Let's talk today about one of the most annoying and largest pests in the garden that's at least still an insect and that would be the tomato hornworm.

I mean, this thing can just decimate a tomato plant.

And weirdly enough, as large as it is,

it can still be hard to see.

I don't know why that is.

I guess mother nature camouflaged this guy pretty well.

So the first sign is often just dead leaves low on the plant, not even dead, but just sort of stripped bare leaves.

And what you really want to look for are the barrel-shaped droppings.

They're kind of greenish.

Those are the ones that are tell-tale signs. Of course, the most telltale sign is simply a tomato hornworm on the plant.

But for some reason, again, when you've got a big indeterminate tomato they are difficult to see if you are growing vertically or training them

It's easier to see because they're more spread out and you can kind of see them hanging out in the leaf or a stem now

Prevention of course is going to be your best and you can kind of see them hanging out in the leaf or a stem.

Now prevention of course is going to be your best cure so you want to keep them,

your tomatoes clear of any sort of weeds or debris or things like that

because that can be areas where the hornroom can hide.

But when it comes to tomato hornworms, unfortunately, the easiest thing to do is simply to hand-pick. If you have a lot of them, hand picking is a really good idea.

Just grab some soapy water and head out there in the morning perhaps and grab them. They can be about

about maybe like a half inch thick. They're like thick. They're really thick and even up to about four, three, four inches long. So they're not going to do anything to you.

They're just a little bit gross.

And if you're squeamish,

then you may not really want to touch them.

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