Ewww! I've stepped on one of those by accident and it sounded, looked and felt gross! Just a warning. LOL

--
Lisa
"Dave Fouchey" wrote in message ...
Tomato Horn Worms, pick 'em off by hand and stomp the suckers flat.

Dave


On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 03:30:26 GMT, "Stephen Younge"
wrote:

Yesterday I saw something that I have never seen before in my life. Huge,
green caterpillars on my tomato plants! I never thought I'd spot the biggest
bugs of my life in Colorado!

My attention was first drawn to the plants when I noticed tiny droppings
around the base of the containers (20" pots). Some areas of the plants
looked like the leaves and stems had been nibbled. I finally noticed
several, huge green caterpillars clinging to the stems. They were so well
camouflaged that I have to be about 6" away to notice them.

Here are some close-ups of the buggers:
http://home.attbi.com/~stephen.and.kim/1.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~stephen.and.kim/2.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~stephen.and.kim/3.jpg

Anyway, my questions a

1. What are these things? Where did they come from? I planted the tomatoes
in pots with store-bought potting mix. Did they arrive by air?

2. I pried 7 of the buggers off my plants, but couldn't find any more. What
can I do to to prevent them from coming back?

3. Are they poisonous, given that they are eating poisonous tomato plants?
Will birds or other predators go after them?

Cheers,
Stephen
Boulder, CO


Dave Fouchey, WA4EMR
http://photos.yahoo.com/davefouchey
Southeastern Lower Michigan
42° 35' 20'' N,
82° 58' 37'' W
GMT Offset: -5
Time Zone: Eastern