Tobacco Hornworm

I recently noticed some bites taken out of my Roma tomatoes. I blamed it on the birds since the bites were big and birds were the likely culprit! I was really ticked off too, because these tomatoes were just about ready for harvest!



The birds were cleared of the crime when I noticed this HUGE bug-thing latched onto one of the stalks. Can you believe how big this thing is? It's a monster!



On closer inspection, I found four more of these fatties, but none were as big as the first one.



It turns out, these are tobacco hornworms and are commonly mistaken for tomato hornworms since they look so similar.

These bugs really freaked me out. I didn't actually touch any of them but just broke off a piece of the tomato stalk and tossed them in the trash. I had a problem with killing them, because they are so big. Hopefully they are in the landfill having a good old time munching on garbage now!