Hornworms and Dill

Headline News: Dill DOES NOT repel tomato hornworms, at least in my garden! (See post)Look at these guys!

I found 5 of them in the space of a few minutes! If they are this big when they are caterpillars, what the heck do they turn into when they metamorphose? If you dare to look closer, click on the pictures to see them full size. Actually they are kind of pretty, when they are not chomping away on my tomatoes. Maybe I could design a sweater pattern with white diagonals on a green background... hmmm.

Then there is that HUGE gross factor when you try to pull their soft, squishy body off the plant, and they hold on for dear life (which is why I sacrificed a few leaves.)

Yes, that is green worm poop. If you see little balls of black poop or green poop like this under your tomatoes, look above it and you will probably see stems without any leaves, totally defoiliated. It doesn't take long - I didn't see any evidence of these guys yesterday. OK, so now that I know the answer, I find this web site that says that dill is a TRAP PLANT for tomatoes. TRAP PLANT!!!! that means that the fragrance attracts the pests. You're supposed to plant trap plants somewhere other than your target plants! Oh, well, now I know.