Tomato Hornworms are beautiful, bright green caterpillars with black stripes and a red horn on the bum end. I was so excited when I found the first one.
Then I realized it was eating all the leaves and the tomatoes off my plants.
After some research and a lot of trial and error I found the only way to get rid of these pretty pests was to pick them off by hand and drown them in a bucket of soapy water. Make sure it's soapy water as the soap helps break the surface tension of the water so the worms can't hold their heads above the water. Don't be shocked if you grab one of these and they spit sticky green stuff on you. Or if they whip their heads around and make clicking/chomping noises. It's all show. Just grip the little beasty tightly and pull. Your tomatoes will thank you.
I have experienced two separate hornworm hatchings. The first started in the spring while the plants were still young but had flowers and a few green tomatoes. My official count was 23 individual hornworms. This second hatching has so far brought out 8 hornworms. One of which was especially large.
All in all while these are fantastic looking caterpillars I don't have a very high opinion of them and wish they would stay out of my garden.
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