While squirrels, deer and woodchucks are generally the most destructive consumers of garden tomatoes on Staten Island nowadays, the caterpillars known as hornworms pose a more subtle threat. The ...

A reader of our column from Ashland dropped me an email about these huge green worms in her garden a number of years ago and wondered what she could do about them. She pulled five off her plants and ...

If you grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, or other nightshades, there’s a good chance that you’ve encountered large green caterpillars feeding on your plants. Known as the tobacco or tomato hornworm, ...

Q: We’ve had this guy around for the last few days. What is he? A luna moth perhaps? What should we look for in coming days? A: It’s a hornworm, Manduca rustica (aka rustic sphinx moth), to be precise ...

Early detection and removal is crucial. There are natural and chemical control methods. Planting certain herbs and flowers near your tomatoes can deter hornworms. As tomatoes grow tall and the yellow ...

Although a flower's bouquet can be composed of hundreds of chemicals, the tobacco hornworm moth needs to smell just a handful to identify its favorite source of nectar, the sacred datura flower. It is ...

As it gets towards the end of the summer growing season, you tend to be a bit less observant in the garden. Then one day you look out and your tomato or pepper plant is half gone. Look closely and you ...

Let’s play Clue….no, not the board game. This is Garden Clue. Clue No. 1: Dark green to black-colored pellets on the ground and on some leaves of tomato. Clue No. 2: Tips of tomato stems are ...

"Whooo ... are ... you?" asked the hookah-smoking caterpillar of Alice, in Wonderland. Asking the question of the caterpillar instead, an international team of ...

The genome of the tobacco hornworm -- an important model of insect biology -- has now been sequenced by a team of researchers. The sequenced genome can lead to improved molecular biology, physiology ...