Oddly enough, I have never had more than a couple of hornworms and those that I've seen always had a few parasitic wasps attached so I just left them because they were good as dead anyway. Japanese beetles are another story, but I probably won't see any of those for another week or so. I hate those little buggers.

My roses have already gone through their first blooming and will be resting during the JB arrival.
Will watch out for the hornworms. This rain sure has the tomato plants growing.

I have had less trouble with pests on tomatoes since I started interplanting with marigolds. This is my first summer in this neck of the woods, though, so I'll see how it works here.

One thing I am seeing on some of the tomatoes , though, is an infestation of aphids. I've never seen aphids on tomatoes in the north - whitefly, yes, but not aphids. I tried a soapy water spray (I wasn't making enough progress removing them by hand), but it damaged the foliage. I have tried putting some nasturtiums near them, to serve as a trap crop, but would welcome any other suggestions.

I's add some cayenne pepper to you spray mix and cut way down on the amount of soap too.

That will give you a more potent spray but less harmful to the plants.

I saw a sphinx moth at my neighbor's house one night last week ... they're fascinating to watch. Not so fascinating watching them munch our tomato plants, tho :)

Drippy, my sweet peas are getting attacked by aphids as well, and they're close to my tomatoes, so the tomatoes are getting some as well. But the lady beetles are coming out for me and my blossoms aren't getting hit...yet. I hope the sweet peas can act as a distraction for the aphids until it gets hot enough to kill them both.

Thanks so much for the info - the aphids seem to be down a bit. I trimmed off the foliage I killed with the soapy water, and noticed one ladybug the other day (hope there are others). There is a pot of nasturtiums at the base of the two plants I have seen the aphids on, and as much as I love my nasturtiums, I hope they will draw the aphids away.

From a gardening perspective, I have to say, so far I LOVE South Carolina! :)

I've had a few aphid attacks and they're usually self-limiting - bugs in, bugs out. I just have to inhale/exhale and look the other way. Suggest you do the same.

But this is prime Japanese Beetle time - oh, no! None here so far - only plants they really hit in my yard are knockout roses and hibiscus. The former recovers on its own w/a bit of judicious pruning; the latter I have been known to douse with unmentionable stuff (for the greater good of saving the plant). JBs are really nasty, but short lived. This, too, will pass.

The JBs showed up yesterday! I saw just a few on our KO roses. I'm hoping for fewer this year as I've found almost no grubs in the soil when planting this year.

A good friend also showed up yesterday -- a Monarch butterfly!

Cameron