Camouflaged worms on indoor plants

Question

I have worms growing on some of my plants, mostly those that are indoors. They eat the leaves voraciously. I've noticed them on spider plants and on the plant whose picture I've attached. Once they get big enough I can grab them with something and throw them out, but sometimes I see that leaves are being eaten and can't find them because they're too small. By the time I find them, they're quite big - about an inch long. Normally I only find one or two at this stage, and they don't move often - only if I shake the branch/leaf they're on or touch them with something.

What are they called? Is there a better way of dealing with them? I've marked them with red ellipses below.

Answer 1

Those probably aren't "worms", but inchworms or, more precisely caterpillars of geometer moths. This is a very large family of insects, found in many places of the world.

They are easily recognizeable by their characteristic mode of movement: They use only the legs at the front and rear of their body, forming a "loop" like the greek letter "omega", then stretching again. They often camouflage themselves as "broken twigs".

If only a few caterpillars are present, plants often deal with some loss of foliage well. For heavier infestations, insecticides based on bacillus thuringiensis and some beneficial insects are available. The application is typically recommended in late spring and early summer, while the caterpillars are still small. Larger animals are easy to pick off, especially if you know how they camouflage...