Preventing Tomato Hornworms in the Garden
Big, fat, and green! These caterpillars can do a lot of damage to our summer crops—especially our precious tomatoes! Learn how to control tomato hornworms in your garden.
What Are Hornworms?
If you’ve ever grown tomatoes, chances are good that you’ve dealt with these green caterpillar pests. There are two main garden pest species, tomato hornworms, and tobacco hornworms, found in most regions of the U.S. and southern Canada. Both species can ruin your tomato crop in record time! They also feed on other plants in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family: eggplants, peppers, tobacco, and potatoes. They blend in quite easily with the green foliage and feed non-stop, creating spotty and chewed leaves and fruit.
Tomato (and tobacco) hornworms live according to the following life cycle:
- In late spring, large adult moths lay eggs on the undersides of foliage, which will hatch within a week. The adult moths are easily recognizable; they’re commonly called sphinx or hummingbird moths.
- Caterpillar larvae hatch in late spring and feed for 4 to 6 weeks before creating a cocoon and overwintering in their pupal state in the soil. If the weather is warm enough, larvae may burrow for as little as 2 to 3 weeks.
- Moths emerge in the spring and then lay eggs once again. In warmer climates, more than one generation a year may be possible.
How to Identify Tomato Hornworms
Hornworms can be up to 5 inches long—which can be quite a shock when you first come across one! They do the most damage in the caterpillar—or larval—stage. They are pale green with white and black markings, plus a horn-like protrusion stemming from their rear. (Don’t worry, they aren’t able to sting or bite!) The caterpillar also has eight V-shaped stripes on its green body. Tomato hornworms come from a mottled brown-gray moth (see picture, above).
The larvae blend in really well with the plant greenery. Just get used to a daily patrol, looking for hornworm eggs and small caterpillars. Here are some cues of infestations:
- Hornworms tend to start feeding from the top of the plant; look for chewed or missing leaves.
- Look closely at the TOP of your tomato leaves for dark green or black droppings left by the larvae feeding on the leaves. Then look at the underside of leaves, and you’ll likely find a hornworm.
- Look for stems missing some leaves and wilted leaves hanging down. You may find white cocoons and their hornworm hosts nearby.
Tomato vs. Tobacco Hornworms
There are a few species of hornworms that inhabit North American gardens, including tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) and tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta). Both species feed on common garden plants like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Here’s how to tell which caterpillar is which:
- Tobacco hornworms have parallel white stripes; tomato hornworms have white V–shaped markings.
- Tobacco hornworms have black spots lining each of their stripes; tomato hornworms do not.
- Tobacco hornworms have a red “horn” on their tail end; tomato hornworms have a black horn.
(It’s a tobacco hornworm! Notice the white stripes with dotted black lines and a red “horn.”)
Tomato Hornworm Damage
If you see leaves with large holes and severe defoliation, devoured flowers, and/or scarring on fruit surfaces, you might have tomato or tobacco hornworms. The fruit also may be damaged by sunscald because of the reduced foliage cover.
How to Get Rid of Tomato Hornworms
- Handpicking is an excellent tactic for control if you have the time and patience, or a small garden. The caterpillars are not dangerous and can neither sting nor bite. If you are squeamish about crushing these large insects, drop them into soapy water instead (or feed them to your chickens if you’ve got a flock).
- If the hornworm population or the area of your garden is too large, insecticides can be effective, though they should be a last resort. You can use the organic pesticide Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), which is a bacterium that acts as a stomach poison on some larval insects (but doesn’t harm other plants or animals). It must be ingested by the caterpillars to be effective, and it must be reapplied to plant foliage after rain. Please check with your local Cooperative Extension for a list of approved insecticides in your area.
- Insecticidal soaps will also kill hornworms, but the pests need to come into direct contact with the substance.
How to Prevent Tomato Hornworms
- Till soil at the beginning and end of each gardening season to destroy overwintering larvae. Tillage has been shown to cause up to 90% mortality.
- Keep wasps around; a number of species are beneficial insects that feed on hornworms and act as a biological control. You may see hornworms with parasitic wasp larvae attached, which look like grains of rice (see picture above). These attacked hornworms will continue to feed for a little while, but will soon succumb to their hitchhikers, so it’s wise to leave them alone and let the wasps carry out their life cycle. Alternatively, remove infected hornworms and place them far away from your garden. This way, the wasps will still do their job, but the hornworm won’t continue to damage your crops.
- Other beneficial insects, like ladybugs and green lacewings, may feed on young hornworms or hornworm eggs.
- To keep hornworms away from your tomato plants next year, try interplanting dill or basil; marigolds are also an excellent companion plant.
See the Garden Pest and Disease Library for more information on common pest problems.
Do you have tomato hornworms? How do you handle them in the garden?
Catherine Boeckmann
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Is it okay to spray a dawn and water solution then spri lie with cayenne powder on purple Cherokee tomato plants to treat for hornworms?
I started having a problem with green tomatoe worms so i used a solution of dawn & water to spray the plants. I think it is killing the plants as the leaves are turning brown & the blooms are falling off. They are not looking good. I wouldn't use it.
I noticed my tomato plant leaves curling, a week or so ago and attributed it to the Texas heat. It had been many years since I'd had a tomato garden, so I had forgotten all about that 'sign'. I'm hoping the pesky worms have all been located. My question is, will the leaves of my plants uncurl and look full and lush again?
I use dawn (actually the store brand version of it) on my plants all the time to get rid of soft-bodied bugs. It works great. HOWEVER, you have to rinse it off. Spray the plant then wait about 5-15 minutes then use a hose to rinse the soapy water off thoroughly. It doesn't take long to kill soft-bodied insects with soapy water. Most die instantly. Some people say using soapy water sprays with dawn or other soaps with degreasers damages your plants as it kills the good bacteria on the leaves. But my plants always look and grow healthy as long as I rinse the soapy water off. You have to understand that most gardening information, whether on blogs, videos, books, etc, is purely anecdotal. For me, I use what works so I can have a bountiful harvest. I grow organically - the only exception is my use of soapy water sprays. I have to keep the bugs at bay or else I might as well stop gardening altogether.
Leaves that have been directly chewed or affected won’t recover, but any new growth should be fine as long as the insects didn’t infect that plant with a disease. Keep an eye on the plant to see how it develops.
They are not just tomato eaters. I just found 3 large juicy ones on my small petunia like plants. WOW, didn't expect that. I pulled the plant out since it was just a twig now and placed the plant with worms attached in a plastic ziplock Baggie. Off to the dump they go!
Since I use no chemicals in my garden and hand pick off all pests found I feed them to wild birds. I have a platform made from scrap wood in the middle of my garden space where I toss the pests. This, in turn, attracts more insect-eating birds to the garden I have seen them scratching and feeding on something just below the surface of soil on several occasions. If have chickens or ducks just add pests to their feed. When I had chickens I would let them into garden in spring before planting and in fall after crops pulled and let them feast.
My grandmother used to go out in the evenings or early mornings with a pair of scissors and just snip in half every hornworm she found - never had to touch them.
I noticed a lot of black dropping on the ground around my cherry tomato plants about 1 month ago they looked like coffee grounds because we had some gusty winds the night before I thought that they had blown off the roof and as I was sweeping them away I notice a large green caterpillar I googled it and discovered it was a tobacco hornworm so I went over all my plants and removed over 20 all varies sizes then I got my husband to check over them behind me and discovered a few more that I missed. The next morning there were more droppings and I removed another 10 and for the next 3 mornings after more droppings but only 3 this time then 1. Then nothing I thought I was in the clear then just last week I found a huge amount of dropping around by Better boys and discovered the biggest fattest hornworm yet. This is the 1st year I've seen them do you think I will get them every year now? I forgot to mention that all my Tomatoes are in containers on my deck with fresh soil every year.
Hi Lesley,
The tomato hornworm pupates into a sphinx moth, also known as a hawk moth. They lay eggs on tomato plants that will turn into the hornworms. Since you change your soil every year, it is unlikely that they will be a consistent problem year to year: No pupas will overwinter in your soil. The moths are just finding your plants. Keep in mind, right now is prime moth season. As summer moves on into August, you will see less sign of caterpillars and moths.
