Looks like the Newlin household is getting an impromptu lesson on Horned Tomato Worms.
When I went to check our tomato garden, I noticed all sorts of "frasse" (that's caterpillar talk for "poop"). Through diligent detective work, I deduced that there must be a worm...then I noticed the stripped stalks. Boy am I brilliant! :) kidding!!! I ended up finding 17 of the buggers, so I guess I wasn't so brilliant after all...
15 of them had wasp larvae on them. Several web sites state that it's good to leave those worms in your garden, as the wasp larvae will hatch, creating more wasps, which will attack more tomato worms. I went ahead and picked them off and set them on the ground. I couldn't stand to look at them on my plants.
The two that didn't have worms are now in my house, living in luxury in a butterfly habitat and getting regular meals of tomato stalks. They are free of wasp terror, but they will probably suffer at the hands of my family, as we will get them out all the time to learn about them as they will form cocoons and turn into hummingbird moths. ***Please note, ASPCA members: WE WILL NOT HARM THESE CATERPILLARS! CALM DOWN! I WAS KIDDING ABOUT THEM SUFFERING!
1 comment:
Awesome! I would love to see a picture when they change. The first and only hummingbird moth I ever saw was incredible. It looked unreal. There are cool websites devoted to them. Just google hummingbird moth.
Peace and Laughter!
Cristina
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