Hornworms normally start feeding on the top of the plant so that’s the best place to start looking for damage. If left to feed on the plants they can defoliate it in just a few days.īut because of how they blend into the plant with their light green color you’ll often notice the plant damage first before you find the caterpillars on your plants. They will eat entire leaves, stems, and even green immature fruit. Hornworms are a garden pest that causes a lot of damage quickly. Tobacco hornworms have black spots along the edge of the white strips on its side and tomato hornworms don’t have these spots.Tomato hornworms have a black horn, tobacco hornworms have a red horn.Tomato hornworms have white V-shaped markings whereas tobacco hornworms have parallel white stripes.There are a few types of hornworms you may find in your garden including tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) and tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta).īoth types feed on nightshade vegetables in your garden causing damage. Bottom photo: Tobacco hornworm has diagonal white lines with a thin black edging and a red horn. Photo credit Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University,, photo modified to add text. Top photo: Tomato hornworm has white V-shaped stripes pointing towards the front of its body with a black or blue horn. With its wings extended its wingspan can be 4-5 (10.16-12.7 cm) inches wide. The adult hawkmoth, sometimes also called a sphinx moth is a large moth with mottled grey-brown wings. Don’t worry as creepy as this pest can look they don’t bite or sting. They also have a horn that looks somewhat like a thorn prod trueing from their rear giving them the name hornworm. Hornworm caterpillars are pale green in color with white or cream-colored lines on their sides and black and cream dots running along their side. Tomato hornworms can grow up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) long compared to most caterpillars we are used to seeing in the garden it can be quite a surprise when you first notice this pest! In addition to tomatoes, they also feed on other plants in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family including peppers, potatoes, eggplants, and tobacco.

These are the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) and tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) both are a nasty pest and can cause a lot of damage to your tomato crop quickly.

There are two types that are the main pest for gardeners in Canada and the U.S.A. If you’ve been growing tomatoes for a while there is a good chance that you’ve had to deal with these big green caterpillars in your garden. Photo credit Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University,. Close up of a tomato hornworm feeding on a tomato plant.

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