Photo courtesy of wormwould at Flickr.com.
If you find a caterpillar in your garden with what looks like rice grains sticking up from its back, don’t freak out — it’s not some new mutant bug preparing to ravish your cabbages and tomatoes. In fact, those little “rice grains” are a good sign. They’re actually the eggs of a parasitic wasp, and soon the larvae will hatch and devour the caterpillar. While that may sound horrible, it’s an effective and purely natural way to control garden insect infestations, one that’s practiced deliberately all over the world. Incidentally, if you see a worm like this one, don’t just remove it and discard it in advance of the hatch; it’ll lower the population of the next generation of helpful wasps.
It’s quite a site to see- a caterpillar hosting the eggs of a parasitic wasp. Hopefully, you’ll find one of these in your garden! If not, order parasitic mini-wasps to help control aphids in your garden or flowerbeds.
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