Hand picking the tomatoes that you plant will give you the satisfaction that often cannot be described in words. But then, this happiness is just going to be ruin by a horrific sight of the tomato worm. These worms can grow to four or five inch. They will be surprising, on the negative meaning, for the people who see them for the first time. They can and will easily destroy the tomatoes. They live in many parts of North America but can easily be everywhere before you know it.
If you need a complete description about the Tomato Hornworms, then the simplest thing to describe them is that they are green with white marks, fat, and large. They also have five pairs of legs and a pair of horn at the rear part that earns them their nickname, the hornworms. Their attack can cause a massive damage as they also have massive size. Tomato plants are their favorite but they will also destroy eggplant, potato and pepper plants. They even go for the green fruits sometimes. The first thing that they eat would be the leaves, then they will turn to the fruit. But they avoid ripe fruit and only take a bite on the green ones. Their appetite is so impressive that they can work overnight non stop to eat what they can get.
The tomato hornworm has a close relationship with tobacco hornworm. The tomato hornworm has also other names, the green tomato worm, tomato fruit worm, or tomato hornedworm. Not only that they have close relation, they also often mistaken with one another as they share so many similarities in look and also the tomato hornworm can also be found on tobacco and the tobacco hornworm can also be found on tomato plant. The difference between the two is the markings. The tobacco hornworm has diagonal white stripe and the total is seven, while the tomato hornworm has v shape marks on each side while their horns are usually black or blue. Still, who would see the markings when they find these huge worms for the first time?
If you want to find these worms or to know if your tomato plants are infested by these worms, then you can try to find them at dawn and dusk as they prefer to stay away from direct sunlight. The next thing you need to spot is the droppings. They eat a lot and that is why you will also need to expect to see large and black droppings. When you see these, then you have worms. If the droppings are not enough as a lead to find these worms, then you can also try to spot the destruction.
