Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

Left it alone after finding it on one of my tomato plants.

-M

Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

"Jane Doe" wrote in message
news:QUDBi.7470$Yg.2514@trnddc07...
Left it alone after finding it on one of my tomato plants.

-M
That's amazing - are the eggs laid on the larva?

Mary

Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

"Mary Fisher" expounded:


"Jane Doe" wrote in message
news:QUDBi.7470$Yg.2514@trnddc07...
Left it alone after finding it on one of my tomato plants.

-M
That's amazing - are the eggs laid on the larva?

Mary

Yes. If anyone finds a tomato hornworm that looks like this you
should let it live (as Jane Doe did). You'll have those parasitic
wasps in your garden forever if you do, and will never have a hornworm
problem again.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

"Ann" wrote in message
...
"Mary Fisher" expounded:


"Jane Doe" wrote in message
news:QUDBi.7470$Yg.2514@trnddc07...
Left it alone after finding it on one of my tomato plants.

-M
That's amazing - are the eggs laid on the larva?

Mary

Yes. If anyone finds a tomato hornworm that looks like this you
should let it live (as Jane Doe did). You'll have those parasitic
wasps in your garden

We don't have tomato hornworms though :-)

There aren't many pests which damage our tomatoes (in Britain). Slugs will
eat them when they're little and we do get whitefly but I've never been able
to see what damage they do.

That hornworm looks unfriendly ...

Mary

Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

Though unfriendly, it's a beautiful "worm". Google it for photos. When we
lived in Brooklyn (New York), I would occasionally find them by spotting
their droppings. They were never infected so I would always remove them.
But this one was food for wasps, a good thing, so I let it be :).

-Mariana
Monmouth County NJ.


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Ann" wrote in message
...
"Mary Fisher" expounded:


"Jane Doe" wrote in message
news:QUDBi.7470$Yg.2514@trnddc07...
Left it alone after finding it on one of my tomato plants.

-M
That's amazing - are the eggs laid on the larva?

Mary

Yes. If anyone finds a tomato hornworm that looks like this you
should let it live (as Jane Doe did). You'll have those parasitic
wasps in your garden

We don't have tomato hornworms though :-)

There aren't many pests which damage our tomatoes (in Britain). Slugs will
eat them when they're little and we do get whitefly but I've never been
able to see what damage they do.

That hornworm looks unfriendly ...

Mary

Tomato Hornworm with wasp eggs
 

"Jane Doe" wrote in message
news:ZdUBi.22981$Zg.16644@trnddc08...
Though unfriendly, it's a beautiful "worm". Google it for photos. When
we lived in Brooklyn (New York), I would occasionally find them by
spotting their droppings. They were never infected so I would always
remove them. But this one was food for wasps, a good thing, so I let it be
:).

-Mariana
Monmouth County NJ.

I did Google, thanks for the suggestion.

I noted that:

" ... This insect is parasitized by a number of insects. One of the most
common is a small braconid wasp. Larva that hatch from wasp eggs laid on the
hornworm feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to
pupate. The cocoons appear as white projections protruding from the
hornworms body. ... "

which made me wonder if the white projections on your hornworm were cocoons
rather than eggs. Solitary wasps' eggs are usually very small.

Mary