Tag Archives: Something bugging you?

What the heck is this…redux

Way back in 2008 (that’s 6 years ago…seems like last year), I was digging potatoes and found a big brown wormy thingamabob…I asked, what the heck is this?  Someone answered it was a tomato hornworm.  We often plant tomatoes and potatoes and sometimes they are fairly close together…no big deal.

Tomato hornworm pupa
Tomato hornworm pupa

I thought it was weird the other day, however, when I dug this year’s potatoes and found another big ugly brown larval whatchamacallit.  Granted, the potatoes are near the tomatoes again this year, but maybe tomato hornworms which eat tomato plants like to grow up near taters rather than maters.

Hornworm pupa video
Click to see the video

Just like last time, I decided to pick this guy up and torment the kids with it.  Emily is desensitized enough that she doesn’t even flinch around me any more but the kids are still subject to my weirdness.  I probably should have mashed this one since they ruin tomatoes, but I do not often mess with much of anything if it isn’t directly necessary.  It took brazillions of years to evolve the way it did; why should I mess with mother-nature?