Subject: Successful Identification
Location: Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California
August 21, 2014
Tobacco hornworm according to whats that bug! Can’t believe how much it likes hot peppers. There were two of them and they decimated the leaves and chomped a couple of hot peppers. Yuck.
That was a big ugly bug! I’m glad it’s identified, but there were two of them. What if there are more?!?
Sent from outer space.
Dear Lisa Anne,
We are happy you were able to make use of the extensive WTB? archive to identify your Tobacco Hornworm. We generally get several on our tomato plants toward the end of the season and we allow them to eat as many leaves as they want, and the do occasionally eat unripe tomatoes, but since we cannot possibly eat all the tomatoes we grow, we don’t fret. If you find you cannot abide these Tobacco Hornworms eating your pepper leaves, you can try transferring them to native Datura that grows in nearby Elyria Canyon Park. The adult Carolina Sphinx is a large and impressive moth.