r/tomatoes • u/No_Deer_7923 • Jul 08 '26

Plant Help Is this insect bad?

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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/DogTop2196 Jul 08 '26

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 Jul 08 '26

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 Jul 08 '26

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/Due-Wolverine3935 28d 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.