The garden is an ebb and flow of seasons and events, of the predictable and the unexpected. Spring comes, then summer, fall, winter and spring again, yet each year is different. In a decade in the garden, always growing tomatoes, I have encountered one tomato hornworn. Today I found about ten.
This is in the greenhouse, which was originally screened so as to keep out just such vermin as this, until I realized I was also keeping out the bees and butterflies and there were no tomatoes growing. Now there are lots of tomatoes growing, and the vermin have come as well. Here’s a sure tip-off you have Hornworm trouble:
Notice the distinctive lack of leaves. Once I saw that I knew to start looking, though despite being three feet long and terrifying the Hornworms are surprisingly hard to find, being as they are tomato-plant colored. The trick is to find places stripped of vegetation and look somewhere close by. Fortunately, a warm summer in a greenhouse has been good for the tomatoes, and they have foliage to spare:
Excepting the one entirely stripped of leaves, which may be a goner, but it was doing poorly anyway, a mere foot tall surrounded by its seven foot brothers and sisters. Perhaps the Hornworms are just playing out their role, winnowing the herd of the sick and the weak.
What I didn’t know is that Hornworms appear to eat the tomatoes as well:
Or perhaps there is another pest on the scene somewhere.
I was excited to find the worms, though, because then I could indulge in one of my favorite sports, feeding Hornworms to the chickens. A Hornworm is like a big ol’ juicy Gut Calzone or Intestine Burrito to a chicken, and watching them go after one makes me think I am seeing the origins of Rugby. The first chicken to the Hornworm snatches and runs, and the others dash off in pursuit, trying to steal the ball and run off in the other direction.
I can hear the broadcast in my head: “There’s Rhode Island Red with the steal. She’s weaving among the apples, behind the coop- OOHH! Taken down by Silver Laced Wyandotte. Look at that girl beat that worm against the stones.”
I tried to get some action shots, but it all happens so fast; I’m more used to taking shots of apples and sunflowers.
It probably helps to use your imagination.
Just like chickens
So now the chickens hang out outside the greenhouse and wait for me to offer up another goodie. They’ve long since learned that we are the motherlode of food; anyone comes out the door with a plate or bowl and they are racing to the fence, and they follow me around when I water to catch the refugee bugs that flee the deluge.
So, yes, I will have to be diligent in my inspections of my tomatoes, because I am sure there are more than just ten Hornworms in my tomato jungle. But it’s worth it for the show, and for the peace and contentment of our flock.