spotted in your plants which become adults and turn into a moth with 5 inches wingspan.
Their green color makes tomato hornworms identifying easy, however, due to their appearance, they easily get mixed with the green leaves of the plants.
Tomato Hornworms vs. Tobacco Hornworms
Tomato Hornworms and Tobacco Hornworms are very similar in looks as they belong to the same species and mostly impact the nightshade family of plants. So it is very tough to differentiate between them.
The Tobacco hornworm possess red-colored horns and have diagonally white stripes, whereas tomato hornworms have black horns and V-Shaped White Stripes.
These are the only two differences that help to identify both categories.
Understanding the Tomato Hornworm Life Cycle
A Tomato Hornworm life cycle consists of 4 parts, but mostly; we notice larvae stage only.
But it is very important for gardeners to know how these pests grow and increase in number.
I have briefly discussed all 4 parts below:
- Eggs: After Mating, Female Sphinx Moths lay oval, smooth, light green eggs on the upper and lower surface of the leaves of nightshade family plants, namely, tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, and eggplants.After 3-5 days of lay off, the eggs hatch, and caterpillars grow rapidly and begin to feed. They are fully grown within 3-4 weeks.
- Larval Stage: Mostly, hornworms come to the gardeners’ notice on the plants at Larval Stage as they become big, fat, and green.But it is hard to believe that despite their huge appearance, they do not become adults in the Larval Stage. The Larval Stage is split into five stages known as instar stages. This Stage takes almost 3-4 weeks to get fully completed. Finally, the caterpillars grow up to 5 inches and weigh 10 grams.
- Pupae stage: after becoming large caterpillars, Tomato Hornworms fall and get burrow into the soil to form large red-brown pupae.
- Adult Hornworm: Adult is the last stage of Tomato Hornworm. At the end of the spring, five-spotted hawk moths or the sphinx moth are formed.
They are difficult to spot as they do not come out during the day and feed on the nectar of different flowers from the evening till morning.
Later the adult Hornworms also lay off the eggs to continue their life cycle.
Damage Caused by Tomato Hornworms
Most of the time, hornworm damage is seen before the hornworms in the tomato plants. The signs of hornworms are very similar to other weeds.
Some signs can help you to identify the damages caused due to the hornworms.
Black Droppings:
As the hornworm keeps feeding on the plants, they leave dark green or black droppings on the plants.
Check in The Evening:
Tomato Hornworms do not come out during day time. They feed on the plant from evening till morning. So checking them in the evening with the flashlight can help you to spot them in your plants.
UV flashlights are the best to use as they glow in UV flashlights and seem like a bulb on your plant.
Large Holes in the plant leaves:
Tomato Hornworms eat the leaves unevenly and leave holes and open spots where they feed. They leave the plant weak by removing the green foliage and chewing the fruits, which leads to holes in the fruit.
Keep checking for these dangerous hornworms, or else they can destroy the whole plant.
How To Get Rid of Tomato Hornworms Naturally?
You can use a natural rather than a chemical method to remove Tomato Hornworms.
Tilling of soil
Gardeners should till the soil at the beginning as well as at the end of the season to destroy the larvae. The success rate in killing the hornworms is seen to be up to 90%.
Tilling of soil also brings out the pupae, which is killed when it comes in contact with cold weather.
Use companion planting
Planting companion plants in your garden can prevent the invasion of hornworms. Making basil plants, a neighboring plant of tomatoes, can not only prevent them from hornworms but also enhance their flavor.
Planting borage can prevent hornworms and attract pollinator insects in your garden, which increases the yield also.
Parsley, dill, mustard, or marigolds can also be planted as companion plants to prevent hornworms in the garden.
Plant Trap Crops Near Your Tomato Crop
Trap plants are planted near the infected plants to repel the pests. You should plant it in such a way that you are pulling pests far from your garden.
Planting flower tobacco plants as trap plants for hornworms can work best. It attracts sphinx moths.
Rotate Crops
Crop Rotation is another efficient way to prevent hornworms in your garden. It would reduce the number of pupae.
So they cannot lay eggs on the plants, which would result in the prevention of Hornworms.
Hand Pick Tomato Hornworms Off Your Plants
Nothing works as great as picking off the Tomato Hornworms from your plant. But it would be worse to touch them directly. So wear gloves while removing them.
If you have chickens, you can give them these Hornworms as they love to eat them.
If you do not have chickens, you can put them in a soapy water bucket or crush them from your foot to destroy them.
While handpicking tomato hornworms, inspect your plants twice weekly as they can simply deceive you about their appearance.
Release Natural Predators and Beneficial Insects
Welcoming beneficial insects and Natural Predators reduce the number of hornworms in your garden. A couple of effective ones are Ladywing and green Lacewings.
You can easily get them from nurseries and garden stores as they eat eggs of many pests in the garden.
Releasing paper wasps also reduces the hornworms in your garden as paper wasps eat all caterpillars.
Spray Plants with a Homemade Cayenne Pepper Spray
You can easily prepare homemade spray with Cayenne, pepper, water, and soap and spray it on your plants instead of using any chemical spray.
A substance called capsaicin is found in Cayenne peppers which pulls the hornworm on the ground and can also kill them.
A regular spray of this homemade garden spray works well to destroy the tomato hornworm from your plants.
Related Article – Aphids on Tomato Plants: Symptoms & Prevention
How To Get Rid of Tomato Hornworms with Chemicals?
If the stubborn Hornworms are not going from your garden through natural remedies, you should now opt for a chemical treatment to get rid of them. And yes, it is true that all chemicals are not hazardous.
Use BT: Bacillus thuringiensis, also known as BT, is a very useful chemical that can help you to get rid of tomato Hornworms. It is a very useful and natural chemical that treats your plant without causing any harm and destroys especially young caterpillars.
When this natural bacterium is found in soil, if consumed by Hornworms or any other pests, their digestive system gets paralyzed, and they become totally inefficient to feed, which results in death.
BT is best to use as they never impact humans, pets, and kids. The best recommended BT is Monterey BT Concentrate.
Use Garden Insect Spray: You can use Monterey Garden Insect Spray to get rid of Tomato Hornworms. It controls many pests, including Tomato Hornworms.
The best part is it never smells and functions great in removing weeds.
Use Garden Dust: I recommend using Safer Brand garden dust to throw Hornworms from your garden. It is also OMR certified. At the same time, it is safe for your beneficial insects in the garden and would never harm them.
Use Caterpillar killer Concentrate: Caterpillar killer from safer Brand kills caterpillars from plants, trees, and shrubs. And the good thing is it never harms honey bees and ladybugs in your garden.
Spray Neem Oil: Gardeners often use Neem Oil as the last option. If nothing is working, then spray Neem Oil. But the main disadvantage is it kills bad pests along with beneficial insects in your garden. So it should always be your last option.
How To Prevent Tomato Hornworms?
There are various measures to prevent and control Tomato Hornworms and keep your garden safe from them.
I have discussed some measures that can help protect your garden and plant from these caterpillars.
Use Row Cover: The most effective way to prevent the risk of Tomato hornworms is restricting the invasion of these caterpillars.
While planting nightshades, try using floating row cover and remove them while pollinating the plant, and moths won’t be able to lay eggs on the plants.
Use black plastic: Covering your garden with black plastic can break the lifecycle of the tomato hornworm moth, and it would prevent them from emerging in spring. This would result in the death of the Tomato Hornworms before they lay any egg on your plants.
You can also substitute black plastic with cardboard, and it can be used around the plants to avoid the risk of tomato hornworms.
Use of Diatomaceous Earth: The use of Diatomaceous Earth can control and prevent Tomato Hornworms. It would not harm humans and pets until and unless inhaled.
So you should always wear a mask while using it. It can kill the caterpillars when they walk on it; it feels like broken pieces of glass when they crawl on it and dehydrate them, resulting in their death. It can tremendously kill young caterpillars.
Where do tomato hornworms go during the day?
During daytime, the hornworms hide beneath the leaves and comes out at dusk to feed on fruits and leaves.
Summary
Though Tomato Hornworms are a curse for gardeners, don’t be impatient if you spot any hornworms. Follow the tips discussed above, and you can easily eliminate them.
At the same time, always take necessary steps at the beginning of the cultivation to restrict the entry of the hornworms into your garden, and you will always be blessed with healthy cultivation and a large harvest of tomatoes.
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