Where did they come from

[spoon]

Everyday I'm in the garden picking around and I check the tomatoe plants very good for caterpillers. Yesterday I found 11 of them and some were HUGE.

On the Brussels sprout I'll find couple pick them off and hour later there are more. Just about killed the plants turning the leaves over and over looking for these monster just to have them show up hour later in plain sight.

Where do they come from? It's driving me crazy

 

[WTM]

dont know, but i have been spraying mine with liquid sevin. they havent showed up yet, and hope they dont.

are they the horned catepillars? they will strip a tomato plant in a hurry, and you cant hardly see them. i usually look for black specks(their crap) and they will generally be right above that.

they seem to appear out of thin air. lol

 

[Dodge Man]

http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/hornworm.htm

The adult moth, sometimes referred to as a "sphinx", "hawk", or "hummingbird" moth, is a large, heavy-bodied moth with narrow front wings. The moth is a mottled gray-brown color with yellow spots on the sides of the abdomen and a wing spread of 4 to 5 inches. The hindwings have alternating light and dark bands.
Eggs of the tomato hornworm are deposited singly on both the lower and upper surface of leaves in late spring. The eggs hatch in six to eight days and are oval, smooth, light green to yellow in color, and measure 0.10 cm in diameter.

Larvae are pale green with white and black markings (see photo), and undergo 5-6 instars. The first instar is yellow to white in color with no markings. Later instars develop eight white, lateral "V-shaped" marks. A black projection or "horn" on the last abdominal segment gives the caterpillar the name "hornworm."
The caterpillar reaches the final instar in 3-4 weeks, and is 3 1/2 to 4 inches when fully mature. Fully-grown larvae then drop off of the plants and burrow into the soil to pupate. During the summer months, moths will emerge from pupae in about 2 weeks. Moths emerge from the soil, mate, and then begin to deposit the eggs of the next generation on tomato plants. By early fall, the pupae will remain in the soil all winter and emerge as a moth the following spring.

 

[spoon]

I know they are from moths...

talking about I get them off do a search on the leaves, nothing. Then hour later I'll look and there will be 3 to 5 more.

 

[spoon]

WTM, how often are you spraying? Sprayed yesterday and they are back again today. Picked them off and sprayed again

 

[catman529]

I always find tobacco hornworms (carolina sphinx moth) on my tomatoes. They get up to 4 inches before burying and pupating only to emerge as moths 2 weeks later to put more eggs on your plants. They can grow fast and defoliate your tomatoes fast... keep picking them.

 

[WTM]

WTM, how often are you spraying? Sprayed yesterday and they are back again today. Picked them off and sprayed again

i always spray according to the label. i think i have just been lucky so far. i think i have sprayed about 4 times in 2 months. dont have any bugs eating my beans either, just deer.

 

[catman529]

Oh yes the droppings are easier to spot than the caterpillars.

Also you may notice new growth that is missing leaflets, just appears to be stubs, cut cleanly unlike deer which just rip the tops off. Clean cut damage like that is usually caterpillars and then you have an idea of where to look for them.

The wasps make it easier to spot with the white cocoons all over the worms, but the worms won't die before doing a lot of damage to your plants, so pick them off but don't destroy the cocoons so more wasps can emerge and infect more caterpillars.

 

[Beekeeper]

Good fish bait!!!