What kind of caterpillar is this?

[Icebrand]

This little !@#$ is hanging onto a 14-day-old sweet 100 tomato sprout. I searched around for caterpillar images but failed to identify it. I cannot figure out how he even got into the pot since it is surrounded by water. If a butterfly laid an egg, how in the heck did he grow so fast? Nothing has been chewed on. I check the sprouts daily and there is no way he could have evaded me.

 

[CrazyConure]

All caterpillars are bad. They will eat your plants. Remove and spray with bt.

 

[Icebrand]

BT? Doesn't that cause health problems in humans?

I tossed the little bastard into the grass to meet his fate with the wolf spiders.

 

[Icebrand]

Just read some peer-reviewed journals on the subject and it appears BT can only produce external reactions in an extremely small percentage of the population and appears to have no effect internally.

 

[Pablo]

Could just be a darker tomato fruitworm.

 

[Beverly]

All caterpillars are bad. They will eat your plants. Remove and spray with bt.

To say that all caterpillars are bad is an opinion and not a fact. If you are going to remove the caterpillar, just pop it in the freezer. No need to use BT. Studies done in France have connected BT with reproduction problems in birds. As an organic gardener, i would not use it mostly because i have never had the need and there are questions about how it affects the ecosystem.

 

[marlingardener]

All caterpillars are bad. They will eat your plants. Remove and spray with bt.
Obviously CrazyConure doesn't know where butterflies come from. The butterfly instars (various stages of "caterpillar") use plants as hosts. What you see as a caterpillar today may actually become a Monarch or Swallowtail, among other beautiful butterflies.
Lay off the BT, and if a plant is getting seriously chewed, hand pick the caterpillars off.

 

[CrazyConure]

All caterpillars are bad FOR PLANTS. The OP is trying to grow tomatoes. Having caterpillars eating the plant up is NOT GOOD.

Bt is organic and is the only caterpillar killer out there for organic use. I think @Chuck can agree with me.

 

[Beverly]

A solution of neem oil and water will kill caterpillars if it is sprayed on what they are eating.

 

[marlingardener]

This above becomes this:

Saying all caterpillars are bad, then revising the statement to say "bad for plants"?
We plant passionvine, rue, extra parsley and dill as host plants for the butterflies.
We share our gardens and space with a host of critters. Sharing and understanding the way nature works is a lot better than eradicating.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

All caterpillars are bad. They will eat your plants. Remove and spray with bt.

"ALL" Are not bad. Horrid to generalize. I treasure each and ever one of them, and move them to a safe place if necessary. All humans who do not take the time to learn about "types" of caterpillars there are and the beauty they bring need to get a library card and do so.

 

[Chuck]

All caterpillars are bad FOR PLANTS. The OP is trying to grow tomatoes. Having caterpillars eating the plant up is NOT GOOD.

Bt is organic and is the only caterpillar killer out there for organic use. I think @Chuck can agree with me.

Yes, I agree with you in a limited way. All caterpillars are bad for plants simply because plants are what they eat. Having said this not all caterpillars are bad. Bad caterpillars IMO are the ones which do major damage. Caterpillars such as Army Worms and Cabbage Loopers among a few others. Most of the beautiful butterfly caterpillars do not do enough damage to warrant their death. Unfortunately many of them are plant specific as to what they reproduce on and these same plants are one's we want to protect. Even so the damage they do is usually not fatal to the plant. If in doubt plant enough for you and the caterpillars.
Now for the Bt debate. I can find no research that shows Bt as environmentally unfriendly. Sunlight destroys Bt's ability to kill caterpillars in a fairly short time, hours not days. Bt should not be used unless the caterpillars are in great numbers except for a few species such as Tomato Hornworm, Tobacco Hornworm of which these two will completely strip and kill a tomato, pepper or eggplant. These do not turn into butterflies but instead into moths which are normally nocturnal. I always first try to hand pick these but they are so well camouflaged it is just about impossible to find them all. But Bt is a must for Loopers, Army worms and Tomato Fruit worms. Bt is the best thing to use for Corn Ear Worm although mineral and horticultural oil will also work. Bt is far and away the best thing to use for destructive caterpillars.

 

[MaryMary]

I tossed the little bastard into the grass to meet his fate with the wolf spiders.

This is hilarious!

(I edited my post because the posts I was addressing are gone now.)

 

[Beverly]

Unfortunately many of them are plant specific as to what they reproduce on and these same plants are one's we want to protect.

I can't agree here. Common Rue is a host plant used by some swallowtails, when was the last time you needed any Rue, when was the last time you ate it for dinner? The milkweeds (all of them), are toxic and only are good for feeding butterflies and other pollinators. When was the last time you needed a milkweed to make salad or soup? There are many butterfly host plants that are toxic to humans. I have a list a mile long, but these are two examples. Another good example are the Aristolochias, people don't eat them (unless they want to get good and sick), nothing much at all eats them, except certain swallowtail butterflies that need them to survive.

 

[CrazyConure]

Allcaterpillars are bad for plants simply because plants are what they eat. Having said this not all caterpillars are bad.

That was exactly what I was trying to say. I didn't mean to say all caterpillars should be extinct. I, myself, love caterpillars and am trying to attract the monarch butterfly (they are my favorite). I try to make everyone a home in my garden and I don't mind sharing with the bad bugs, as long as they don't demolish everything.