Monarchs and Hornworms

Due to my, uh, casual approach to garden work this summer, I've been growing quite a few caterpillars: monarchs on the milkweed and tomato hornworms on the produce. It's also been a banner year for spiders. Alice now uses the term "heeby-jeebies" on a daily basis.

As we clear out the brush in and around the garden, we find these caterpillars. I feel a pang of sadness every time I rip out a milkweed plant. I think of those majestic, migrating butterflies searching endlessly for a place to rest and lay eggs *sigh*

But when I find a tomato hornworm, like Alice has in the photo below, it's a totally different feeling.

They're usually too big to squish (I don't like the popping sound), so I furrow my brow and curl my lip in disgust before gently placing them far, far, far away from anything even related to the tomato family. Find something else to eat, you pretty worm. This one that Alice is looking at, however, has a story to tell.

See those little white fuzzballs hanging off of him? Mwah ha ha haaaaaaa. Certain death. All natural, too. Those are cocoons housing the pupating larvae of a parasitic wasp. The mommy wasp came by some time ago, stung the caterpillar to temporarily paralyze it, laid a few eggs inside him, and flew off. The eggs have hatched inside the caterpillar and feasted on his guts. When big enough, the wasp grubs chewed through the caterpillar's skin, made a cocoon, and will soon mature into adult parasitic wasps. The fact that this caterpillar has three cocoons on him and is still moving around cheerfully tells me the grubs didn't do much damage...this time. There's always the hope that the wasps he grew will come back to raise another generation.

So, well, I was thrilled to find this particular caterpillar in my garden. Now to look up ways to attract parasitic wasps...