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What the heck??

sadams

sadams

Ok, so my plants are rebounding and doing pretty decent, getting pods off plants I thought a month ago were dying. So, yesterday I see this monster caterpillar on my Pepperoncini plant, but different than any I have seen before, it had these white things all over it....stuck to it.

Any idea what the heck these white pods are? I knocked them all off and gently put the caterpillar back on the plant....just kidding, i cut that suckers head off.

cat.jpg


SA
 
I believe those are wasp eggs. I thought I read something a couple of weeks ago about some kind of semi-parasitic wasp that lays eggs on a caterpillar and when the eggs hatch the little wasp babies devour the sucker.

I could definitely bee wrong. Get it? Bee wrong... :rofl:

:crazy: :beer:
 
too bad the worms death is not sudden, like napalm or something...
 
That's pretty freaking creepy looking. It always amazes me to see the many different parasitic species to be found in nature! :eek:
 
makes wish i had parastic wasps in my area. lots of caterpillars here now. eating up my leaves. snails too. darn rainy season.
 
Thanks for the info. I have pulled about 6 of those caterpillars off this season, that being the first with the eggs on it. Previously, one of my ring of fire plants got really ripped up by not one, but two of those caterpillars just over night. It has now recovered, but I was very angry about it when I first found the caterpillars, as it was one of the few plants that did not suffer from my neglect early on...;(.
 
Normally, I hate wasps, but when I see a picture like that, I feel a secret affection for them. I have been fighting the hornworm infestation battle over and over for two solid years, and consider wasps my trusted allies and friends.
 
You should leave them on the plant when they look like that :eek:

The wasps will kill the Hornworm and then hatch to protect your plants even further!!! :dance:
 
Alphaeon said:
You should leave them on the plant when they look like that :eek:

The wasps will kill the Hornworm and then hatch to protect your plants even further!!! :dance:
Click to expand...

gotta disagree on this one. Eggs or no eggs, horworms can destroy a plant in a day or so and should be removed from the plant immediately.
 
How about remove the caterpillar and place it in a container so that IT cant get out but when the wasps hatch THEY can get out! WIN!
 
ditter said:
gotta disagree on this one. Eggs or no eggs, horworms can destroy a plant in a day or so and should be removed from the plant immediately.
Click to expand...

Is all good! :)


IME there is never just ONE... I would rather sacrifice 1 pepper plant to protect 30 others.

So far this year alone we have found 9, only on the tomatoe plants though. Sprayed BT after finding 7 and now 1 month later 2 more :eek:

Haven`t seen one with wasps attached,ever, but when I do he/she/it stays.
 
Novacastrian said:
How about remove the caterpillar and place it in a container so that IT cant get out but when the wasps hatch THEY can get out! WIN!
Click to expand...

I was just looking these guys up agin to see if they become resistant to BT... found this!

Introduce Parasitic Wasps into your garden
Parasitc Wasps (Braconid and Trichogramma) lay their eggs on the larva. If you see little white things on the worm donÂ’t kill the worm, place it in a jar with a fresh leaf and keep feeding it until the wasps do their job. These are the cocoons of the wasp and their larva feed inside the host and will kill it. This guy below has just met his maker!
Click to expand...
 
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