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I was very glad to have some wasps help me with my gardening this year! Earlier this summer, I was pruning my tomato plants, when I came across a giant green t

I was very glad to have some wasps help me with my gardening this year! Earlier this summer, I was pruning my tomato plants, when I came across a giant green tomato hornworm attached under a leafy stem. I looked up and noticed an entire stem's leaves had already been decimated by it! But lucky for me, I had a bunch of flowering plants right beside the tomatoes, and some miniature wasps had been frequenting them. They'd found the hornworm before me and laid a couple hundred egg sacs on its back, incapacitating it. Later on the larvae hatched and devoured the hornworm. Weeks later I found another similar hornworm, half-way devoured. In both cases, wasps saved my tomatoes from potential disaster.

fluffything 7y ago
All hail!
hvidgaard 7y ago
Wasps does wonders for gardening, and yellowjackets and hornets are like the generalized guardians. They are extremely efficient at removing pests from the garden. Last year we had a yellowjacket nest in the garden and they mostly didn't bother us. I had to move my grill, but that was about it. Nobody got stung. They kept all the kale free of cabbage butterfly larvae, and as long as we didn't disturb them in their hunting, there was no problem.
pjmlp 7y ago
I have a similar symbiotic relationship with spiders. They are allowed to freely roam around, as long as they take of all the summer bugs that happen to fly in during Summer time. Ah and don't get too crazy with their webs.
JoeAltmaier 7y ago
Ah! Maybe that explains my total lack of squash bugs this year. Usually they destroy my squash vines. I have a smattering of nests in the high ceiling of my machine shed. Sometimes I get out the wasp spray, sometimes I let them be. Last year I had 50 nests and a very high population of wasps; this year hardly any. Do any birds eat wasps? Something is keeping them in check...

fluffything 7y ago

All hail!

hvidgaard 7y ago

Wasps does wonders for gardening, and yellowjackets and hornets are like the generalized guardians. They are extremely efficient at removing pests from the garden. Last year we had a yellowjacket nest in the garden and they mostly didn't bother us. I had to move my grill, but that was about it. Nobody got stung. They kept all the kale free of cabbage butterfly larvae, and as long as we didn't disturb them in their hunting, there was no problem.

pjmlp 7y ago

I have a similar symbiotic relationship with spiders. They are allowed to freely roam around, as long as they take of all the summer bugs that happen to fly in during Summer time. Ah and don't get too crazy with their webs.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago

Ah! Maybe that explains my total lack of squash bugs this year. Usually they destroy my squash vines. I have a smattering of nests in the high ceiling of my machine shed. Sometimes I get out the wasp spray, sometimes I let them be. Last year I had 50 nests and a very high population of wasps; this year hardly any. Do any birds eat wasps? Something is keeping them in check...