Green Hornworm Ate My Tomato Plants

I am still fairly new to the whole gardening thing but I am learning about it as I go. I first started to grow vegetable plants in 2010 in planters on my deck. They started out quite healthy but then they ended up with a few problems, but I did not really know much about gardening so it was a trial and error process for me. I also had a tomato plant in the topsy turvy which grew well. Here is an article I wrote about the topsy turvy we had- Topsy Turvy for Your Tomato Plants. This year, I decided to make a garden along the fence in our yard. The plants grew a lot better in the yard but the weather hasn't been to cooperative here so I did not end up with as many vegetables as I was hoping for. I have a few different kinds of tomato plants-yellow, big beef, early girl and yellow cherry tomatoes. I also have cucumbers and peppers in my garden.

Everything seemed to be going good, we had crazy weather here but the plants seemed to recover well from it. I was happy as I thought for sure I was going to lose a few plants. After one rain storm in the beginning of August, the tomato plants were leaning over. They were staked but growing to be huge so they could not handle the weight with the rain fall. They were not damaged, just leaning.

I went out to tend to the tomato plants and to try to stake them back up. They looked healthy but it looked like they were missing whole leaves. Not just little holes in the leaves from a bug chewing on them, whole leaves gone. I noticed that many of the small branches were missing all the leaves. Thought it was odd but didn't know what could have caused it. Most of the plant was still there so I was unsure of what to think.

I continued to look at the plants and see how I could stake them up better, thinking well maybe I will tie them back to the fence. All of a sudden, I went to grab a top branch of the tomato plant to lift it up and almost put my hand right onto this green caterpillar looking thing with this painful looking horn sticking out of it. Wow, you want to see somebody jump! I had no idea what it was, it was actually a cool looking thing but did not look friendly with that horn sticking out.

I left it there for a few minutes to go inside and Google about this. Apparently it was liking my tomato plant as that is where it was and I was missing leaves off the plant. Well after looking online I found out they are called Green Horn Worms. Some people also called the Tomato Horn Worms. Now I realized I had a problem. According to various gardening articles, Green Horn Worms do not just show up one at a time and they can eat the whole tomato plant in the matter of a couple days. They turn into a moth that has a wing span of almost 5 inches. Sounds kind of cool but I do not want these things destroying my plants.

People offered various things to get rid of them, certain pesticides and some recommended cutting the Green Horn Worms in half. I do not like worms or things that resemble worms but I am not sure I could sit there and cut them in half! After reading all I could on this, I went back outside to check for more Green Horn Worms. I read that the moth that lays the eggs never lays just one and that when you find the Green Horn Worm, there is never just one. Upon inspecting the plants, I found that every tomato plant had at least one that I could see. They blend in with the tomato plant so it makes it difficult to notice right away unless you know you have them and you are looking for them. As I was saying, I almost put my hand right on one and did not see it until I almost touched it.

I had to check my plants everyday, twice a day for about a week before I got all these Green Horn Worm pests removed. I did not cut them in half but I cut the branches they were on. Every time I saw one, it was at the edge of the branch so I just trimmed the end of the branch off with the worm on it. I found all together probably about a dozen of these pests. After trimming off the first round of Green Horn Worms, I sprayed my plants with a non toxic pest control. It kept all other bugs off this year and is non toxic to kids, pets and the environment. I am not sure if that helped get rid of some of these pests or not, it did take a few days before I was completely rid of them. What a nuisance they were, and they have a hungry appetite!

If you ever see them on your plants, take the steps to remove them immediately and keep eye out for more. Every day a few more would pop up for a few days. I have read that planting marigolds around the vegetables will keep various pests away but have not tried it yet. Also if you notice small black or brown droppings by your plants, look for the Green Horn Worms. That is a sign they could be there. I have started a blog with my gardening adventures on it, it is called My Deck Garden. Nothing to buy just my adventures of gardening as a newbie.