WHAT is hanging in this Caterpillar??
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Bonnie Bassett on Aug 16, 2013I can't believe it ...I found 4 of these little guys on my tomato plant today they are so weird looking ! I was just thinking how I didn't have a pic to post and here it is ty Jim!Helpful Reply
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Marty Perry on Aug 16, 2013i have them on my grape vinesHelpful Reply
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Frankie Laney on Aug 16, 2013Here you go...they are the cocoon of the Braconid Wasp which are good for the garden. The big green worm is basically their food source. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcBgBKv8818Helpful Reply
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360 Sod (Donna Dixson) on Aug 16, 2013Wasp eggsHelpful Reply
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Sensible Gardening and Living on Aug 16, 2013This is nature at her best. There is a type of wasp that lays it's cocoons on the tomato horn worm, which in itself kills the horn worm. Then the hatching baby wasps, become parasites on the horn worms eggs and kills them too. Pretty amazing isn't it!Helpful Reply
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Frankie Laney on Aug 16, 2013Here's another weird time-lapse video of the event. Icky but intriguingHelpful Reply
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Bonnie Bassett on Aug 16, 2013does the tomato horn worm harm the tomato plant?Helpful Reply
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Bonnie Bassett on Aug 16, 2013it is amazing and creepy I don't like wasps I didn't want to kill the hornworms so I put them where I was hoping birds would find them and have a good meal!Helpful Reply
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Linda Russell on Aug 17, 2013they'll eat your tomato plant to the stalkHelpful Reply
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Larose LoganOakes on Aug 17, 2013Thanks for the information! I haven't seen any of these guys here in Northern Va but now at least if I do I will know what they are and which one to get rid of. Say will birds eat dead catepillars or do they have to be alive (like cats, will only eat something that they have killed, no road kill for them.)?Helpful Reply
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Linda Russell on Aug 17, 2013start early, cover, from frost, then shade in the heat, water a lot!! LolHelpful Reply
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Linda Russell on Aug 17, 2013you could use old white sheets or gauze material, over stakes. Just cut to fit.Helpful Reply
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Mary-Jo Westbrook on Aug 18, 2013COOL! :)Helpful Reply
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Eyesdebo on Aug 18, 2013I think this caterpillar is what becomes a Spinx moth (hummingbiird moth)..... I'm not sure. Anybody know?Helpful Reply
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Robin Berteau on Aug 18, 2013@Jim G you do have some interesting insects hanging around your garden this year. Great learning experience for us all. I have never seen the hornworms with the eggs on them. WOW. I must not have any wasps around here, I seen to be over run with hornworms.Helpful Reply
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Lauren on Aug 18, 2013@Jim G Once the tomato horn worm has these predatory wasp eggs on its body, it will NO LONGER feed on your tomato plant. Please leave the tomato horn worm in your garden, as you will now have predatory wasps feeding on other tomato horn worms which may find themselves in your garden. You don't have to use any chemicals now, as these predatory wasps will take care of them for you. Congratulations on having such a wonderful helper of mother nature!Helpful Reply
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Teri Randall on Aug 18, 2013Wow..Lauren..I didn't know that. I had 1 tomato worm about 3 weeks ago. I cut the stalk part it was on and drowned it in a bucket. So far, none are on there that I can see anyway. But I am sure glad to learn from you what to do if I get another one. Thanks for the tip!!Helpful Reply
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Brenda Davidson Burch on Aug 18, 2013why not just kill them first?Helpful Reply
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Gwen on Aug 18, 2013I heard before that these were monarch butterfly larva on the caterpillar after I killed several of them.Helpful Reply
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Karin Graham on Aug 18, 2013strange got to look outdoors if i have anything like that ,thank you for sharingHelpful Reply
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Bonnie Bassett on Aug 18, 2013After I watched the video about these caterpillars and wasps I tried to rescue the half dead caterpillars to save the wasp cocoons but all the cocoons had dropped off the caterpillars.......and today when watering I noticed a lot of little wasps flying on and around my black-eyed susans! could they have hatched overnight?Helpful Reply
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Taryn on Aug 18, 2013Yikes - hornworms! Nasty buggers. We have them on the Papaya tree. Let the vicious little wasps kill them - and save your tomatoes. These are not monarch or any other kind of butterfly. Monarchs host is milkweed. These are moths - and destructive as heck.Helpful Reply
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Pam on Aug 19, 2013Loren is right ,I had these on my tomatoes before and looked it up ,I knew it was a horn worm ,it's some kind of wasp eggs ,they do kill the worm eventually,and these worms will eat your plant like nobody's business.Helpful Reply
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Estelle Whiddon on Aug 19, 2013this is a tomato hornworm covered in trichogamma wasp eggs! lucky you! this is an extremely helpful ally in pest control and you have a population that is breeding!Helpful Reply
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Stella Love on Aug 19, 2013What Estelle Said!Helpful Reply
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Wendy Leib Ehlers on Aug 19, 2013We had one in our garden and I took the top of the tomato palnt, caterpiller and all and placed it in a large jar covered with an old nylon, to take it to our "Bug Box" and before we got to town with it a couple days later the jar was full of tiny flying ants. Or at least appeared to be ants. A couple days in the jar and the "little fliers" were deadHelpful Reply
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Tlo1435142 on Mar 18, 2015This is a tomato worm and they will kill your tomato plant very quickly by eating it.Helpful Reply
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