Learn about the hornworms eating your tomatoes, the braconid wasps that parasitize them, and the hawk moths the hornworms become. SUBSCRIBE to see more nature lessons! Another live science moment with Kim!
It's my first time growing roma tomatoes and dealing with tomato hornworms, and it's actually fascinating to learn about the hornworm life cycle, what a treat! Thank you Kimberly!
I knew it!! A school teacher...lol. I was thinking this woman sounds like a science teacher or something and towards the end you said, "my 6th graders". We found a big catpillar with a horn just this evening and wondered what in the world!!! Thanks for the great explanation of our humongous find!
Oh, dear me! I actually witnessed one of these parasitized worms in my first garden. Due to my inexperience at the time, I had opted to cut the branch it was on off my tomato plant.
5:25 Some minor corrections. (I hate misinformation) Moth larvae turn into a pupa, not a chrysalis. Butterfly caterpillars turn into a chrysalis, which is actually the bare butterfly pupa. Most moths make silk enclosures to protect the pupa, known as cocoons. Sphinx moths (hornworms) are an exception. They dig a hole in the dirt and line it with silk (to prevent collapse) and emerge from the ground in the spring. It should be noted that there are many species of sphinx moths, but only the tomato and tobacco hornworms are considered pests, since they are the only two species that eat tomatoes. That's why people should NOT destroy hornworms just because they have a horn. Nearly all species of sphinx moth caterpillars have a horn. Sphinx moths are great pollinators and are commonly known as "hummingbird moths" because of their hummingbird-like appearance and feeding habits.
wasps being predatory or parasitoid (sometimes both) are essential for population control of many other organisms, as you can see them do here being population control for the tomato hornworms, which is why a lot of gardeners purposefully attract these wasps to their plants as a form of natural pest control. as far as parasitoid wasps go, the vast majority of them either have no sting or no interest in stinging anything that isn't their host animal
Hi I have a pepper plant that was gifted to me but it had a large worm covered with those eggs, I got rid of the worm but how I get rid of the eggs? Thanks
Sorry ma`am but I am not going to let the pests in my garden suffer such a gruesome end, I will personally make sure to let my tomats burn rather than let it be. Its basically torture. RIP worms
White knight for the worms but denies the parasitoid a chance at life. You assume you are doing the right thing by intervening with a natural process. Your virtue signaling only highlights your ignorance on this subject. Nature does not cater to your feelings and for you to take some moralistic stance and assume your intervention is what is needed is pure hubris. RIP unpretentiousness
I’m ambivalent, as I hate hornworms, but I loathe wasps and I’m allergic to them. I just scrape them off and squash them. I also put the hornworm out of its misery.
I don't like hornworms either but I would *Much* *Rather* get rid of them myself then let those parasites do them in, I wouldn't wish parasites on ANY living creature and if you would you are simply '" *evil* there really is no way around it.
@@jamesworley9888 Parasitoid* Which are also a living thing that depends on this process for life. Rather arrogant of you to assume one creature deserves life over another. Ahh the hubris of this man in assuming that squishing them himself is an act of virtue or somehow better for the universe than letting nature take its course. What is actually "evil" is depriving the parasitoid a chance a life because of your lack of knowledge and misplaced sense of virtue based on assumptions and "there really is no way around it."
