the enemy

THE TOMATO HORN WORM

Whew.

I've never seen anything like it.

So, there I am, watering the tomato plants, minding my own business

when I happen upon what looked like a little poop of some kind.

It was about the size of a tictac.  

And the surface texture looked like a grenade.

I spent about ten minutes searching the foliage.

I just knew something was there.  

I began to notice whole leaves completely gone.

Entire branches stripped clean.

And then.

Then.

I saw it.

The biggest most unbelievable looking caterpillar I've ever seen. 

I yelled to the boyfriend to come quickly.

We were astounded by what we saw. 

I continued looking and found several more.

My nephew later identified the predator via photograph.

The HORN WORM.

Named for the scary looking protrusion at his back end.

These suckers measured in at nearly three inches!

See how they hang from the branches to mimic the curl of the tomato leaves?

 

Of course boyfriend felt the only thing to do with them was feed them to the birds.

So he took them all down to the street and presented them like it was Thanksgiving dinner.

Boys.

So weird.