Saturday, May 5, 2012

I Dug This Up in My Planter


I have several plastic pots that I use to plant flowers and invasive herbs around the porch and in the courtyard.  I am not surprised to find a bug or two but then I dug up
 THIS.

I thought it was a seed, being so reddish brown.  It was about 3/4 - 1 inch.
Then something happened.
IT MOVED!

EEEEEWWWW.

What is it?  I found this photo in this bug forum.  
Some say cutworm.
Some say cicada.
I'm voting for cicada since we were inundated with them last year.

Anyone else have an idea?

Linking to Barn hop 61.html

23 comments:

momto5 said...

it is a cutworm. we had them in our garden a few years ago, after they ate all of the tomato and pepper plants. and they FREAKED ME OUT! because they did move. eeeep!

Michelle said...

Weird, I have never seen anything like this before.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Oh oh. They would have been in the pots I used for single tomato plants, small ones so that makes sense.

Wendy Haught said...

Yuck! Give em to the chickens!

Beth said...

I have seen those before, but didn't know what they were. Thanks for asking...now I know. haha

Clint Baker said...

I was always told growing up that they were cut warm larva. If I can remember right Cicada larva looks like a grub!

Kristi@LetThisMindBeInYou said...

O_O No idea, but I'd be saying ewwwwwww too!

LindaG said...

I say Eww, too!
Lucky you have chickens to feed them too. :o)

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

If I find them again, to the chickens they go!

April said...

Wow...so glad you asked. We found a few this year and were equally grossed out. We threw them all to the chickens...LOL

Sarah Jean said...

That is a Tomato Horn Worm. Turns into te big bulbous green caterpillar looking things that eat your tomatoes.

Sarah
www.beewenchfarm.com

PS. Chickens love bothe the cocoon and the worm :)

Sarah Jean said...

That is a Tomato Horn Worm. Turns into te big bulbous green caterpillar looking things that eat your tomatoes.

Sarah
www.beewenchfarm.com

PS. Chickens love bothe the cocoon and the worm :)

Kelly said...

Yikes. I hate finding surprises in the dirt LOL

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Now we have tomato horn worms (we had those), cut worms and cicadas. I'm going to watch and see if I find it coming out some day.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Wouldn't surprise me. We have the pretty hornworm moths and I've picked my share of the critters too. I think they are cute, really, but they destroy our tomatoes so off to the chicks they go.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

You have a CSA? Totally cool! I hope it is a horn worm, I know what to look for then.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

And I thought it was a piece of toy, or a seed. Then it MOVED!!! Really a surprise.

Tamatha said...

No idea but It would have scared the heck out of me!!!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Sort of like an old black and white sci fi movie- It came from the Planter ---- oooooouuuuuu. LOL

Candy C. said...

I agree, ewwwww! Here chick, chick, chick! Come get your treat!! ;~)

Jessica said...

I'm always so happy to give those to my chickens and watch them gobble down the gross things. They like them when they are caterpillars too!

Farmgirl Heidi said...

Yikes! If I found that and it moved, I'd have a heart attack. It looks like some sort of alien invention.

Tanya said...

I found the exact same thing UNDER my parents lawn (it was sod and we were looking under a small area to find out why it was dying). We rolled back the sod and found that little thing under there, and yes, they DO wiggle. If you look closely you can see black dots, almost like eyes, and it wiggles when a shadow moves over it, like it can see you. Based on an image search on google for "cutworm cocoon", that's definitely what it is (horn worm cocoon is similar but more brown). I feel better knowing what it was. I almost posted a picture to http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ but I never got around to it. Thanks everyone for your answers!