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Hawk Moths, Tomato Hornworms, and Nightshade
I have a patch of Four O'clocks which are often visited after dark by hawk
moths. My cats love to catch them and release them in the house and then run around watching as they bump against the ceiling. sarcasm Isn't it wonderful discovering new wildlife when you have cats? But the moth population seems devastated some years. One year I only saw one, and this year have seen none. There was a recent message that encouraged people to leave zebra-striped caterpillars on parsley because they became butterflies, so I looked on Google to find what hawk moths eat so that I could encourage their population. I found this link: http://inside.binghamton.edu/May-Jun...sresearch.html shock Hawk moths are hornworms! They eat the family of plants which includes the potato, tomato, petunia, tobacco, and eggplant. But the good news is that they prefer nightshade if they can find it. Should we grow poisonous nightshade to protect tomatoes? And tomatoes like to self-pollinate, but should we be concerned about cross pollination if we save seed? |
#3
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Hawk Moths, Tomato Hornworms, and Nightshade
"SugarChile" wrote... You don't say where you live, but here in my part of PA there's plenty of deadly nightshade in the wild. Any woodsy edge or weedy spot is likely to have some, and it's probably not a good idea to introduce it into your cultivated areas. I live 10 miles from the Arkansas-Missouri border. Nightshade is common here as well. I checked some by my fence and saw no caterpiller damage. The only plants I've ever seen hornworms on are tomatoes, and I like to leave a few of them undisturbed just for the sake of the moths. I've never had a serious infestation of them--plenty of garden birds, perhaps--I might feel differently about it if I did. Same here, I only found one hornworm stripping leaves from a tomato one year, and I destroyed it. If there are enough plants in the future I may leave it or, better yet, try to relocate it to some nightshade. |
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