Meet the Tomato Horn Worm

Every year I put in a small garden. A few tomato plants, peppers, green beans, maybe some lettuce, and this year some squash since Devon and Beth had extra plants. I usually plant it and forget about it for awhile. I would not call myself a green thumb by any stretch but it is always fun to get in vegetables, and now that the boys are getting older, they love to watch everything grow and help pick the produce. I sent out Henry to pick some green peppers the other day and he came back in telling me "I HAD to come out and see something."

It was a Tomato Horn Worm. When I was growing up, we had a HUGE garden. And I'm not joking... in my little 5-yr old mind, it was the size of about half a football field (or maybe a third!... correct me if I'm wrong Mom!). We had tons of every type of vegetable. And all of us had responsibility in the garden. That worked out well since there was always 6-8 kids available! One year, I distinctly remember Devon had to build the mounds for the melons, put the seeds in, and then Meg and I had to come behind him and cover the seeds with dirt and water. I also remember picking green beans FOREVER and then getting to watch Star Search on Saturday night with Ed McMahon while breaking off the ends on all the beans we had collected. Our thumbs would get so sore.
Ok... I'm digressing. That was just a short memory lane walk for my own record-keeping :) All of this to say, I clearly remember these worms on our tomato plants. They can destroy your plants if you don't take care of them. Hen found this on our green pepper plant and it had white little eggs all over it. So I told him to call my mom to find out what it was. Of course, she knew and, Mom, you were right. It is the parasitc wasp that lays its eggs on this worm. If you are interested in more, check out this.