Tomato worms - did I screw up??

[i_am2bz]

I'd always heard you were just supposed to squish them when you found them (altho I couldn't personally do it, I have too much of a gag reflex ), but recently I read that if you found one with white egg sacks stuck to them to leave it be, because they were braconid wasps that would kill other worms.

Well, this morning I found one, yay! But...I took the recommendation of someone on the web, & cut the branch off & put it in a jar with no lid. This was supposed to make sure the worm survived long enough to get the wasps to hatch.

But...I went out this afternoon to inspect my "catch" (& look for other worms), & all the eggs have fallen off the worm!!! Does that mean I killed the eggs? Should I have just left the worm on the plant to continue munching away? :/

 

[Dave2000]

They aren't eggs, the wasp laid eggs in the worm days ago and the eggs hatch inside the worm, then those hatched larvae eat the insides of the worm till they are big enough to chew their way out and make the white egg looking cocoons around themselves to pupate into a winged (wasp) creature.

Once the wasp larvae have chewed their way out of the worm so they can be seen cocooned on it, the worm is pretty much done for, it's not going keep eating at the plants for long if at all so you can leave it there on the plant, though if you leave it a predator like a bird might eat it.

Putting it in an open jar will work too, but it's best that the baby wasps are around something they can eat like pollen, nectar, fruit, etc. It's normal for some (all?) cocoons to eventually fall off, that's not a sign you killed them but the baby wasps would die soon enough if they can't get to a food source.

 

[vfem]

Here sweety, I love sharing this thread and picture. I call that a blessing!

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=29415

 

[lesa]

That is the coolest pic in the world!!

 

[i_am2bz]

Putting it in an open jar will work too, but it's best that the baby wasps are around something they can eat like pollen, nectar, fruit, etc. It's normal for some (all?) cocoons to eventually fall off, that's not a sign you killed them but the baby wasps would die soon enough if they can't get to a food source.

Okay, that's good to know!!

vfem - yes, my other one looks just like your picture...& I think the wasps have done their job, because it hasn't moved in 24 hours! PLUS...I haven't found any others in that time either (after the original 5-6 I plucked off).

Also good to know I can feed them to the chickens...I was sure they were so uh-glee they must be poisonous!!

 

[digitS']

You guys are so mean!

Celebrating the demise of caterpillars.

Think of their short lives. Sleeping in the shade on those hot, hot days. Those cool evenings out there in the garden, maybe under a full moon. Only the soft sound of Momma Moth's wings as she lays more eggs on the foliage. And, the accompanying crunching of the Horn Worms' own mandibles as they eat your plants right down to the ground!!

Steve

 

[Garden Girls]

Wow!