Tomato Hornworms - The End

 

It's not really the end of the Hornworm. Or even the end of my troubles with the hornworms. But it is the final life stage of the hornworm. Meaning I found a hummingbird moth flitting around my flowers. Sad part was I was so excited to see one. Even though I knew that meant that some worms avoided my Bucket of Death, and that next year my issues with the worms will continue. Still very cool though. 

Roosters, Hens, and Eggs!

 

Henrietta is finally comfortable and relaxed and has started laying! Her eggs are large in size and a lovely sea green color. 

The two hens that have just recently joined my little flock lay small-medium sized brown eggs. 

All in all everyone is getting along and I haven't needed to buy eggs in almost 2 weeks!

A Handful of Hornworms

Literally.

I've picked so many hornworms this spring/summer/fall that I've started to wonder if I shouldn't have found a way to eat them. Like deep fried and covered with chocolate.

Cool Bug - Cicada?

I was mowing the lawn yesterday with my awesome electric lawn mower. It sounds like a really loud vacuum and I don't have to buy gas for it. Anyway. I heard a buggy noise OVER the sound of the lawn mower. So of course, I stopped mowing to find out what it was.

I found this guy/gal:

Look at the amazing clear wings. Awesome markings and colors.

View from the front:

It wasn't a small bug. My thumb is right next to it despite the fact the my camera decided to focus on my thumb. I don't know if this bug is a cicada or not. It's a lot bigger than I thought they were. It wasn't afraid though. I was right up close to it and I even touched it. It didn't fly away until it realized I was coming it's way with the mower.

The War Against the Hornworms

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.

The Bugs of the Prairie

Ok so it's not exactly the prairie. But if you travel straight west for at least an hour things do flatten out. And there are alot of bugs here. I like interesting bugs. The bugs I don't like bite, or have more than 6 legs, and jump at me.

This is a garden grub. I found him while pulling weeds.
This is a moth caterpillar. We found him in the grass. He was fuzzy and made my fingers hurt from his odd fuzz.


This is a leaf bug. He was about 2 inches long and looked funny when he flew away.
This wee worm is an Army worm. He was enjoying my tomato plants.
The Squash Bugs and Cucumber Beetles remain a problem. All of my squash plants have died. I'm so sad that my zucchini bread will have to come from someone elses garden.

Weapons of Mass Distruction

There is an unpleasant aspect to gardening. And I admit, I didn't pay it much attention when the signs first started showing.

The holes in the leaves; the slightly yellowed leaves;
The completely eaten leaves;
All the signs that my garden had dinner guests. It couldn't get that bad, right? I wanted and still strive for an organic garden. But what other choice was I facing? My beloved plants were dying.

I tried an organic insecticidal soap: reduced the bugs a bit. I tried Dawn dish soap: made soap bubbles on the ground, very effective (sarcasm). I tried spraying water at a high rate of speed: broken leaves and stems. I was starting to pull my hair out.

Until I decided on two things. Chickens and a more personal approach; woman to bug. Face to buggy little face.

I have chosen two weapons, so far, in my war against the bugs. The Bucket of Death and The Stick of Fire.

The Bucket of Death is the only method of ridding myself of Tomato Hornworms. I'll get into those later.

The Stick of Fire is my newest revelation and I am excited about it's effectiveness. It works best on the smaller bugs. The young Squash Beetles are my current target. I'm genuinely surprised at the effectiveness of this weapon. Beyond the antennae burning like eyebrows in an experiment gone wrong, the little buggers sizzle. There is something disturbingly pleasing in that sound. Maybe it's the sound of hope. Hope that by frying these beasts I just might save my squash.

We will see...