The boys and I were picking the last of our red tomatoes the other day. The nights are so cool that I don't think there will be many turning red now. When we were picking, we found several tomato hornworms.
Notice that it look slike it was rolled in white rice....this hornworm has been parasitized!! This is a good thing! It really
grossed me out concerned me many years ago when I first saw this. A friend, who is an entomologist, explained to me that parasitic wasps (good things to have) had laid their eggs on this hornworm. Their larvae feed on the hornworm so the hornworm dies and your population of parasitic wasps increase each year.
You can see that some of the egg cases are empty. Also a good thing.
So, if you find this in your tomato patch, know that you are blessed and leave it alone. Next year you will have more beneficial insects to help you battle the bad bugs in your garden!
NOTE: All photographs were taken by Elijah, my budding 9 year old photographer!
Posts
Cheri,
ReplyDeleteThanks for addressing this bug. I have killed so many of these this year. I wish I had known to leave them alone. I have actually picked the worm looking thing off and fed it to the chickens! Oh well, I'll know better next year.
love,
julie
Yuck! Great photos, though!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard this before!! I saw something very similar on a couple of our hornworms last year, and didn't have a clue what they were. I haven't seen a single hornworm this year, either. What a wonderful little critter that parasitic wasp is! God thought of everything, didn't He?
ReplyDeleteThere is a picture of just that in our audobon society bug book. When I was young we'd find all colors of tomato worms on our plants, but in my own garden, now (15-20 years later), I haven't had a one...
ReplyDeleteWow! Those things ARE creepy looking! I'ver never seen these where I live. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I sure love to learn about other people's area's...what they have to deal with while growing their foods...the bugs, weather, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing!!! Kris in WA