Act now and check plants regularly to protect your tomatoes from major damage.
Tomato hornworms are large, green caterpillars that can quickly defoliate tomato plants and related crops like peppers, eggplants, and potatoes.
They are the larvae of the five-spotted hawk moth and can grow up to 4 inches long, with white diagonal stripes and a curved horn-like tail (they are harmless to humans but can do a lot of damage to tomato plants).
Despite their size, hornworms blend in well with foliage, making them hard to spot until damage appears — usually chewed leaves, missing stems, and bite marks in tomatoes. If you see these signs - check your plants' leaves and stems thoroughly (they're very hard to spot!), and remove.
How to control tomato hornworms
They are the larvae of the five-spotted hawk moth and can grow up to 4 inches long, with white diagonal stripes and a curved horn-like tail (they are harmless to humans but can do a lot of damage to tomato plants).
Despite their size, hornworms blend in well with foliage, making them hard to spot until damage appears — usually chewed leaves, missing stems, and bite marks in tomatoes. If you see these signs - check your plants' leaves and stems thoroughly (they're very hard to spot!), and remove.
How to control tomato hornworms
- Examine all parts of your tomato plants daily (above and below leaves and on stems of leave and plant) and remove any hornworms found (see below).
- Hand pick hornworms off plants and drop them into soapy water or cut in half with a scissors and discard if you don't want to handpick (gross but effective).