The cabbage looper is a pale-green measuring worm with light stripes down its back. Adults and larvae feed on the foliage and can cause enough damage to end a potato plant's growth. The corn earworm deposits eggs nightly on silks of corn ears. The tiny larvae, which hatch out in 2 to 5 days, feed down the silk into the tip of the ear. The corn earworm can be green, pinkish, or brown and has light stripes along the sides and on its back.
Large worms leave the ears to pupate in the soil and change into adult moths.
Start chemical control applications when corn silks appear and continue every 2 days until silks begin to turn brown. The tomato fruitworm is the same insect as the cotton bollworm or corn earworm. The female month lays tiny, pearly-white eggs in the buds of tender young leaves. When the eggs hatch, the small worms move down the plant and eat into the fruit. They will also feed on the blooms.