Tobacco hawk moth. Found adjacent to my tomato plants, this moth will likely spawn tomato hornworms which will be devastating. But it’s part of the ecosystem. Without them parasitic wasps will not have food and would not survive. So keeping a few pests means success for their predators as well.
I mean, if we’re being technical, it’s gonna be tobacco worms…
They won’t get hardly any nicotine from tomatoes, but on a tobacco plant they can accumulate a crazy high concentration to ward off predators (much like the mighty monarch).
A couple plants in a garden, you probably won’t get the wasps, but you 100% don’t want the wasps. They live in the ground and will post up right by the tomatoes and defend it as territory. Not to mention even just one work would probably wipe out all your tomatoes.
You can let the moth do it’s thing, but you have to keep pests out of your garden and a tobacco worm will seek out nicotine. No tobacco means they’re going for tomatoes.
I heard him say that in my head… ;p
I heard his toxicity has sustained unto this day…
Maybe OP accidentally bought Tomacco plants from Mr H. Simpson?