My grandparents lived near the mountains of El Paso in the company of scorpions. My mild-mannered grandfather took scorpion stings personally. He would calmly trap the scorpion in a glass jar and fill it with alcohol. This is where he transformed into some kind of alter ego. After shaking the jar with a vengeance, he would empty it and track the woozy scorpion’s slow walk. Then he repeatedly stomped on the scorpion with a superhero’s strength.
The acorn does not fall far from the tree. I am personally affronted when I see a tomato hornworm feasting on the plants in my garden. That round mouth constantly moving as it devours leaves and stems without a break makes me instantaneously queasy and mad. While I initially feel squeamish about plucking it from the plant, I quickly get over it when the sense of injustice kicks in.
These caterpillars grow quickly and steadily in your garden. Tomato hornworms are bright green with a white-and-black diagonal pattern that spirals around their body.
A hornworm will grow from this
To this
To this
In a matter of days.
There are a few clues you have hornworms: leaves that suddenly disappear; grey moths that flutter out from the garden when you water it; and pellets that look like peppercorns on the ground beneath a plant or on the plant itself (hornworm droppings).
The easiest non-toxic way to get rid of hornworms is to
1.Pluck 2. Flick 3. Squish.
Look for hornworms very early in the day, turning over leaves to look for worms on the undersides. I recommend wearing garden gloves and closed shoes. If you don’t catch them early on, hornworms grow to a size where they are impossible to pluck off the branch. In this case (or if your stomach turns at the thought of plucking them), cut off the branch where they are eating and flick the branch instead. Flick them in a direction away from the garden. Find a rock and place it on top of the worm, then stomp on it.
You can watch a video of this technique here: