Monster in My Garden

I found this monster in my garden yesterday morning.  He had almost completely defoliated an entire Hot Portugal pepper plant overnight.

Tomato Hornworm

I am irrationally terrified of all things wormy (yes, I do have vermicompost bins in my basement containing thousands of Red Wigglers).  So, I knocked on the door of the best neighbor in the world and told him that I had a "wildlife issue."  He came over and eliminated the problem.  He put it in a jar, and we fed it to the chickens.  The ladies flipped out over it and chased each other around the yard, competing for this prized meal.  The monster was at least four inches long.  

Later that evening, as I thumbed through the latest issue of Mother Earth News, I found a letter that referenced the tomato hornworm titled "Save the Hornworms."  In it, Marilyn Smith from San Jose writes:

 I firmly disagree with the tip in "All About Growing Tomatoes" (Crop at a Glance).   The advice to pick and eliminate hornworms gives the erroneous impression that the worms eat tomatoes.  If you can find one on or eating a tomato, go ahead and destroy it, but you won't.  The green worms are so impossible to find because they remain on, and only feed on, the leaves.  We all know a healthy tomato has leaves to spare.  Let's not encourage the destruction of harmless creatures in our garden environment.  (Hornworms morph into amazing hummingbird moths.)

Seriously?  While I agree that the hummingbird moth is a beautiful creature, I believe that is Ms. Smith who is "erroneous" in giving the impression that the worms are "harmless."  I am well aware that they do not consume the fruits of the plants on which they alight.  However, they can easily destroy the entire plant within a matter of hours by stripping it of each and every leaf.

I usually have a live and let live attitude about most garden creatures, but not in the case of the hornworm.  My message to Mr. Worm:  KEEP OUT OR DIE!