The Predator Becomes the Prey

Yesterday afternoon I was slogging through my water-logged garden, putting the next strands of baling twine up on my Florida Weave trellising method that we discussed in previous posts.  The hay mulched tightly around the base of the plants is doing an absolute stellar job of thwarting any weed growth.

The huge amount of rain has many of my tomato plants to be in distress with yellowed leaves on some, stunted growth, and just sick looking plants on the lowest portion of the rows.  After this weekend, I think the rain chances will diminish and man, plant, and beast around Our Maker's Acres Family Farm will rejoice!

In addition to the enormous amount of rainfall, there are other predators at work in the tomato patch. The photo below is out of focus, but you can see that something has eaten all the stems and leaves off of the tomato plant in the foreground. Whatever it was, it sure was hungry!  I knew I just had to find the culprit before it consumed the entire plant.

Who's eating our Tomato Plants?

We don't use any pesticides in our garden, so it comes down to me hunting for the pesky perpetrator and eliminating him from the garden.  In looking at the damage, I knew it wouldn't be hard to find. He would have to be a fat caterpillar to engage in such a feast.  Sure enough, I spotted the green worm, gorging himself on our tomato plants - A perfectly healthy specimen of the Tomato Hornworm!

Why, it's a fat Tomato Hornworm!

Well, he wasn't giving up without a fight.  I tried to pry him from his place at the "supper table," and he clung to the tomato plant for dear life.  Finally, I had him loose.  The photo below shows why he's called the Hornworm.  You can see the red horn protruding from one end.  He's all bark and no bite, though and he's incapable of stinging you with it, but it's still kind of scary.  I dropped him when he reached around.

How the Hornworm got his name

Tomato Hornworms are the larval stage of the Five-Spotted Hawkmoth.  Here's what they look like:

Image Credit

The biggest predator to the tomato hornworm is the wasp.  Wasps apparently feed on hornworms.  However, I'm not likely to keep wasps around to control them biologically.  I kill every wasp nest I see because I don't like getting stung.  So how will I control the hornworms?  Well, I'll pick them off and give them to some creatures I keep around that probably like eating hornworms more than wasps do - Chickens!!

I tossed that fat hornworm over the garden fence and the Rhode Island Red in the middle grabbed that fat boy and took off running with all the other hens in chase. She gobbled it down with the quickness!  I continued scouting for hornworms on the other tomato rows and did find three more of them.  They weren't quite as fat, but they still proved to be tasty morsels for my fine, feathered friends.

It's Raining Buck Moth Caterpillars

The weather has been picture perfect for the past few days and has proven to be excellent days to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors.  Tricia learned, painfully, that it is very important to wear shoes when going outside.  You see, there are caterpillars EVERYWHERE right now, falling from the live oak trees and landing on every surface imaginable.  One was on the doormat and Tricia stepped on it unknowingly.  Moments later she felt a stinging on the bottom of her toe and then a burning, pain. She looked around and saw the flattened caterpillar on the welcome mat and identified the perpetrator - a guest that is not welcome on our welcome mat.  Ironic!

A quick google image search identified the suspect further as the Buck Moth Caterpillar.  They are very common around areas with live oak trees.  According to the link above, their spines are hollow and filled with poison.  That poison is released if you touch the caterpillar or step on it.  Each year around this time, they come out and cover every square foot of landscape.

Just walking around (with boots on) yesterday, they were everywhere and not just on welcome mats and live oak trees.  They were on the Bradford Pear:

On our Bradford Pear

Camouflaged on the bark of the live oak tree that holds up the swing:

On a Live Oak Tree

And showing that it is an equal opportunity offender, was on the water oak tree as well:

On a Water Oak Tree

While we were walking around, we came upon a buck moth caterpillar convention. Several dozen were gathered closely together and in an act of revenge or retribution, I asked Tricia for the sandal she was wearing.  With one solid slap to the caterpillar convention, I exacted punishment.  As green and yellow ooze dripped from the bark, Tricia holstered her sandal and we walked away.  A dog barked in the distance...

A caterpillar convention

To be honest, I had never seen a buck moth, but here he is in all his glory:

Image Credit

She lays her eggs in the canopy of live oak trees in December and when the eggs hatch, the caterpillars make their way to the ground where they pupate.  We've got our eyes opened for these guys and make every opportunity to step on them and make them pop - with shoes on, of course!

The Gnawing Locust has Eaten!

This year's vegetable, fruit and berry crop has been superb.  We have canned more, frozen more, dried more than most prior years.  We've been blessed by rains when we need them and apart from a few exceptions, no real crop failures.  We're at the very tail end of the season and I'm getting ready to plant my seeds for the fall garden within the next week or so.  Although the harvest is slacking off, I'm still harvesting something every day.  At least I was... until yesterday.

I walked out to the garden and picked some cucumbers the other day and noticed a green worm or two munching on a few of the leaves.  They were small worms.  Not a big deal, I thought, as I squeezed them between my thumb and index finger, feeling a pop and watching green goo splatter on the leaves.  I made a mental note to mix up some more lye soap spray to spray on them in the event that I missed some.

The next afternoon when I returned home...  Wow!  There was basically nothing left. All I could think about was the verse from the Book of Joel where the prophet said:

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.  Joel 1:4 KJV


Israel had been blessed with prosperity and bumper crops, but Joel prophesied a day coming that would bring desolation and ruin.  In fact, he said in verse 10:

The field is ruined, 
The land mourns, 
For the grain is ruined, 
The new wine dries up, 
Fresh oil fails.  
Be ashamed, O Farmers, 
Wail, O vinedressers!

The palmerworm's handiwork

Be ashamed, O Farmers indeed!

It doesn't take long at all for the worms and the locusts and the caterpillar or any other pest to do their work. As if to add insult to injury, they'll eat the top leaves and then poop all over the leaves beneath it.  These little worms must eat their body weight overnight.  I did actually make it out there to the garden and I sprayed all the plants, but the old adage, "Closing the barn door after the horse is gone" came to mind as the damage was done.  I'm doubtful that they'll recover although there are still blooms and small leaves.  We'll just have to wait and see.

"Locust" poop

Growing crops in the deep south is a blessing in some ways because you really can grow something all 12 months in the year.  People in the north certainly don't have that luxury.  They are sitting indoors on grey, snowy, frigid days looking at seed catalogues in front of the fireplace while we're planting crops.  On the other hand, we fight with pests.  If you are trying to grow without using pesticides, well, it's tough. Real tough.  The worms are relentless and they don't sleep.  While you're sleeping, they are eating, and pooping, and eating some more.

The 'cankerworm' must be full after they've made a lace doily with this cucumber leaf. 

You know what is odd?  I never see any damage from worms on the weeds in my garden.  Hmmmm.  After they finished my cucumbers, they moved to the zucchini, stripping it bare.

Only a little bit for the caterpillar to finish up

This last booger feeding on one of the final holdovers from the tomato crop reminds me of the plagues of locusts from Biblical times.  You can see two of them feeding on the tomato below.  I call them stink bugs because they do really stink if you squash them, but their official name is coreids, or leaf footed bugs.  They make an odd noise when they fly and are kind of scary in their own way.

Huge stinkbugs feasting on one of the last tomatoes

As with everything, perspective is important.  We had a great harvest this year.  It is crucial to plant as early as you can in the Spring and harvest as much as you can before July and the onslaught of the intense heat and bug pressure.  Fall is on its way and we'll have an opportunity to harvest more this fall, if we can keep the bugs at bay.

There is hope on the horizon - for the gardener and for the person that turns to the LORD.  In the Book of Joel, the prophet warned the Israelites of coming destruction, but he left them with a call to repentance.  He told them what would happen if they would return to the LORD.  They are timely words for us today as well. If we turn back to Him, he will bring restoration!:

Joel 2:25-26New American Standard Bible (NASB)

25 “Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.