What are these?

[The Mama Chicken]

I have an infestation on my tomato plant. Any idea what the little buggers are? I picked them off and fed them to my chickens, but I'm sure more will show up to take their place.

 

[digitS']

This guy, TMC?

Here are his host plants (click).

Now for his name: the Corn Earworm, Helicoverpa zea. Also Known As "tomato fruitworm," "sorghum headworm," "vetchworm," and "cotton bollworm."

What do you think?

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

Gross. BT should get rid of them.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I spent about an hour in the garden last night w/ my little garden snips, pulling those off of all my plants. Spinach, radish, and kale were the most hit.
They are gross.... they bleed GREEN!

I also find them in the soil when I dig up dirt, so I'm sure they're some sort of cut worm. They curl up when you touch them, or fall to the ground. Easy pickin's with garden snips!
And I'm fairly certain that they turn into pale brown (cream) colored moths...

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Yup, that looks right to me. Darn, it seems nothing is safe from these guys. Luckily the chickens like them, so I'll just keep picking until I can get to town for some Bt. Thanks everyone.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Picking seems to be making a dent in the population. I found a dozen yesterday and only 2 this morning. I think I'll be spending a good part of the day crawling around the garden, looking for bugs.

 

[897tgigvib]

Yep Mama Chicken, that sounds like the plan. If I get caterpillers of any kind, time to prioritize going into the garden with a coffee can and pick the buggers out.

Last year I was blessed with native Praying Mantis coming into my garden to live. I actually saw no caterpillers at all. Kind of surprised me when I was picking Beans. Reached with my hand to pick a "Bean", but it moved! It was a green Praying Mantis, and it startled me some.

I enjoy having little brown and green tree frogs, fat Toads, Spiders, bats, and lizards in my garden. A few ladybugs too, and then suddenly Praying Mantis. (The Lizards are usually good to have, but I have indeed seen them chewing fresh sprouted seedlings a few times. I guess they like sprouts, but only a few, so I still encourage them.)



Ever see a lizard with a very bright cobalt blue metal flake tail? <<< I get them here at my garden. First time I saw one I thought someone spray painted its tail, maybe one of the bigfoot kids playing a joke on me!

 

[digitS']

Now I think you are talking about the only lizard I ever see up in this neck of the woods: the Western Skink (not to be confused with the Western Stink, or Skunk for that matter).

The skink has a blue tail when it is young: CalPhoto's (click)

You can find out more about them here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Skink

My spell checker doesn't know the word skink but with eye of newt and toe of frog . . .

digitS'
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

 

[897tgigvib]

That's the name of them on some of the posters. Other posters call them Racer Skinks. Kids call them Blue Tails. We also have Alligator Lizards, Blue Belly Lizards, and another Lizard similar to the Blue Belly but much more plain. Our Alligator Lizards are so large they can startle ya. Actually, they are the most timid of them all. We also have Garter Snakes, Gopher Snakes, and a snake some folks call a Rat Snake. I haven't seen the striped Snakes here yet. Yes, we do get Rattlers too. I think most Rattlers around here are a version of Timber Rattler that I've seen, but Western Diamondbacks are around also. Yes, we get a good number of Black Widow Spiders. I personally do not mind them, but since there are children around, for their safety I do give the Black Widows an instant death. I have twice seen Brown Recluse Spiders. Those I squish immediately and repeatedly. All other spiders I fully encourage in my garden.

Black Widow spider bites for most people are not as bad as commonly thought. They make a red spot silver dollar sized, with the skin dying off in the middle, and it is always recommended to at least call the doc if bit. Some folks are sensitive and get reactions, and sometimes a person can develop sensitivity and not know it. So even if a person thinks they are tough enough for a widow bite, they may not be next time, or this time.

Recluse bites are definitely dangerous. Weird thing is, sometimes they do not inject, other times they inject enough to kill, and usually they will inject enough to cause tissue death that untreated turns to gangrene. Thay are always dangerous, and nobody is immune, not even that guy from Krypton.

We also have Scorpions here that do sting. I understand it feels like a "hammer pounding a nail into you", but so far I have not seen one in my garden. I hear tell their poison is about like Yellow Jacket poison, and mostly just hurts, except of course for those who are sensitive.

Anaphalactic Shock is not a good thing when the nearest town is 35 miles away over dirt roads.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Oh yes, a scorpion sting feels like getting nailed. My youngest son actually lost consciousness from the pain once. I hadone sting me in my sleep, talk about a rude awakening! They can also inject different levels of toxins into you. One sting I got was swollen and tingily for a week, another never swelled and didn't hurt after the first hour. And both came from about the same sized critter. When I see one in the house now I scoop them into a cup and pop them in the freezer (they're REALLY hard to squish) and then, when I have enough, I toss them out to the chickens. Now the chickens have developed a taste for them and will snatch up any they see outside. They get stung, but seem to think it's worth it.
As for the brown recluse, my step-father got bitten on the hand when I was about 10. It was horrible! He got a huge ulcer and the tissue in the center started to slough off and had to be debrided, twice. I think that is why I'm so scared of spiders. After moving to a place with so many mosquitoes I finally stopped killing every spider I see, but any that gets too close to me gets squished and I never stick my hand anywhere that could harbor spiders without looking closely first.
I don't pay a lot of attention to the local lizards but little geckos come in the house all the time, they're cute and eat bugs so they get to stay. We also have tons of snakes around here. I'm sure that includes rattlers, but I don't worry too much. They would rather not bite, so I just told my kids to be observant and back away from any snake they see.