Invader
 

Please see photo, via link below. We caught a few of these guys today,
crawling around on the tomato plant vines. Wonder if anybody can
advise what the white things are, attached to the caterpillar's back.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2...rpillaron6.jpg

Invader
 

ghb624 wrote:
Please see photo, via link below. We caught a few of these guys today,
crawling around on the tomato plant vines. Wonder if anybody can
advise what the white things are, attached to the caterpillar's back.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2...rpillaron6.jpg


Wow. Haven't seen one of those since I was a little kid in Pennsylvania.
It used to be my job to go out to the garden every morning and pick them
off of the tomato plants and toss them into the burn barrel. What you've
got is a tomato hornworm. Nice picture by the way. And I think that the
white "pods" on it means that it has been parasitized by one of its
predators but I'll leave that for someone else to verify.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_hfrr/ext...s/hornworm.htm

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Invader
 

Those are parasites on the tomato hornworm's back. If I find a hornworm with
parasites in my garden I usually move it somewhere it won't harm my plants
and leave it alone so the parasites will increase in number.
Marilyn
"ghb624" wrote in message
ups.com...
Please see photo, via link below. We caught a few of these guys today,
crawling around on the tomato plant vines. Wonder if anybody can
advise what the white things are, attached to the caterpillar's back.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2...rpillaron6.jpg

Invader
 

Thanks much, any day you learn something new is a good day. I posted
another photo of the hornworm & its parasites he
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghb624/790787348/

Invader
 

"Marilyn" fcorliss at comcast dot net wrote in message
. ..
Those are parasites on the tomato hornworm's back. If I find a hornworm
with parasites in my garden I usually move it somewhere it won't harm my
plants and leave it alone so the parasites will increase in number.
Marilyn


Many years ago, I actually heard one of those chewing a tomato plant 15 feet
away. That's crazy.

Invader
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote :
"Marilyn" fcorliss at comcast dot net wrote:
Those are parasites on the tomato hornworm's back. If I
find a hornworm with parasites in my garden I usually
move it somewhere it won't harm my plants and leave it
alone so the parasites will increase in number.
Marilyn


Many years ago, I actually heard one of those chewing a
tomato plant 15 feet away. That's crazy.

I was able to find the worms on our tomatoes last year by
looking up from the huge piles of poo they drop.
I'd never seen them before, and was amazed at the damage a
few of them could do in a day.

Seahag

Invader
 

Great picture. Those may be wasp larvae, which compel the caterpillar
to eat to oblivion. Yes, tomato hornworms will eat tomato plants to
nothing in one day. You were lucky - you caught the sucker when it was
big enough to spot. The younger one-inch ones are much more difficult
to find.

Invader
 

On Jul 12, 11:51 am, ghb624 wrote:
Please see photo, via link below. We caught a few of these guys today,
crawling around on the tomato plant vines. Wonder if anybody can
advise what the white things are, attached to the caterpillar's back.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2...rpillaron6.jpg

What you have on your "tomato horn worm" are eggs of a parasitic wasp
that is very beneficial. They live on the host worm and suck the
juices out of it. Actually, you want more of these egg cases. The
horn worm is very destructive to your tomato plants so nobody wants
them. If you leave the ones alone that have the egg attachments in a
few days they will die.
The wasps hatch and go about their business of laying eggs on more
horn worms.
The horn worm is the caterpillar of the sphinx moth or "tobacco bug"
or tobacco moth as sometimes it's called. They almost look like
humming birds the way they suck nectar from flowers and hover over a
flower.

Invader
 

The Hormworms are also real good Catfish bait.


From Mel & Donnie in Bluebird Valley





http://community.webtv.net/MelKelly/TheKids

Hi There
I am new to worm farming and i didnt know where to start but just wanted to give it a go. So thought i would have a search around the internet to see what info was available and couldnt really find much! However i did find a really great book to download which was incredibly informative and really easy to read. Now I am so excited as i have a better understanding as a complete novice and i highly recommend it to anyone starting out.
I found it under this website: Beginners Guide to Starting a Worm Farm

would appreciate any further advice from anyone.

Allotment Lady