EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWuh.

[stoney321]

THIS is an Angel's Trumpet (Datura innoxia, not to be confused with Brugmansia, which is an annual.) Pretty, right? Grows to 5 - 8 ft. tall, and about that around. Mine is about 4 feet up and across. Nice. Best thing? It LOVES the heat. Loves shade. Loves sun. No pruning. To say that I love this pretty little plant is an understatement.


This is what I found on it:



(OKAY. That is ACTUAL SIZE. I measured my screen. FUGGIN' GROOOSSSSS.)

That is a tomato hornworm. They are squirmy, thick bodied, and I did the Ooogie Shiver dance (while wearing my leather rose-pruning gloves) each time I YANKED one off. I had to YANK. They are disgusting and I hate them. That is a deck of playing cards, and they were all as long as that. EWWWW. Thicker than my thumb. EWWWWWWW!!



I would like to state that there were FIFTEEN of them. I collected seeds yesterday, and checked the plant. There were no tomato hornworms. Almost the ENTIRE plant has been defoliated. (No leaves.) I have four daturas. FOUR. They ate them all.

The cats are no longer outside. They scare the birds away. Currently mocking birds are having a feast in my driveway. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

In other news, I am writing AU RPS with VK and William "Peter, High Kiing of Narnia" Somebody Hot Lips. Clearly this is a plague of locusts being visited on me. Don't make me bust out the DDT. DON'T. MAKE. ME.

Comments

[wolfshark]

Ewwwwwwww!

*joins you in the icky dance*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

FIFTEEN!!!!!

Eww eww EWWWW!! And they were so wiggly and STRONG (eww!) that I could feel them trying to break free in my thick leather gloves and they wanted to slip into my glove and squirm on my poor tender flesh I KNOW IT!!!

*scrubs forever!!*

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

This? is why I don't garden.

You have my sympathy, because that looks like something Buffy would ask Giles to look up in his books and then make Spike come along with her when she went to kill it.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'M SAYING.

Fuggin' nasty. (Normally, birds would have a FIELD day with them, and I never would have known. BUT. The kitties have taken to napping in the plant's shade, so the birds are smart.)

I could have sprayed Bt (harmless to everything BUT worms) but then I would have had to go to the store, buy some, yadda yadda. Fast and nasty.

GLEH. (Seriously. Look at a deck of cards. That lon or slightly longer, and MAN THUMB thick. *cries*)

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

*grabby hands*


Cannot wait.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*types furiously* See, I shouldn't have stopped writing, and I shouldn't have gone outside.

(Okay, Vinnie's been sent to a public school in England, and they're roommates. They're getting naked. Um... there will be full mouths on parts. And quiet gasps.)

...I'm going to need an icon. (Gah, the picture I found of William, OH GOD.)

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeoaugh. NASTY caterpillars.

HATE tomato hornworms, and am now freaking out about the four heirloom tomato plants I have sitting in their plastic house (against late blight).

I think, though, that the yellow jackets eat first instars, so I should be OK.

Julia, as long as I don't get stung by the yellowjackets, that is.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

See, THIS is why I told my husband to not knock out the wasp nest in the back of the house where NO ONE GOES. Wasps LOVE these nasty bastards.

Yellowjackets. Oh, god. I'm so allergic, I can't begin to tell you.

*crosses fingers for your plants* Oh, and the TOMATOES THAT AREN'T PUTTING OUT are fine. In case you wondered. bastards.

[stardances.livejournal.com]

The first time I found a horned worm on one of my pepper plants I used a pair of metal tongs to take it off :D...hehehe. I can only imagine how funny I looked outside with oven mitts and metal tongs afraid the horn part would sting the crap out of me as I ran around the yard trying to find a "good place to throw it out of harms way". My 70+ year old neighbor walked up on the scene and laughed, he pulled the thing off of the tongs using his bare fingers, threw it on the concrete and smooshed it with his sneakers.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I thought it was a sphinx moth larvae at first, so I didn't kill the first one. Then I pulled out my larvae to butterfly book and saw it was EVIL. They all got tossed to the driveway for the birds.

*the CIIIIIRCLE of LIIIIIIIFE*

Oh but bare fingers?? eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwWWWWWWWWWW!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

NO. NO THEY ARE NOT COOL BUGS. The dill I plant in the back SPECIFICALLY for swallowtail and monarch larvae? Those are cool. These had to be YANKED, Beth. *cries*

15. 15!!! YOU got a purdy, purdy mouth.

[samsom.livejournal.com]

Nature.

So not for me.

Eww.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

See, and I have this WHOLE POST on IPM (integrated pest management) I want to do to explain WHY THIS IS HAPPENING TO ME. *cries*

But only three people will care, and it will be way too detailed and lame.

EWWW ICK EWWW GROSS MANTHUMB WORMIES.

[ely-jan.livejournal.com]

Oh.My.God. Those are just HIDEOUS! Not enough words for the ick. I'm doing battle with Japanese beetles at the moment...and losing. Gah.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. *cries* And I feel bad because they ARE the caterpillars that turn into hummingbrid moths here, but COME ON. (I'm the only one in my neighborhood with any type of plant life, so I get ALL the bugs.)

Oooh, to battle those summbitches, you have to treat them at a certain time of the year - you treat the grubs in your lawn. What state are you in, and I'll look it up for you. (If you want)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I've got the annual Datura in my garden but it re-seeds itself so it might as well be a perennial IMO. And I haven't seen one of those hornworms in years, come to think of it I haven't seen any predatory anythings in a long time... just bees, dragonflies and butterflies. Hmmm...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

If it's the annual, it's a Brugmansia. Datura is a perrenial. (Is it coming up from the same root? Or in a different place? That'll tell you right there.)

And aren't they NASTY??? I have ALL the bugs, since I'm the only one in four blocks with any sort of plant life. GAH.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

*reads the last paragraph*

You'll make sure I notice that when you post it, yes? 8)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I know my girls who have the first class tickets for the handbasket, uh huh.

[oolongtea.livejournal.com]

Aaaahhhhhhhhhh! ::shivers:: You actually have birds big enough to eat those?

::continues to skeeve::

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

...

Our neighbor's cat was eaten by an owl two years ago. Yeah. Yeah, we have birds big enough. Haven't you heard about things in Texas? ;)

[st_salieri.livejournal.com]

I'm torn between "awesome!" and "oh, gross". Although having them on your plants definitely cuts down on the awesome part.

Your RPS is strangely intriguing.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

It IS intriguing, right? It's all Kita's fault. (Yay!)

And they (the 'pillars) are GROSS. They turn into hummingbrid moths, which is wonderful, but 15!! They completely destroyed all but FIVE leaves on four plants. :(

(One or two, I would have left them. 15!!!)

[ann1962]

Years ago, before I knew about the horn part, I saw one on my tomato plant and figured it was just a caterpillar. It stabbed me. Stabbed me with the horn and wouldn't let go. It wrapped itself around my finger. I had to tear it off. One of the most disgusting garden incidents I have ever had. Now I use gloves too. Tongs are a great idea.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

OH. MY. GOD.

That may be the most horrifying thing I've read. I am SO SORRY. *napalms your NEIGHBORHOOD* Gah. *hugs hugs hugs*

[dancetomato.livejournal.com]

This? Is why I do NOT garden. I'm allergic to nature. *does the oogie shiver dance*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

NORMALLY NATURE GIVES ME PLEASURE!! *cries, eats more ice cream for its medicinal properties*

*also does the hippy hippy shake for good measure*

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

It does grow up to be a rather pretty moth.

Five Spotted Hawkmoth


In my garden, I get a lot of hummingbird clearwings, hopefully it will stay that way.


And here's a suggestion: Fried Green Tomato Hornworms. Yummy!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Here is becomes a hummingbird moth - they're pretty too, but 15 in my garden at once is far too many. Let them eat cake. Or the neighbors plants. *cries for my garden* As if the drought and triple digits weren't damaging enough...

(And EWWWW. hahahahaha!)

[gillo]

We don't get them over here. Can I just say how glad I am? Those are well revolting. And you had to touch them with only a glove between them and your skin?

::hugs you::

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Clearly I would have preferred outer space togs, and maybe a personal gardener to do it for me, yes. :)

YOU ARE VERY LUCKY YOU DON'T HAVE THEM. Also, that you don't have Palmetto bugs. *cries*

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. You are woman. I would never be able to pull those things off of a plant. I'd be doing the oogie shiver dance from my safe place in the house.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I HAD TO YANK. I cannot stress enough that they are like... muscley. *throws up a little with the remembering*

*throws a few bumps and grinds your way for extra insurance*

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

We planted a milkweed plant one year, to attract butterflies. Ye-ah. Now we have six or eight milkweed plants...with no gorram leaves on ANY of them because of the damn Monarch caterpillars.

I don't think we get hornworms here. At least, I've never seen any. Here, our big gross defoliator is a giant grasshopper that you pretty much have to smash with a brick because nothing else will kill it. It laughs at your booted foot, srsly.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I plant dill JUST to lure swallowtails and monarchs - and yeah - they chomp them down to the soil every year. But this isn't a host plant! I've never seen anything eat it, ever - which is another reason why I love it.

Oh, grasshopper give me the WILLIES. What if it jumps in my hair?!?! I've learned that my son and his #4 driver are the only match for grasshoppers. FORE! (Katydids are a pest here, too, but I snip them in half with my shears. Bleh.)

Srlsy- I blame the cats. They're keeping the grackles and mockingbirds and jays away. Wait...

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

OMG! They say things are bigger in Texas...I guess this is proof. Ewwwww, I say, ewwww.
I don't think we have these things up here in Vancouver..at least I hope not! We do have banana slugs that are as big as small snakes though...and very slimey.
*runs out to check tomato plants for aliens*

[pernickety.livejournal.com]

15? That poor plant! But I do love bugs, especially the wriggly ones (not so much the flying and jumping ones) and those are so pretty!

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Ewwwwwwww! Okay, at first I totally thought you meant the playing card and thought - weird, Stoney's got some sort of weird playing card vandalism going on in her neighborhood. Then I saw the icky worm thing. Ewwwww! You weren't bare-footed, was ya?

Your RPS will be invading my brain. I know it.

Call me?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

THERE YOU ARE, YOUNG LADY.

(No, was not barefooted. Was a million degrees outside, so I was flip-flopped. And Bicycle cards are not taking over the earth, from what I've seen, just nasty worms which I found ANOTHER ONE in my garage later today when I was cleaning it out.)

Bathing kids, doing the bed time boogie - can you get on chat or email? It is VERY VERY LOUD AND EXASPERATING in my house currently...

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Yuck! I've got the creepy crawlies just looking at that thing. You are brave to touch them even with leather gloves on!

*shivers*

And whoa, that's an interesting idea for RPS you got there...

[thepiratequeen.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Not cool, man. Not cool at all. But you're talking to the girl who has walked out of her apartment (my apartment is really the second floor and third floor of a house) every morning and freaked out because she has a front lawn again.