Hummingbird moths

[desertlady]

I got hummingbird moths in my garden ! I think they look cool! But are they good or bad pests?

 

[thistlebloom]

I get them too. I don't know if they damage anything, at least, I've never noticed any. They aren't very numerous in my garden, so if they do damage I probably wouldn't know.

 

[Dave2000]

What what I gather online, they seem to be pollinators which is good, but eat plants while still a worm = bad.

 

[Carol Dee]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html

The moth is cool and a good pollinator but the larva are the dreaded hornworm~ see article.
Last summer they nearly wiped out our tomato harvest. Ate the tomato as well as foliage.
(Saw them doing it)

 

[peteyfoozer]

What CarolDee said. THey make the nasty, ugly, tomato eating, dinosaur looking horn worms. I had to buy a long grabber stick so I could pick em and toss em in the pen for my chickens to do battle with. *shiver*..ugh

 

[Dave2000]

I'd let them live, elsewhere. If a bird doesn't get to it first then a wasp may come along and lay some eggs in it then you have more predators and pollinators.

 

[desertlady]

I thought they were horn worms too, last summer I gave a lot of them to my chickens! I wonder what their larva looks like? I hope they dont get worst !

 

[Carol Dee]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
If you haven't checked out this site, do. It shows the stages and food sources for the moth and the hornworm.
Petey I NEED one of those gadgets, I can not stand to hand pick them. I REALLY need some chickens or ducks to feed them to. (I guess I could drop themin a bucket and dump them into a friends chicken coop on my way home. Make that a LIDDED bucket.)

 

[peteyfoozer]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
If you haven't checked out this site, do. It shows the stages and food sources for the moth and the hornworm.
Petey I NEED one of those gadgets, I can not stand to hand pick them. I REALLY need some chickens or ducks to feed them to. (I guess I could drop themin a bucket and dump them into a friends chicken coop on my way home. Make that a LIDDED bucket.)

make it a metal lidded bucket...with a padlock.

 

[Carol Dee]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
If you haven't checked out this site, do. It shows the stages and food sources for the moth and the hornworm.
Petey I NEED one of those gadgets, I can not stand to hand pick them. I REALLY need some chickens or ducks to feed them to. (I guess I could drop themin a bucket and dump them into a friends chicken coop on my way home. Make that a LIDDED bucket.)

make it a metal lidded bucket...with a padlock.

I see you like them as much as i do. YUCK