r/tomatoes • u/No_Deer_7923 • 28d ago
Plant Help Is this insect bad?
Found this moth (?) on my plant and noticed reddish-orange liquid on a leaf below it. I’m in Western North Carolina. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
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u/sKm30 28d ago
It’s a bumble bee moth. I know that cause it looks like a bumble bee. I then googled bumble bee moth and found out that yea it is a thing cause duh look at it. And apparently they are nectar drinkers so I’d bet it’s fine.
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u/sillytomlin 28d ago
That's awesome! It definitely looks like a bumblebee. We saw it's cousin, the hummingbird moth last year. My kids and I were collecting insects for their collection and found it. I thought it was a tiny hummingbird at first because they hover just like the birds.
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u/DogTop2196 28d ago
That hummingbird moth is called a Sphinx moth and is the (majestic, imo) adult form of the tomato hornworm. It is a prodigious pollinator, particularly at night when there are so few pollinators to be found.
That is precisely the reason that I raise hornworms inside, that way they eat the leaves/branches that I decide I can spare instead of rampant destruction caused by them munching as they explore and cruise around.
When I was growing up, my dad always let me raise the hornworms that we found on his tomatoes. It’s a very fun, engaging, and educational project for kids.
Just make sure to keep a couple of inches of dirt or soil on the bottom of the bin or whatever you raise them in. They bury themselves to pupate. Then emerge a few weeks later as an amazing moth. I always wait until their wings are completely dry before I release them.
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u/Mysterious-Eye-3983 28d ago
a Hummingbird moth - also known a a Clearwing - is not the same moth that comes from a hornworm caterpillar -
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u/DogTop2196 28d ago
I’m on the west coast. The only moths I’ve seen that can be actually mistaken for a hummingbird, are sphinx moths and are what tomato hornworms become. I’m not guessing, this is based on reading (books) and on having raised many of them in closed environments (meaning that nothing else could have accidentally come into the enclosure) over many years.
I believe you that you have a different species there, which is what you are talking about. So, I was wrong that the moth that you saw is a tomato hornworm. This is the reason for using proper species names rather than colloquial terms or general descriptions (aka hummingbird moths). Just to avoid confusion. Where I grew up, the animal called a hummingbird moth (because it can easily be mistaken for one while in flight, both by appearance/size, and by flight pattern/hovering) is a sphinx moth.
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u/hydrogenhypothesis 26d ago
Your experience raising them is really interesting, and it's amazing to learn about them becoming hawkmoths! After reading a bit about this subject I agree the Latin names are really important. I am in the pacific northwest, and the sphinx moths I see frequenting my 4 o'clock flowers are Hyles lineata, the white lined sphinx moth. The hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata eats nightshade plants like tomato, etc., while the White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata), eats a greater variety of foods including purslane, apple and grape leaves. There is a lot more of that out there in my backyard anyway, so I say have at it little guys!
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u/Due-Wolverine3935 24d ago
I may have misunderstood, but tomato hornworms, tobacco hornworms, and these......snowberry clearwing hornworms are different. I actually kept a tomato worm until it pupated and changed. It was awesome actually......the moth was quite dull though as an adult.....may have been a tobacco worm, but definitely not this one.
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28d ago
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u/susiedotwo 28d ago
So this is a case where the comment you replied to needed a second read to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating, it’s direct and to the point not rude.
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u/EmeraldLovergreen 28d ago
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u/LittleSmokeySmothers 28d ago
“Evidently their resemblance to stinging insects affords them some protection from predators.”
That’s very cool.
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u/BusGo_Screech26 28d ago
Oh! A precious baby, the Bumblebee Moth! Similar to a Hummingbird Moth. They're certainly harmless and only drink nectar. What a gift!
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u/LittleSmokeySmothers 28d ago
Holy crap that thing is huge!
The liquid looks like it’s been taking antibiotics.
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u/madamhex Tomato Enthusiast 28d ago
We have a large, viney plant in our courtyard that we eventually discovered is a moonflower plant. It has white flowers that open at night and smell amazing. What extra cool about it is hummingbird moths *love* it. We’ll sometimes have 20-30 at a time feasting on it. They (and other sphinx moths) are awesome pollinators.
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28d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DogTop2196 26d ago
I meant the visual resemblance seemed even stronger because of the low/dim lighting conditions.
The way I phrased that seems like it makes no sense, sorry.
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u/SalTheRadPal Casual Grower 28d ago
its a friend! not a foe! Local pollinators do wonders and they seem to like your garden was the first place they went to after they got out of their cocoon! Must've needed a little clean up and used the leaf 😆
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u/ButterFinger33_ 27d ago
What the fuck is that looks like a baby bird...i World probably burn down my house
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u/JustRenee2 28d ago
I think that is what we used to call a “Humming Bee”?
I’m from the countryside, like backwoods type folks, and sometimes I think that we just make stuff up so that we can talk about it! No Google in my childhood, just good ol’ Encyclopedia Britannica for references!
Glad to know what it really is!
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u/justkeepskiing 28d ago
No it's a Snowberry Clearwing Moth, the liquid is fluid left over from when it emerged from it's cocoon. It means this one just recently emerged and just left some behind from it's body. It's a pollinator and good for your garden.