The Garden Bad Guys (Hornworms & Cabbage Looper)!

The last couple of days I found these 2 caterpillars in my garden.

I was looking over my sungold in my cinderblock garden when i saw a leaf with a bunch of holes in it. All the other leaves looked fine. When I turned the leaf over, look what i found….the evil HORNWORM.

Hornworms are actually caterpillars and are distinguishable by their horn at their rear end. These suckers can get big (4 inches long) and do quite a bit of damage if not dealt with quickly.

So I cut offf the leaf (so if there are anymore caterpillars I can identily new plant damage easily), took some pictures and then cut the caterpillar in half.

This is a cabbage looper. I found him in the soil under my Oaxacan Jewel tomato plant in the wood garden bed.

Loopers are green with several white stripes down their backs. They arch their backs as they crawl, this looping movement giving them their name. The most common looper is the cabbage looper.

This little fellow got smooshed underfoot after the photshoot was over.