"Tomato worm"??? - update, it's a Corn Worm

[itsy]

I was out in the garden just a little while ago. We're very late in tying the tomato plants and they're falling down all over the place with big green tomatoes. We probably have 25 or so tomato plants near the fence. As I was tying some up, I found this caterpillar. Here I think it's a butterfly, so I save it and put it on a leaf in the flower garden. I took some photos of it - came inside and was told it was a tomato worm and was going to eat all the tomatoes! I went back outside, promptly fed it to one of my meat chickens and then looked for others. I didn't find any more, but I'll look again tomorrow.

I Googled "tomato worm" and they look green. Is mine actually one of these worms or something else?

 

[Czech's_chicks]

That's not a hornworm...I don't know what that is but it's not the typical pest that plagues toms. I've never seed the chicken eat a hornworm, either, probably because toms are nightshade, which are toxic, and since that is what they eat, that is what they would taste like, I imagine...it sure is what they smell like when I squish em.

 

[NanaKat]

Corn ear worms also like tomatoes. They will often be found on the stem end of the tomato amd will have eatten a space in shich to hide.
BT sprayed on you plants will kill any catepiller that eats the leaves and won't harm the chickens.

 

[itsy]

Thanks, guys

I'll try to ID this worm. I'll report back incase anyone is interested.

I Googled corn worm. Looks to be what Nana said. Thanks!

Oddly enough, we didn't grow any corn this year and neither did the farms next to us. I hope it's ok that I fed a corn worm to the chicken!

 

[Czech's_chicks]

I have been lucky this year and haven't seen a single one this year. I do have cabbage worms and decided to let them stay on the one collard green by my peppers. We still need pollinators and those caterpillars wont bother the peppers. I decided to not be as hasty to get rid of 'bad' critters this year, because even some of the bad do some good.

 

[itsy]

What's That Bug . com answered my questions about this critter and posted it on their website this morning. Very cool!

 

[feliciamckee]

Yes, that is a corn worm. My daughter and I shucked corn this morning (50 ears) and found 14 of those. Most were just like the one in your photo, and a couple were the same worm, just a little more reddish in color. We actually made it fun. We raced to see which one of us could find the most so we could go off to feed them to the chickens. Some of them were very fat! Lots of good protein!