Tomato Hornworm
Tomato Hornworms or caterpillars develop from eggs laid in the Spring by the Manduca quinquemaculata Moth , commonly called a Five-spotted hawkmoth or sphinx moth.
All the Hornworms on my Tomato plants were covered with white cocoons from parasitic braconid wasps. They feed on the Hornworm and eventually kill it.
Head is to the left, Horn is on the right at the worms/caterpillars rear.
The sphinx moth has a wing span of 5 5/16 inches (9 - 13.5 cm) A heavy bodied, strong flier that resembles a hummingbird in flight.
Moth photos from ... duckduckgo.com images
Hornworm photos taken with ... Nikon d3500
You've been visited by @minismallholding from Homesteaders Co-op.
Well you really cant miss those wasp eggs on it! That's something I've never seen before.
A community marketplace of ethical, handmade and sustainable products available for STEEM, SBD (and USD): https://homesteaderscoop.com
follow: @homesteaderscoop
The hornworms would be very hard to see without the white cocoons...
With wasp eggs and all.
Posted using Partiko Android
It's a jungle out there :-)
My little sister used to pick the eggs off the caterpillars when we were kids.
Posted using Partiko Android
Good protein :-)
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here
Thanks c-squared community... much appreciated :-)
So it's not just woodchucks you're contending with! Your poor tomatoes!
Now I have lime disease symptoms... :-)
Maybe you should just stay inside... :)
Posted using Partiko Android
.
Might as well do an Epstein...
How interesting. You taught me something today and I have never seen this in person, so thanks so much for getting the photo and posting it. : ) Please put the link to this post here to be entered for a chance to win 1-SBI. Did you know that you won for Week 17? I think it was around the time of your surgery.
Thanks @whatisnew I can't keep up with all what goes on in here...
Hi @manorvillemike! Thanks for your entry. : )
What a great post - what an awesome shot of the wasp eggs!
I actually tried frying these fellows one summer when my tomato plants were being decimated. I didn't like killing those cigar-sized worms. (Does that make me vegan? If I had to kill my own meat, I likely would be.)
https://www.thedailymeal.com/recipes/fried-green-tomato-hornworms-recipe
Ugh! I'll pass :-)
If I hadn't seen the worms wiggling in the skillet (and pooping in it!!!) and dying there, I wouldn't have minded. I could eat them only if I mixed them with other greens (plant based). I couldn't just shove the worm in my mouth and chew. Also, they needed a lot more spices than I had used. Salt and pepper alone will not suffice. But I'm totally ready to go entomophagy and keep cute little pigs from becoming bacon. :)
Worms get no respect :-)
Big fleas have little fleas...
If we look closer the little fleas must be scratching too ...