Yes, I said tomato, singular, because it would be a bit dishonest to make the word plural and imply that my garden has actually been producing them at a normal level. Nope. Not here. I think I read somewhere that everyone is able to grow tomatoes, but apparently no one has meet me yet. My plants are huge, folks. Huge. I pruned them a bit a few weeks ago, thinking that all their energy has been put into making new foliage, but that didn't help a bit. I still only had one tomato. Teeny and tiny. I, however, put that thing right into my relish I made not too long ago, because I wasn't going to let it go to waste.
That brings us to today. I went out with the kids to water and I bent down to pull some dead leaves off the humongous zucchini plant. A tomato stem bopped me on my head and I brushed it aside. When I stood up I almost passed out. There, on that scoffed off branch was the largest tomato worm I had ever seen. Once I regained my composure I
of course called the kids over to take a look at it. Well, I know better than to let it stay on my tomato-less bush so I cut it off and disposed of it. I quickly ran into the house and googled it. I found the neatest picture of it's, um, waste, and quickly realized that those little square green things in garden box #4 were not something that I wanted in there. I followed the trail of poop (is worm waste called that?!?) and sure enough, there was another one....and another one....and...okay, you get my point. My tomato plant was full of them. While the kids played tee-ball I disposed of them.
But not all of them. You really didn't think that I'd snip all of them in half with my trusty blue kitchen scissors now, did you? You are reading the ramblings of a born and bred homeschooled gal who has two littles who find these things awesome. These worms are making for an incredible science lesson.
They are SO large that you can see even the finest detail on them.
Well, if you are in the area feel free to come over and take a peek at them. These beauts are sitting right on our kitchen counter.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to the store to buy me some Bt.
Update: their poop is called frass, for anyone wanting to know.
You're welcome.
3 comments:
EEWWWWW!!!!! I most certainly do not want to see those worms in person...but my kids will. Can we come look tomorrow? I'll try not to throw up or gag, but I can't make any promises.
this got me doing some research on the web.. very disgusting.. looks like you might have the closely related Tobacco Horn Worms, instead of the Tomato Horn Worms... :)
Looks like a close relative to the ones in our garden... except ours have a Southern drawl, y'all! ;)
Our tomatoes didn't do as well this year either... probably due to extended high summer temps in our part of the world!
How are your other backyard projects going?
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