Thursday, September 24, 2009

Death to this Caterpillar or what?

By Skeeter


I spotted this funny looking caterpillar in my Georgia Garden yesterday while picking tomatoes. For some strange reason, blogger decided to rotate all these pictures from their posted spots. Hum...
Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. It was almost dark outside and I was lucky to get any pictures. See how large this caterpillar is compared to my finger?
I have seen this strange occurrence before but not sure if I saw it on a blog or not. I have seen it in my Garden many times though. This Green crawly with white guests, was on the tomato plant. I wonder, are the white things eggs on the caterpillar that will eat it or is this a mother caterpillar carrying her own eggs?
Does anyone know what is happening in these pictures? Is this DEATH TO THIS CATERPILLAR OR WHAT, In the Garden...

Note: Several Commenter's were able to identify the caterpillar as a Hornworm which feeds on tomato, potato and eggplant among other garden plants and veggies. The hornworm will turn into the Moth we all know as the Hummingbird, Sphinx or Hawk Moth. I like these moths so I feel a bit of sadness for the caterpillars death.

The cocoon on the caterpillar is from the Braconid Wasp. Click on the names for more information that I found interesting.

Thanks to the Blogging World for giving me this knowledge today!

31 comments:

  1. Skeeter, do you know what kind of caterpillar it is? It must be a natural occurrance, I would think and harmless maybe.

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  2. Cool BUT creepy! I'll be curious for the answer too!

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  3. It is a very grizzly story. A mother wasp has laid her eggs on the caterpillar. The young ones will feed on the living caterpillar as they mature. Eventually killing the poor thing. Since not all caterpillars are kind to the garden, or turn into lovely butterflies - this may be a good thing for you, but definately not the caterpillar.

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  4. Creepy is right. I don't know..but yuk! Maybe Tina knows...Oh Tina...

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  5. Oh. My. Gosh! I thought they were m.a.g.g.o.....I can't even say the word, they are so gross! But now that I've read Les's comment, they are almost as bad! I hope it's a 'bad, naughty' caterpillar that you wouldn't want around --otherwise, OH! ...the poor thing!!

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  6. Skeeter, I had always wondered what the parasitic wasp and host looked like... Thanks for posting the photo and for Les' answer! gail

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  7. This is usually a VERY good thing and I always let the caterpillars live so the wasps can do their thing-which means the cat dies. Usually it is the tomato hornworms that are victims, poor things really-but it is nature and perfectly okay. Great shots!

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  8. Leave it alone to die with dignity! Well not really, not much dignity in this demise, but like others mentioned it's full of little baby wasps. If you let it go without disturbing it you will have more parasitic wasps to eat the evil hornworms. Those hornworms can finish off a tomato plant in a few days but this one is done for.

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  9. This is the most amazing natural pest control. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in the flesh of the hornworm. Once they eggs hatch, inside the worm, they exit through the skin and spin tiny white cocoon. They will hatch and very soon, the hornworm will be nothing more and a shriveled brown nothing. The wasps are technically braconid wasps. Amazing! In a really gory kind of way!

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  10. Good thing I haven't eaten my breakfast yet:) I was going to say definitely, off with his head! But now that I've read the comments (pretty gross), I can see that letting Nature takes its course is the best method. Anything that kills the hated tomato hornworm is welcome to me. Thankfully, I haven't seen a hornworm all season--I guess they don't like blighted tomatoes:)

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  11. As Les said, those are eggs laid by parasitic wasps. Ew!

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  12. Good Morning everyone. More rain overnight in GA and so humid the windows are fogged this morning...

    Dawn, Lynn, Linda, Meadowview, Janet, We have an answer to our icky caterpillar situation....

    Les, Thank you for the explanation as grizzly as it may be. Poor caterpillar but since it was eating away on the tomatoes, we will just let nature take its course and allow the wasp to eat the caterpillar...

    Jan, it appears that this caterpillar is a bad one that likes to eat tomato plants! I wonder if they eat the fruit also as I have been finding some mater with missing spots on them. I had thought it was a bird but now I wonder. Hummmm. Yikes, Maggots are gross little things, icky icky icky…

    Gail, Excuse my grammar, but “Aint Blogging Grand”? I had no idea what was going on with this caterpillar and now due to blogging, we all know! I just wish I had better pics to share. It was a weird moment for the Saint and I when we spotted them…

    Tina, I will have to do a google search and see if this is the hornworm! Wow, I am learning so much on this blog today! How wonderful for our knowledge and how sad for the caterpillar. Life I guess…

    Dave, This one is surely done for as it was full of the wasp cocoons! The leaves were missing on the tomato plant so this fella had been busy chomping away. Now I reckon the wasps will chomp away on it. Yikes, a horrible way to go but nature doing its thing…

    Lzyjo, Yikes that is a nasty way to die but nature taking its course. I will look up the hornworm and also the type wasp you mention to learn more. How interesting this little mystery is today…

    Rose, sorry for you lack of tomatoes this year but on the bright side, you have not had to deal with the hornworm. Okay, I know that was a stretch for a Bright Side but I am always on the look out for the bright side of life. This poor caterpillar has not bright side but I guess the wasp do...

    Monica, Ew is right! They are nasty little buggars and I am glad they dont lay any eggs on me! Ick...

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  13. Hi Skeeter, a sign of a well balanced garden. Nature is keeping things in balance so the use of pesticides isn't really necessary.

    I always feel sorry for the hornworms but the best thing is to let nature do her thing.
    Marnie

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  14. Marnie, I try not to use pesticides in the garden too often. So nature is taking it course in my garden. Poor caterpillars as I like the Hummingbird moths... Sigh...

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  15. Tina,
    That is utterly fascinating! I am glad people could help you id this. That is one the great things about blogging I love.
    Rosey

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  16. Skeeter...I've never seen anything like this before so thanks for the links! I checked them out and learned so much! Fascinating post!

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  17. I have heard of this as well...still a little yucky though! I was looking at your soil test survey on your sidebar, not many test their soil huh?

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  18. I've seen this worm at work but never knew what the little white things were. Lesson learned today.
    Great pics as you can almost see his jaws chomping on the mater plant. I'm not sure but I think they only eat the plant. Does it eat the mater too? Help, anybody.

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  19. I picked a few off of my tomato plants this summer. They are so gross looking, but thanks to everyone who gave all the info.

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  20. I thought the same thing as Jan until I saw Les' answer. That is a sad story, but I guess that's nature. I've never seen anything like that before.

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  21. Rosey, Skeeter posting today, sorry for the confusion. I found this totally awesome to learn on through the blog. Blogging is teaching me so much every day...

    Kanak, As soon as I saw the names from commenter’s, I had to check them out and a quick poke of the keyboard and there was so much information on them! So neat to learn about this today...

    Darla, Tina is conducting the soil quiz and it does seem like most are like me and garden on a trail by error and dont soil test. Hum, maybe if I soil tested, my garden would be better....

    Lola, I noticed some eaten spots on a few tomatoes but think it may be a bird and not the caterpillar. I would think the cat to eat on it until no more fruit remaining. He seems to be only eating the leaves on the plant. But I really dont know the answer, I am just guessing from observation...

    Raquel, it is great to have all this knowledge by snapping a few pictures and asking a question! This blogging is so much fun with learning...

    Catherine, I knew they were not maggots as I have seen them way too many times on dead animals so I knew they were not those little gross buggars. I thought maybe some type of egg and I guess in a way, the wasp cocoon is an egg. It was interesting to see this and I found another one today! They are multiplying on me! Must be the season, luckily, the maters have about played out for me with only a few remaining on the vine...

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  22. It's fascinating in one of those look thru your fingers kind of ways. I feel bad for the caterpillar but I know it's the way of life. Great photos tho and thanks for posting about it so we can all learn (those of us that didn't know about this beforehand).

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  23. Oh dear but those are nasty looking and I first saw them last summer when I had the hornworms and did'nt know it till a couple of tomato plants that were taller than me became shorter than me. Christy was actually the one that found them and she started hand picking them off and squishing them. When I went out I then got a bucket of soapy water. That did work some but we had so many we had to resort to the dreaded pesticide that I do not like to but it was either that or I would have lost all my tomatoes. Since I lost them all to blight this year I am so glad I saved them last year. I did a little research last summer when I got them and learned all that has been said today and also read that you can even buy the wasps to lay the eggs on them.

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  24. huh.. like surrogate mother, a caterpillar carrying eggs of other insect!! ~bangchik

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  25. Firstly, the caterpillar is ever so cute. It looks like a small flower. And the photos are brilliant. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  26. I've seen hornworms with wasp larvae but not that many!

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  27. Kathleen, the knowledge we gain from the blogs is wonderful isn't it? I had no idea what this was until posting this blog and now I learned so much from this caterpillar...

    Jean, Buy Wasp to kill caterpillars. I have heard it all now. LOL I have heard of buying lady bugs but not wasp for pest control. Although, come to think of it, my neighbor buys some type of bug to eat the horse flies in her horse pasture and people buy bees for beehives so why not wasp for hornworms! Sorry you lost your maters this year to blight. When in Germany, we lost ours as well...

    Bangchik, Yes a surrogate of sorts for sure! The cow bird lays eggs in others nest for them to raise their young. In this case though, the young will eat the host caterpillar. Kind of mean dont you think...

    Cuban, When I first spotted the white fluffy caterpillar, I too thought it was some sort of strange bloom. I was loosing day light so it was a bit difficult to see it clearly until I got closer. Then saw the huge caterpillar. The Green and White were kind of pretty colors together even though a death story in the making...

    Sweet Bay, I had no idea what they were until this posting about this. I saw lots of pictures on the internet once I knew the source and this many seems to be common. I think the things were moving but I did not get too close as I was not sure what was going on. I did not want to get bitten or anything to harm me. I like to observe nature from afar to be safe...

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  28. I have seen pictures of this in books, but have never known anyone to actually see this in their garden. It is kind of creepy, even though this is happening to a pest.

    Jan
    Always Growing

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  29. Jan, Creepy indeed! I first thought maybe it was a mother carrying her eggs to a spot but after this posting about it, I find I had a Scary Halloweeen Story I should have saved for Oct. 31....

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