Gargantuan Predator & Misc other Foes!

songstriss wrote:Ok this has to be the BIGGEST horn worm I have ever seen:



I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it actually measured over 4"!!! I don't know how I missed it. But here is the amount of damage it did just since this morning!



I have been finding lots of little green grasshoppers and in the past have just caught them and let them go elsewhere. Well, I have had about enough of these bugs eating my precious veggies. I caught the little guy and put it in a container of water. I held it under the water for a little while and then took my hand away. The little booger swam to the top! WHAT? It was about to hop out but I caught it again. This time I sort of anchored it down. My husband says he's afraid of how violent I've become. LOL. Ok one more thing. I also found this little guy. Is it friend or foe?

camprn wrote:The little spider is a friend. The horn worm not so much, but the moth is a beautiful creature. If you find a horn worm with white egg cases on it, pick it off the tomato and take it to the other side of the yard, the eggs will hatch and give you more parasitic braconid wasps!

donnainzone10 wrote:Several years ago, I noticed that something had taken bites out of a couple of tomatoes. Upon closer inspection, I discovered a giant, 4" hornworm, removed it, placed it on a paper towel, measured and photographed it, then sprayed it with organic pesticide. Didn't work! Finally, I had to toss it into the trash bin. (It was too big to squish without my becoming squeemish.)

Since then, I've planted borage in my garden and have seen very few hornworms, all of them quite small.

southern gardener wrote:.... they camouflage so well