Learn All About How To Get Rid Of Tomato Hornworm Eggs
Vegetable gardening is not something for people with a faint heart. You still have to care for your garden even after nurturing the tiny seedlings into vigorous, big food machines. Apart from the weather, wildlife also poses a great threat to home-based crops. Pests are a part of horticulture and shrewd gardeners could organically control most moochers effortlessly. But, some invaders cause so much damage quickly that they emerge into the mythical ground of lawn lore. For tomato lovers, a few pests loom bigger than tomato hornworm eggs.
This green caterpillar with white eggs eviscerates tomato plants rapidly, leaving you little time to intervene. Despite their well-earned notoriety, hornworms are pretty beatable if you know how to react and what to search for. So, here’s everything that you need to know to deal with tomato hornworm eggs.
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Contents
What are Tomato Hornworms?
If you have grown tomatoes, then there are chances that you have dealt with the green caterpillar pests. Mainly, there are two garden pest species, tobacco hornworms and tomato hornworms, which could be located in various regions of the United States and southern Canada. These species can ruin the tomato crop in no time. They feed on other crops in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family: tobacco, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. These pests feed unstoppable and create chewed and spotty fruits and leaves. They blend in pretty easily with the green foliage.
The Manduca quinquemaculata, tomato hornworm (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) does not reach usually economically damaging stages on commercial lawns. However, a large number of larvae could sporadically happen in home gardens. These hornworms feed just on solanaceous plants, primarily on tomatoes. These are various solanaceous weeds that serve as alternate hosts, such as jimsonweed, nightshade, and horsenettle.
Tomato hornworms reside as per the life cycle as follows:
How to Recognize Tomato Hornworms?
Tomato hornworms could be 5 inches long, which can come as a shock when you first see them. They damage at the stage of larval or caterpillar. These pests are pale green with black and white markings, along with a horn-like lump stemming from the rear. However, they do not bite or sting. The caterpillar has eight V-shaped stripes on the green body. Hornworms come from a blotchy brown-gray moth. Watch this video to know more about tomato hornworms.
The caterpillar blends in well with the plant greenery. So, you need to look out for hornworm eggs and caterpillar on your daily patrol. Here are cues of pest infestations:
How to Eliminate Tomato Hornworms?
How to Prevent Tomato Hornworms?
Conclusion
Now, you know what tomato hornworm eggs are and how you can prevent them from damaging your tomato plants. The best way to prevent hornworms is to till the soil at the starting and ending of each gardening season. Or else, use beneficial insects to get rid of them. You can also try interplanting to control tomato hornworms. Share the article with other garden lovers who may find it useful. If you have any queries, post them in the comment section below!
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