It seems there is always something wanting to eat the veggies we work so hard to grow. From what I can tell from the picture those look like swallowtail caterpillars which turn into swallowtail butterflies eventually. They can gnaw down a plant pretty quickly. I would get some Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis) spray for them. I think Monteray and Safer Brand makes a Bt spray that you can get at most home and garden stores or Amazon. Good luck!

Thank you! I ran out to the local garden center and found some "dipel dust" - hopefully that will work a little better :-)

Just FYI, those are not swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. They feed on parsley, fennel, carrot family plants, not tomatoes and should not be killed. They do very little damage and the butterflies are having a hard time right now.

The caterpillars you have look more like a tomato hornworm (they are very destructive). Hand picking is probably easiest. I recall someone saying that using a black light at night makes them glow and easy to find. But Dipel will also work.

Good luck,
Bellatrix

Thanks! I think there are several types of caterpillars and some slugs in the garden - I didn't see that one until I looked at the picture on the computer, lol.

I am too much of a chicken to go out there at night - I've seen some pretty big spiders and a snake... hopefully plucking them in the day and dipel dust will work :-)