Hi Gladys-
These hornworms are the caterpillars from Hawkmoths, who pollinate angle trumpets at night.You aren't alone. My Daturas were decimated a few years back by them. They are all in the Solanacea family and share the same pests and diseases too, unfortunately. You can hand pick those monsters off. But if you see them covered in tiny white cocoons, leave them. That means that they were parasitized by the braconoid wasp, a beneficial who lives off the huge 'cat'. These little wasps will hatch and seek out other hornworms. They sure can do a lot of damage over night. Look for egg clusters on the undersides of the leaves and remove them. Good Luck!

I don't know what they are called haven't looked them up. But I had some big green caterpillars on my brugs. I bought the natural stuff to kill them. It is called BT I got it at Lowes and I sprayed them yesterday morning at 8am and this evening when I went out to check on my plants there was a big one hanging off a leaf dead. I am hoping it keeps working but I will have to spray again cause it rained in the afternoon. I am trying to resist and not use chemicals trying new biological fungus for bugs and also for fungal problems too.

Enlighten, I understand your plight all too well. I try not to use chemicals either, however, BT has never worked for me. I've tried it on salvia for budworms and it didn't seem to kill a singe one. It left me wondering about the shelf life and whether I got an old batch. I'm glad to hear that it works for someone, may have to give it another chance.

Gladgourd, I have found neem oil to work very well for them, but if you're trying to prevent any damage at all, pick the eggs off. It's not very practical if you have a backyard jungle ,but if it's just a few plants, it's very easy to remove the eggs before they hatch. Each moth lays around 3 to 5 eggs on the underside of the leaves. They are very easy to spot; big round greenish eggs. They will usually lay one egg on a leaf and move on to another leaf. On a side not, they're not just food for tomato hornworms. I have actually found rustic sphinx on my daturas as well.

P.S. I'll trade you... hornworms for spider mites :)

Hornworms give me the willies! ICK!

Alan I believe it is working, I used 4 tsp per gallon of water with a little dawn mixed in for a sticker. Tonight I found another huge hornworm(i looked up a picture of them and that is what they are) dead and hanging off a leaf. I also had some Naturalis L mixed in too at 2 tbsp a gallon along with Actinovate for fungal problems. BT works from the inside they have to eat it and Naturalis L works from the outside, it is for other chewing insects like mites and thrips and whitefly, it is a fungus that attacks their body and kills them. I just read about Naturalis L and it doesn't say anything about it killing caterpillars.

Hi Kasha, Enlighten, AllanRandall and tommyr,

Thank you all so much for your feedback.

I had NO idea that brugmansia is in the Solanacea family! This is why I love gardening...you learn something every day.

In the 4 years I have grown brugmansias, I had never had one hornworm and that is why I was so shocked to see them defoliating the plant.

This year I tried Spinosad to keep hornworms and squash vine borers down. So far, I have not had success. Time to switch to BT!

Gladys

Find some little boys and a mason jar. They will go crazy picking off the hornworms and collecting them!!