Detailed information on Carolina Sphinx Moth, Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

I

IndianaOhio

Bath, IN | March 2017 | Positive

Sphinx moths are useful pollinators. I'm happy to donate a few tomato plants for them. Birds and opossums probably get a good snack out of the moths, too.

People should use some type of protection for the plants they want to keep, though.

V

Vacula333

Allentown, PA | March 2017 | Neutral

I am going to stay neutral on this bug, even though they are very destructive to tomato plants, the wasp will find them and do the "zombie host" on them.. creating more wasps as a benefit to any garden! The adult moths are very pretty and also serve a purpose for bats and spiders who are also beneficial... so instead of using an insecticide, encourage the wasp who lays its white eggs on the caterpillar, I am at a lost at the moment for the wasps name.

M

MomNatureHelper

Bellevue, NE | August 2016 | Positive

Commenting only on adult moth as I do not grow my own food yet. My kids and grandkids learn so much with these docile, friendly critters - I can't lie, I play with them too. They are good teachers to observe and enjoy. I understand how people would not be happy about the caterpillar stage, but that's not applicable to me, so they get a big, furry, winged, thumbs up from us!

D

Dosetaker

Mason, NH (Zone 5b) | June 2012 | Negative

A terrible pest that can do an amazing amount of damage in a very short time. They blend into the plant so very well that even when fairly large they can be very difficult to spot. I find early morning and just as night is falling is the best time to seek and destroy them.

p

prickersnall

Madison, WI | June 2011 | Positive

When I was a child, I thought these "bugs" were "ickey"; my sister pointed out to me what they grew into.."white-lined sphinx" moths; then I loved them..fear all gone. Their delicate coloring and precision-clean lines are awesome.

Technically, a bug is an insect with sucking mouth-parts. This guy eats from the edges of leaves, etc, while holding onto the leaf-edge using sets of "claspers". Watch them sometime. They nibble the leaf edge from top to botttom of their "neck"range, then repeat. They grow to be large, so they poop generously; and they become beautiful, good-sized adult moths. I knew them on the east coast, as well as in Wisconsin...both natural habitats, I think.

I'm willing to share with them.

t

themikeman

Concord, NC (Zone 7a) | September 2010 | Positive

I had a large catepillar larvae of one of these on one of the spiked seed pods of my datura angel's trumpet plant. I thought it was a lunar moth larvae. It did little if any damage that I noticed to the plant. about 3 weeks after it disappared I was out on my back porch about 8 o'clock looking at the newly opened angel trumpets and this huge greyish appearing beautiful moth at first frightened me. i was awestuck by its beauty and size. it is not aggresive as people say as when i tried to photograph him i scared him away..just beautiful i dont care if it does eat my tomatoes or my trumpet vine in the future. im shocked it can eat the datura vine and it's seed pods as they are poisonous.again just beautiful.mike

T

Tina_A

Caddo Mills, TX (Zone 8a) | July 2010 | Negative

Although I think that the caterpillar is very pretty and I do love the moths, I grow tomatoes and peppers for me not them, plus they poop ALOT. Gross

D

DMgardener

(Daniel) Mount Orab, OH (Zone 6b) | January 2010 | Positive

Cutest thing ever! Both the Moth and caterpiller! Since I do not grow many tomatoes, but do grow lots of night blooming plants, so I do not mind this bug at all;)
One really unusual tidbit about this bug is that they are a host for the parasitic fly. Sometimes on tomato plants, you can see one caterpiller covered with white appendages, the eggs of the parasitic fly.

~Daniel

p

palmbob

Acton, CA (Zone 8b) | April 2009 | Neutral

Hmmm... it's not Carolina here, nor do we have any tobacco plants in this area (California)... I dont' have any tomatoes or peppers but I did discover one shredding one of my Brugmansias (guess the Brugmansia toxins are not too bad for this caterpillar). Still, moth is impressive and beautiful, so it's hard for me to give this a negative rating. Now, it was eating my palms, that would be a different matter entirely.

c

catman529

Franklin, TN | April 2009 | Positive

Great moth to rear from your tomato plants. Since I grow a small number of tomatoes, hornworms are never a serious problem and I pick them off as soon as I find them (I do look for them frequently). Easy to find on tomatoes due to holes in leaves, missing leaflets, and/or frass collecting on the leaves or ground. I have reared a few to adult moths and have one mounted in my small insect collection.

c

cowpea123

Coushatta, LA | November 2008 | Negative

Nasty,Nasty horrible pests.

c

ceejaytown

The Woodlands, TX (Zone 9a) | June 2008 | Negative

The photo by DiOhio shows the cocoons of a parasitic wasp, and the circular holes reveal that the adult wasps have emerged. These are cocoons, not eggs, and not larvae. The adult wasp lays eggs in the hornworm. The eggs hatch and the larvae devour the "non-essential" parts of the hornworm until they are ready to pupate. They then exit and form these cocoons in which to complete their metamorphosis. The hornworm, a very sick fellow by now, dies. Although many refer to the adult as a hummingbird moth, the Carolina Sphinx moth is not one of the clearwing moths with the little lobster-like tails that we see in our gardens at dusk, flitting from flower to flower like a hummingbird.

j

jennscot

McGehee, AR | September 2007 | Negative

This summer these guys ate Tomatoes, tomatillos, several kinds of hot peppers, green peppers, and eggplant.

s

sandyferoz

South China, ME | August 2007 | Negative

I had my first encounter with a Hornworm today. I was training my tomato vines, which are about 5 feet tall, I grabbed onto a Tomato stalk, gripping right down on a huge 5 inch worm. I jumped back, startled, I never saw anything like it before. I was waiting for it to start smoking a hooka pipe! Anyway, I didn't want to touch it so I pulled off the stem and threw it in the bushes. Then, I found 2 little ones, and squished them. I found another huge one and my boyfriend squished it. EWWW These buggers are nasty. After researching it, I'll be sure to keep killing them, I really love my tomatoes too much to spare them.

f

freetwofarm

North Tazewell, VA | August 2007 | Neutral

I found 2 in my garden. One on the tomatoe plants and one on my bean vine. I am sure there are more because of the number of leaves missing on my tomatoe plants. As of right now I am neutral. I don't have any great damage to any plants, however, I will go negative if I do.

I

Illoquin

Indianapolis, IN (Zone 5b) | July 2007 | Positive

I'm guess not that serious about my tomatoes and am happy to share them - -the plants get too big here, anyway. I think this guy is really cool and the moth is even cooler.

I do have some tomato plants that came up from compost that I let go, so if they eat too much of the good tomato plants, I'll move them on the compost-tomato seedlings.

t

technegardeners

Pensacola, FL (Zone 8b) | June 2007 | Negative

So that's what's been eating my tomatoes. I went out today and found a huge one! I don't like squashing or touching things like this, so I cut off the stem that it was on and put it in a jar for my husband to look at or kill. I may keep it as an experiment to see what moth it will become. I used to love butterflies/moths when I was a kid. I'll post a picture of it on my journal.

m

mmistyrose

Benton, KS (Zone 6a) | November 2006 | Negative

I, too, found this "darling" in my garden this year. We had okra next to the tomato plants and they decided to check out the okra not just the tomato plants. They seemed to like the okra as well as the tomatoes!

r

renwings

Sultan, WA (Zone 8a) | October 2006 | Negative

These were common in our garden, growing up in Utah. They ate the tomatoes as worms and feasted on Datura nectar as moths. I have fond memories of them as moths and was petrified of the worms, though they are harmless.

H

Happy_1

Chicago, IL (Zone 5b) | October 2006 | Negative

They are eating my Brugs!!!!!

Hap

T

Tomatoholic

Austin, TX (Zone 8b) | September 2006 | Negative

So I really hate these things. They chow down my tomato plants and my pentas. I do not think they are cute and I do not like them any better when they become a moth either. I don't even think it is a pretty moth. I will snip in half any hormworm I run across and leave its body and guts to warn other hornworms to stay away. :)

m

minimoop

Albuquerque, NM (Zone 7b) | August 2006 | Negative

We have had several types of hornworms in our yard; varying green ones and a brown type. The green ones are the most destructive, get the biggest and show up every year. One year the kids put the brown one in a jar and fed it tomatoe leaf cuttings. They hatched a really nice moth (butterfly). The big green ones eat tomatoes, all types of chili and our datura (jimsonweed - moon flower). A few of them will take down a huge plant in a day. I have read that they will only eat members of the nightshade family - potato, tomato, chili, tobacco, and my beloved datura - among others. The hummingbird moths are wonderful, so I put up with worm hunting every morning because I love the moths. A real love/hate relationship!

a

achoogardner

Red Oak, NC (Zone 7b) | August 2006 | Negative

This little bugger has been eating my tomato plants for about a month! Actually buggers. I found three. Two of them had what looked like eggs laid on their backs. I would like to know what they were. The third, alas, I smashed! It ate the whole top of my plant off! Grrrrr! I did wonder about the the "horn" on it. The bug files was very helpful. Thanks!

b

brigidlily

Lumberton, TX (Zone 8b) | August 2006 | Negative

I know they serve their purpose, but they devastated my chile pepper plants. Two of them ate almost all the leaves and FOURTEEN chile peppers. I stabbed one and it squirted me and the liquid burned like the dickens. I can only guess it was the capsicum. But no more peppers this year, and I'll kill any more of the little darlings that show up!

H

Happenstance

Northern California, CA | August 2006 | Negative

So cute, but really destructive. :(

m

matt5797

Gallatin, TN (Zone 6b) | July 2006 | Negative

This can be a bad bug for tomatoes-it can easily defoliate a small tomato and a group of them can make a harsh dent in mature tomato plants. You need to look over your plants well to find one, and when you do you may be alarmed. They look horrible but are actually completely harmless. It is best to control small invasions by hand but can be controlled with pesticides. Big invasions need some pesticide as the 2-4 inch worm has a very hard grip on your tomato. The main symptom is a defoliated plant (usually starts at the top and works on down) and plant debree on soil. The good news is that even harshly attacked plants usually will regrow new leaves given a little time. Many times putting moving container grown plants into sunnier spots will slow the bugs as they prefer dark night con... read more

V

Vee8ch

Palm Bay, FL (Zone 9b) | July 2006 | Neutral

Tobacco hornworms are the larvae of the Sphinx moth (Hummingbird Moth). Tobacco hornworms are more common than tomato hornworms. The tobacco hornworm has seven diagonal white w/black/blue lines on his sides. Tail/horn arches downward. This horn is commonly but not always red. It can also be yellow, white, green, orange and the palest blue or combinations of any of these colors.
Horn worms will not hurt you if you handle them. Their tails will not poke you or sting you. They nibble on your hand with their tiny little mouths and it does not hurt. When a hornworm is resting or alarmed he will tuck in his tiny little head and expose his big white teeth that are really just harmless suction cups. He looks intimidating at both ends!

Feeding schedule does not depend on night... read more

Carolina Sphinx Moth, Tobacco Hornworm

Manduca sexta

Featured Videos