Today when I was in the garden I saw a lot of caterpillar poop on the ground.  So I looked around and found this caterpillar on one of my hot pepper plants.  Of course I knew what it was, so I cut the branch and carried it back to the potting bench.

 

We have seen these before, and we try to keep them out of the garden.  Tomato Hornworms!!!

 

Jon asked me what kind of moth produces these larvae.  So I looked it up.  Manduca quinquemaculata, and Manduca sexta, the five-spotted hawk moth.  OK.  We still don't want them in the garden.

 

But I found this interesting:  Tomato hornworms and tobacco hornworms are closely related.  Just two different species.  The tomato hornworm has V shaped markings, and the tobacco hornworm has these hashmarks.  The tobacco hornworm is more likely to live in the southern US, and the tomato hornworm lives more up north.  

 

We have always called these tomato hornworms.  But now we know that they are tobacco hornworms.  OK.  Whatever we call them, we still don't want them in the garden.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!