Because I am not so great at pepper growing, I have never had to worry about the hornworm eating my peppers. I have had them on my tomatoes and eggplant.
My son is growing some hot peppers in Home Depot buckets. This is where the hornworms are currently congregating. I’ve already picked off five of these squishy, green guys. And they really hang on!
Personally, I think this is one of the coolest looking caterpillars. They can get very big, and they can eat a plant down to almost nothing.
Apparently, hot pepper plants don’t bother these guys. Both caterpillars in my photos are eating Cayenne pepper leaves, but I’ve picked some worms from the super hot Carolina Reaper as well.
The Carolina Reaper is one of the hottest peppers out there. My son has one green pepper on the plant. It will be turning red before he will carefully pick it to make hot sauce. This pepper is sold by the PuckerButt Pepper Company and was created by Ed Currie. It registers between 1.6 – 2 million on the Scoville pepper heat scale. For example, a jalapeño is between 2,500 – 8,000.
Ed currently has one that is hotter called Pepper X.
We found these hot pepper plants for sale at the local Home Depot. My son is really into hot peppers, and the plants are all doing well. I look forward to using the cayenne peppers. With a Scoville rating of 30K – 50K, it’s about the hottest I can do.
If leaves are disappearing from your tomato, pepper, or eggplant, look for the hornworm. He is sometimes easiest spotted above a little pile of brown poop on a leaf.
Once I pull the hornworm off the host plant, I deposit it into the yard. That way birds can have a treat. He won’t die for nothing.
Thank you for sharing!
Hydrangeas Blue 