Feisty Bugs

Have you ever wrestled a tomato worm, also known as a hornworm, with your bare hand?

I have!

While I hold onto the front end, it’s whips its horn-rimmed tail around trying to jab me!

This happened the other day and I was giggling as I danced my whole body around trying to avoid a hornworm poke.

I’ve recently dubbed July the ‘month of the bugs!’ (of course, July is sooo much more than bugs, but in the garden, it’s bug season!)

Right now there’s just so much out for the bugs to eat, and they just go nuts munching on all the plants and flowers we’re growing, it seems.

The plants are getting extra big, the fruit is getting ripe, and the flowers are blooming!

In order to save the veggies and flowers from these garden pests, you have to think like a bug…sometime even ACT like a bug!

Here’s what I do:

-move slowly

-crouch down low

-wake up early in the morning (best time to catch sleepy bugs)

I don’t always win in the war against bugs in my garden but there is one bug in particular that I’ve been at odds with lately…

And that bug-nemesis of mine has been the hornworm.

They are the big, juicy green worms that gobble up our tomato plants.

Here’s a picture of one I had on my tomatoes recently (move along if you get squeamish around bugs).

They are a fascinating animal, these hornworms, and they turn into incredible moths, but in order to do that, they have to eat down our tomato plants.

As a steward of the garden and my future tomato harvest, I interrupt this process by removing the worms.

It turns me into a hornworm hunter, a title I never saw myself having!

Tomato worms have an incredible natural camouflage—they look exactly like the tomato plant themselves.

Trust me, they’re hard to spot!

Their give-away is that they leave a nice big trail of poop behind them.

So that is what I look for first to know if I’m in the territory of a hornworm.

I also look for stripped bare branches with missing leaves on my tomato plants because these hornworms eat away leaves and tomatoes as they grow to a giant-sized worm.

(Can there be an elephant in the bug world? If so, I nominate the hornworm!)

And when I do see them, I pluck them off by their head.

(I’ve gotten very brave in fighting for the tomato plants).

The hornworm carries it’s horn on its tail end, so, should you be brave enough to grab one, reach for the un-horned end!

Pinch them right at the head and pull them off your plants.

If you don’t pull quick enough you will find out just how strong & feisty these guys are!

Then, I plop their wiggling worm body in a little dish of soapy water and that takes care of that.

Honestly, bug hunting with my hands is so much more rewarding (and healthy) than sprinkling the plant with bug powder and hoping for the best!

I’ve found that I have this huge sense of ownership and accomplishment when I’ve given my focus and time to snatching bugs off my garden plants.

I feel that somehow I’ve thanked the plant for all it gives me, and that I took the time to keep the enemy bug(s) at bay.

So whether you like bugs or not, being a good steward of our gardens means going to war with these bugs in order to protect your plants and future harvest.

Be like me and get your hands in there and snag those pesky bugs…or ask someone to help you.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend with your families (maybe catching and removing some bugs from your garden)!

This weather is simply gorgeous for being outside as a family!

P.S. Our Grow Club Summer Garden morning is this Saturday and I’d love to see you there! Sign your family up right HERE!