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frikker

I found a Tobacco Hornworm on my Tomato Plant!

frikker
13 years ago

Hey everyone!

I found this *beautiful* large and healthy caterpillar on my purple heirloom tomato plant. I rushed inside to see what it was, and I believe it is actually a Tobacco (not a tomato) horn worm. It has a red, not black horn and has the diagonal, not V shaped stripes.

Questions!

* Why is it eating tomato, not tobacco plants!

* Should I expect more where he came from (update: just found 3 more)?

* He is just beautiful, seriously huge, and I kind of want to keep him. Has anyone raised these guys? I certainly have plenty of tomato leaves to keep him happy. What should I expect?

* And, finally, how close do I have to watch my leaves from now on? In other words, how long once a bugger gets on my plant before he desecrates the whole thing? My tomato plant is very large (4' high, with maybe 10 heads) and healthy but I'm not sure it could fend off an attack.

Thanks!

Blaine

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