I really, really hate these things and they really, really love the four-o-clocks by my front door- which I seldom use. I think an extended family moved in out there. I've been picking and smushing (gross), but they are pretty good at blending in. So it's a race to see if the plants are decimated before the worm family. I'm doing my part.
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You'll think I'm nuts, but I love horn worms? Why? Because they turn into the most beautiful hawk moths. When we used to get horn worms in our tomatoes, we would "pick them," put them in a bucket, and relocate them to any "weed" we could find around the farm belonging to the nightshade family. Tomatoes are one of the nightshades, so we figured horn worms might like to eat other night shade type plants. Squish them? I couldn't do it!
sprinkle your plants with cinnamon see if it helps.
I got "stung" by one of these once (I think it was this) and it hurt so bad. Be careful!
We use red chili pepper flakes, early in the morning when the plants are damp so they stick. Doesn't kill them but sure makes them move on..... I get them at Dollar Tree and that makes them affordable as well as safe. Works on bunnies eating stuff they shouldn't, too.
As far as I know, horn worms don't and can't sting anyone. Their "horns" merely serve to make them look fearsome to anyone who might want to mess with them. Do a Google search for hawk moth to see what beautiful creatures horn worms metamorphize (how do you spell that word) into. The first time I saw one I thought it was a humming bird!
Aw everyone needs to eat! :)
You'll have to tell us if the pepper flakes work for you too-I bet they will.
Here's another tip. If you have mayapple plants, pick some leaves and lay them around and among the tomato plants. It makes the worms go away. Supposedly a Native American wisdom thing. We've done it and it worked.
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/botany/mayhist.html
Over here in the UK we simply call them Hawk moth caterpillars and I've never heard them called horn worms. I wonder if what you call them affects how you think of them! Aunt Dinah is correct - they can't sting. I think hawk moths are beautiful so I'd love to find them on my plants!
Stopping by to see if your friday shoot out is up yet! :)
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