What is this on my mater plants?

Oh boy. Here we go.

its a horn worm. Pick them off and decapitate them. Then stick its head on pikes as a warning to any others that may show up. Evil little bastards with a ravenous appetite.

Tomato Horn Worm most likely.

I had five different pepper plants loaded and was waiting a few days to pick them, in one night a group of these green monsters ate every pepper and leaf off the plants.

At least it left your nanner plants alone.

As other have said horn worms.

They can lay waste to an entire plant overnight.

If you find one, there are almost always others and they are had to spot.

You'll see round balls (their poop) on the ground also as evidence of their invasion.

That’s why you gotta put a screen around them

I had one on my property one Saturday. Motherfricker ate 1 piece of chocolate cake, 1 ice-cream cone, 1 pickle, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, 1 slice of salami, 1 lollipop, 1 piece of cherry pie, 1 sausage, 1 cupcake, and 1 slice of watermelon. crazy thing was, he was still hungry

There are flies and wasps that parasitize these caterpillars. Flies larvae eat from the outside in, wasp larvae from the inside out.

This fly specializes on hornworms:


If you ever see a caterpillar with a bunch of cocoon looking things hanging off of it, don't kill that one. Those are the larvae of future wasps that will help control the hornworms.