It has become an obsession...

 

This beautiful moth is the Sphinx moth.  They come out at dusk and look like a hummingbird that is somehow flying in the dark.

 

 

This is the egg that the Sphinx moth lays during her evening flights.  She sneaks around in the dark to leave these eggs that will become the dreaded hornworm.

 

 

This morning I found this huge hornworm headed out to bury itself and start the next stage of life - it has started to darken up from the bright green color it was earlier.  (Note that the coin beside it is a quarter...)  The hornworm is the larval stage of the Sphinx moth.  The hornworm can devour tomato plants practically overnight if not kept in check.  I try to find them when they are very tiny and still on the leaves.  I have pulled probably at least 60 of the tomatoes this season already. 

 

And yes, it has become an obsession.  I am out there checking first thing in the morning, then at noon, again in the late afternoon, right before dark and even after dark with a flashlight.  They will not be getting my tomato plants!!!