Tobacco hornworm on tomatoes
Despite its name, this is often the hornworm on garden tomatoes. Maryland Extension says it may be more commonly encountered there than the tomato hornworm. Check the horn and the stripes before you look anything up, although the control is the same for both species. Pick off the clean caterpillars by hand and leave any with white cocoons on their backs, because the Cotesia wasps inside them are the next generation of control. Maryland Extension says hornworm damage rarely warrants an insecticide.
At a glance
- Damage
- Whole leaves eaten, green fruit gouged
- Type
- Chewing
- Settings
- Field, Garden
- Threshold
- No garden threshold. UC IPM: treat only if hornworms cause extensive leaf damage or feed on fruit
- Ally
- Cotesia congregata and other Braconidae
- Rate
- Nothing to release. Leave any hornworm carrying white cocoons where it is
How to confirm it
A large green caterpillar, up to about 4 inches (10 cm), with seven white diagonal stripes on each side and a red horn on the tail. The tomato hornworm has V-shaped marks and a black or dark blue horn. Dark green or black droppings on the leaves below show where it is feeding.
Identification, lifecycle, degree days and every control option are on the full Tobacco hornworm profile. Not sure it is this pest? Answer four questions about the damage.