These things will destroy a plant in one night

robisc

robisc

Had all the leaves stripped on a cayenne yesterday morning and found no evidence anywhere so i thought it may be deer, went back out this morning and found these 2 bigs guys on 2 other plants doing what they do, needless to say i mashed them and sprayed some liquid sevin around, funny thing is I have not seen one on my tomato plants just the peppers so keep an eye out for them, they work fast and are highly camouflaged.
 
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They are ruthless but so is that hay in sprouting from seed. :) The plants should recover to some degree. 
 
Straw > Hay
 
Best of luck and keep squishing! 
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
They are ruthless but so is that hay in sprouting from seed. :) The plants should recover to some degree. 
 
Straw > Hay
 
Best of luck and keep squishing! 
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That is wheat straw not hay.
 
Walkgood had excellent results spraying with BT... a bacteria that paralyzes the gut of these buggers so they stop eating and die. It's safe for people, pets, and friendly insects (because they don't eat the plants it's sprayed on). It's organic too, so no chemical residues.
 
stickman said:
Walkgood had excellent results spraying with BT... a bacteria that paralyzes the gut of these buggers so they stop eating and die. It's safe for people, pets, and friendly insects (because they don't eat the plants it's sprayed on). It's organic too, so no chemical residues.
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Thanks, I may try it if I can find it locally, do you know if is this stuff widely available?
 
That's a tomato hornworm.
 
No time to mess around with the BT, get rid of them as soon as you see them.

Yes BT is very widely available, and it does work. Very good. I use it for all other caterpillar problems.
 
It is really called Bacillus Thuringiensis.
 
By all means, smash every one you see, but for every large Hornworm you see, there's probably 10 smaller ones you don't, and the BT will find them all if you cover the plants thoroughly with the spray. Not contradicting... just sayin' that this is a more complete response for those of us with not enough free time on our hands...
 
For the ultimate revenge, do a search on this site for Hot Pooper's hornworm video. Scissors in hand, he deftly stalks the hornworms, then STRIKES! Bye bye, hornworms! 
 
I use scissors to kill all of my horn worms. Stickman may be on to something though... I sprayed neem's and that's it last year. Didn't affect the horn worm. I would kill 4 or 5 and the next week I would kill 4 or 5 more. These guys are tough to see. The ones you do see kill them on site. Don't wait for chemicals but spraying for a preventative is a great idea if you can find something that works.
 
Not to deviate from the post but anyone have any idea how these worms get there in the first place?
 
Last year I had a big problem with those horn worms, I like to cut the tip of the horn and watch the juice ooze out, then a little bit of gasoline or alcohol and burn baby burn then right before I think they are about to die smash em with a rock :D
 
Wow those worms are really pretty, too bad they are such voracious pests. Even the regulars are kind of neat, but I've learned to revile them. Also some hornworms turn into the hummingbird moths we get, which are awesome to behold. Fortunately the hummingbird hornworms don't really bother cultivated plants.
 
I'm gonna be vigilant against them they pillaged 3 of my plants and I hope they will survive with no leaves, also I like you guys ways of annhilation too, fire is always good, as a matter of fact a torch is what took care of those 2 in the pictures this morning but I did pick up some of that BT and will apply it later this evening.
 
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