"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:30:41 GMT, "omi" wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in messag

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic
growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would
certainly
be
able to benefit from them.


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing
photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm

Oh, oh! That's what mine looked like! I didn't feel sorry for him
at all. As a matter of fact, I was rather gleeful.


Penelope


I haven't seen any parasitic wasp pupae yet, but we managed to pluck
about twenty hornworms off the tomatoes today. They are doing some
serious munching.

Most of them went to the one hen who is laying. We took her out of
the
pen, held out a handful of worms, and let her take her pick. She has
to
shake the worm a bit to get it to deflate, then she swallows it.

Interestingly enough, some of the worms were mostly black. I have
never
seen a black tomato worm before.


Ray


Update:

Another twenty or thirty found this late afternoon. The kids had a
great time hunting, capturing, and feeding them to the chickens. The
other pullets got a taste once everyone's favorite hen got so full she
refused to eat another bite. LOL

The kids and chickens enjoyed it greatly, but the bugs are starting to
do some serous damage. Fortunately, there are 50 or 60 less bugs than
before. I have never seen an infestation that bad. I'm tempted to let
one grow to maturity just to see what the moth looks like.


Ray