Is this a good thing? I've had a very good tomato season, no pests to speak of. Then today I saw this! Thanks!
[img]https://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh99/cbar851/DSC_0003-3.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh99/cbar851/DSC_0002-7.jpg[/img]
That is a tomato horn worm, they are bad. They little guys about to be born living on it are good. They are the pupae of the Brachnoid wasp. Take it off the plant and take it somewhere else in the garden so the wasp will be born. Don't worry they aren't big mean stingy wasp. Than look for more of those hornworms like I said they are bad.
But letting the wasp be born will help you out in the future. Sorry can't elaborate too much I have dinner to cook.
Those wasps sure do their job! I have now seen two hornworms this season, one at the CSA farm and I just found one on one of my tomato plants. But both of them looked just like the picture, covered in white pupae and not moving at all....
The adults feed on the nectar from the flowers of weeds and flowers of the daisy (Chrysanthemum) and carrot (Umbellifers) families.
Another good reason to keep carrots, dill, fennel, parsley and queen anne's lace around and let some flower! (As well as they are host plants for swallowtail butterflies).