Tag: fauna

I finally managed to get a photo of him, before the cats scared him off.

Those are my poor tomato plants in the background. I had to cut them down because it was just too dry. Even watering them every day wasn’t enough. But then, despite there being no rain for weeks and weeks and weeks, they somehow managed to put out new growth.

As if the tomato hornworms and their parasitic wasps weren’t bad enough, Mr. Groundhog has also been stealing tomatoes.

Remember those disgusting tomato hornworms that tried to kill my plants awhile back?

Well this is what happens to them when parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside the worms. The eggs hatch and feed on the worm, which kills it. Then, they burrow out of the worm, turn into pupae, spin cocoons, and hang out until they’re ready to hatch.

Each of those little cocoons is about the size of a grain of rice.

These little guys haven’t hatched yet, but they should soon. I’ve found other infested hornworms with empty cocoons. This is a revolting but Very Good Thing. It means that there are now lots of these wasps around, so they will hopefully keep future tomato hornworms populations in check.