Hornworm

tomato hornworm

 One of my tomato plants is in rough shape. Something has been eating the leaves, which are completely gone. I have also been finding turds on my tomato plants. Birds do not produce solid poops. I know this because they poop on my beans daily and I have had the pleasure of being pooped on by a bird multiple times.

poops I found on my tomato plant

Now, I am not very squeamish. I do not mind spiders or snakes or mice. One thing that I do hate are caterpillars. Especially the ones without "fur". This stems from the time I climbed up a tree that had a tent caterpiller infestation. Once I reached the top I realized all the branches were dense with caterpillars. GROSS... Well, I went to hose the mystery poop off of my tomatoes this morning and what did I find. a MONSTER!

My mom tells me if you listen carefully you can hear them chew.  Before my fear of caterpillars and my love of gardening, this would have been a tremendous find. When I was just four or five I would collect Horn-Worms and make play grounds for them. I would make a series of ramps and bridges for them to play on. I took this thing down to the road (far from my garden) and debated throwing it in front of a car.

On a brighter note my arbor is completely covered in beans!

This is me "dancing" in my arbor.