David, the tomato/tobacco hornworms can be found on pretty much any plant in the Solanaceae family.....tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, pepper, eggplant, and even some Solanaceous weeds.

I predict that if you plant tobacco seeds you will have these hornworms on your tobacco AND tomato plants.

The key to preventing a lot of damage is to expect these insects to show up and to be on the lookout for the eggs. Smush them and you'll not have to worry.

> The key to preventing a lot of damage is to expect these
> insects to show up and to be on the lookout for the
> eggs. Smush them and you'll not have to worry.

Where do you look for the eggs? I have enough trouble finding the 3 inch long worms. It only happened once this year, and I found 7 or 8 about 3 inches long and one that was only about an inch. I believe that got all of them because I've seen no more droppings and no more devourestation. But how do you find the eggs?

The eggs look like tiny, round pearls and are found on the upper and lower surface of the leaves. The adults deposit them one at a time, never in clusters.

They are very small....like the head of a pin. The baby caterpillar hatches from those eggs, which should tell you how long they have been feeding on your tomatoes to get that large. It pays to be observant.

My advice to you is to Google Tobacco Hornworm Eggs. You'll find many educational links with lots and lots of pictures. Knowledge is power.

Rhizo,

I wonder if you can tell me what laid a cluster of small white eggs on the underside of a leaf on my tomato plant? I should've taken a picture but tossed it out quickly. The hornworm eggs are laid individually, right?

Thanks
Nerry

Nerry, T. Hornworm eggs are deposited individually. The cluster of white eggs could be from a number of possibilities. The exceedingly common brown marmorated stinkbug comes to mind first.

Unless some magnification is offered, it can be difficult to ID a cluster of 'small white eggs ' from a photo.

OMG- You sure do your insects' laying habits:-) Do you know, I've been plagued with stinkbugs ALL summer. I chase them away and they come back... I'm pretty sure they belonged to one of those stinkies. Now another one, twice something's laid a brown chain of eggs onto the stems of my herbs, namely parsley and oregano. It looks like a row of hemstitch. Any ideas? Many thanks, Rhizo.

The Black Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) lays eggs on parsley, but usually one at a time on the underside of the parsley leaves (as well as dill, fennel, rue, Zizia, carrot, etc.)

Thanks Terrene but I think this was something else that laid those eggs...