Thursday, July 10, 2014

Vanishing Leaves and Murdering Dilemmas

During my morning walk through the garden, sipping my tea, I came upon a horrific site.  OK, so maybe only horrific to a gardener and perhaps only an overly sensitive gardener.  Anyway, one of my pepper plants was missing many leaves.  Entire leaves were gone.  Could it be a rabbit?  I've never seen one in the backyard and Domino has a special affinity for chasing bunnies.


Then  I noticed a tomato branch.  A tomato branch with no leaves!  No rabbit was going to eat tomato leaves five feet off the ground.


Searching the plants, I found the culprit.


A very large hornworm!!

Normally I consider myself a peaceful and non-violent person.  I don't eat animals and try to not harm animals.  Gardening, however, has turned me into a much more violent person.  I now roam around my garden with a kill jar filled with soapy water and happily dunk Japanese beetles, squash bugs, and lately Mexican bean beetle larva.  I can't squish bugs yet.. I still find that too gross. 

I put the hornworm in a jar and debated it's fate.  It was pretty in a Very Hungry Caterpillar kind of way.  I finally decided to take it to the front yard and put it out for the birds to hopefully eat.  A couple of hours later, it was gone.. perhaps crawling it's way back to my garden or digesting in the stomach of a very happy bird.  I'm hoping for the latter. 

The next day I found three more hornworms in the garden.  My moral dilemma has passed and I found a bigger jar to use for killing! 

13 comments:

  1. You captured a beautiful photo of the hornworm. These guys creep me out. I wear gloves and quickly drop them into soapy water.

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    1. And they don't want to let go of the tomato stem. I had to break the branch and dunk the whole thing.

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  2. There is a old saying something along the lines of Work to a tune and it become play. Not quite like that, but my dad would tell me that when I didn't want to work as if that was going to make it better. However with gardening it works like a charm. Just line up all of the culprits and sing Ta ra ra Boom dea. Ta ra ra boom dea. It is part of the dna of all gardeners to the the knack of using a blunt instrument on the Boom to squish all creatures who dare enter your realm and eat the plants you've spent so much time caring for. You'll find it gets easier each time!

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    1. In my very first garden, I discovered a bunch of cabbage worms, plucked them off and floated them on a little raft in the middle of a birdbath hoping the birds would kill them so I wouldn't have too. I've come a long way since then! I happily kill vine borers, cabbage worms, Japanese beetles, and squash bugs.

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  3. Like you I can't squish things - too violent but I do use the soapy water approach. What do hornworms become?

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    1. Hawk moths! Or hummingbird moths. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/manduca2.htm

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    2. The thought of squishing something that big completely grosses me out!! I briefly thought about keeping the hornworm in a jar, feeding it, and watch it grow into a moth. Then I realized that this would just cause me more problems in the future with even more hornworms!

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  4. I guess that is one good thing about not eating tomatoes. I don't have to deal with hornworms anymore. I really didn't like those since they are such huge things to kill. Ick. The small caterpillars I can squash pretty easily.

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    1. Yes, it's definitely the size that is the problem with these things...icky!

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  5. Grrrr, my nemesis! I'm on a tedious lookout each morning for the darn things!

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    1. Glad I'm not the only one searching tomato plants everyday!

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  6. The time is coming when there he will be, that miserable caterpillar; and you won't have any soapy water with you. Before you know it, you'll be the lead actor in a gruesome thriller... squish! It's only a matter of time...

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    1. Ick.. yuck.. ewww!! I hope that never happens. I can't imagine squishing such a big caterpillar. Did I mention ick?? I'd probably have to lug a large rock at it from a distance!

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