"JoeSpareBedroom" expounded:

They are definitely NOT hard to spot. They're the size of an adult's thumb
sometimes! The first time I saw one, I was working in the garden and (before
playing in a band wrecked my ears), I heard something chewing. I followed
the sound and found this monster. Pretty impressive, though. Like a garden
pest created by Disney. :-)

The easiest indicator for me (besides tomatoes eaten to the nub!) are
the large black feces they leave behind. If you're lucky, the little
parasitic wasps will find them and infect them - you'll know by the
little white cocoons hanging off of the hornworm. If you find them
like that, don't kill them! Let the wasp larvae do their business.
You'll never have to worry about hornworms again )
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

"helco" expounded:


I hope no one feels this is out of place in this group. Here's a link to
two lovely poems written about hornworms by Stanley Kunitz, who died this
past May at the age of 100. He was a pulitzer prize winner and was twice
the US poet laureate, and he was an avid gardener. The link also shows
pictures of a hornworms in two phases: one as is being discussed in this
thread, and the other toward the end of its life. (There's also a photo of
the poet.) The poems are Hornworm: A Summer Reverie, and Hornworm: An
Autumn Lamentation.
http://p216.ezboard.com/fthearcadian...ID=966. topic

Thank you for posting this, I enjoyed them both!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Visit your tomatoes daily and pick off the miserable beasts. If they have
the eggs of parasitic wasps on them, throw them aside. Otherwise squash
them. Odd twist -- the adults of these larvae are marvelous --
http://personal.ecu.edu/wuenschk/SphinxMoth.htm

"cathych" wrote in message
ups.com...
Every year I am beseiged by tomato hornworms. This year I faithfully
used diamotateous earth, thinking that of course, this would eradicate
the problem. Well, several days ago, my cherry tomatoes, my peppers,
(all different kinds), as well as my larger tomatoes were full of
blooms, really loving the hot rainy weather. Today I went out & checked
for any developing cucumbers, & guess what? All of the blooms had been
EATEN entirely, there is not a single one of them left. How can I get
rid of these things once & for all? I have been changing out my potting
soil entirely each growing season, thinking that this might have been
the problem, but apparently they are living somewhere.