Sunflowers... then tomatoes, whats next?

[BishopiMaster]

i have become quite the gardener, my annuals and perennial sunflowers are doing very well, being that they are from kansas and im growing them in san mateo. and now i think i want to try some tomatoes, both as an ornamental plant and a crop. i also have 1 small question and that is, is the tobacco hornworm found in my area? i think i have seen it once, but im not the caterpillar man. i really do have a passion for vigorous plants that grow like weeds

 

[bugmankeith]

It's the Tomato hornworm you need to watch out for, not the Tobacco.

The only information I can find is this.

Range: Includes eastern North America. More common in southern states, especially along the Gulf Coast.

 

[arachnocat]

We have them all over CA. Tobacco hornworms look really similar. The only difference is the stripes. I think they eat tomato plants too but I'm not sure.

They make great food for turtles and frogs. The wild ones are toxic because of the plants they eat. Not sure what's in the "hornworm chow" that you get with store bought worms. I got them as a treat for my turtle last year and he loved them.

It's not too hard to pick them off the plants. My grandmother used to grow tomatos and I would go out every day looking for worms. They leave a pretty obvious poop trail so they're easy to spot.

 

[bugmankeith]

The adult moths are actually important though, funny how one stage is a pest, and the other is helpful.

The adult moths are great pollinators of deep flowers, so even if I saw some larvae on my plants, I mean im not going to starve if they eat my tomatoes, lol, let em eat the plant, I wont kill them. They'll never completely go away anyway, so I leave them alone. Not only that, but the wasp species that preys on them needs them for food for their young.

Unless your a farmer who needs those crops for money this is just a pest for a while, then in return, the adults pollinate your flowers for you.