This is the time of year tomatoes are typically started by seed in our home. Many more are planted than we can use with the hopes of sharing them with a usually undesirable pest: the tomato hornworm, known as the Five-Spotted Hawk Moth in its adult stage.These moths, part of the Spingidae family, have a wing-span of 4-5 inches. They are commonly called "hummingbird", "hawk", or sphinx" moths.
It's hard to believe, but I only ever remember seeing one of these my whole entire life. My mother would find them on our tomato plants and squish them before I could ever see--and rescue--them. The one pictured here is one that was found on a potted tomato plant of ours several years ago in IL.
We overwintered this little guy in a pot of soil on our front porch, and sadly, he never emerged. --LKR
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I remember having one of these as a child, the year that my parents' tomatoes were just infested w them! I can't remember if it emerged or not, but to this day, I still think they are cool! and cannot bring myself to squishing them like I can so heartlessly the cabbage moth cats! :)
~Laura
Hi, Laura! You are soooo lucky!!! My Mom always squished them, so I was deprived in my childhood! ;-) Tomato Hornworms burrow into the ground, pupate, and overwinter 'til spring, so are harder to observe their complete life cycles.
My mom also used to squish the Swallowtail larvae when she'd find them on her parsley. Now, thankfully, she coexists with them all, and even raises them to show her neighbor's children. :-) I need to find pics of these and post them up here! :-)
Funny, but with Cabbage Whites, I rarely saw them on our veggies, and would instead raise them on the bi-annual weed garlic mustard which I found them on. They have a shorter life cycle, and are the perfect fuzzy cats for kids to watch! I gave a bunch to an elementary school for the kids to observe, and they all enjoyed looking for the hidden cats on the weed's leaves.
My former boss and I liked having the lowly Cabbage White in the Butterfly House because they flew in *all* kinds of weather conditions when the other butterflies went into hiding!
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