Kiss My Knits!

Well, I guess that’s it for the tomatoes, then.

They’ve been infested with tobacco hornworms. I didn’t notice this in the afternoon, but my husband pointed it out when he got home from work. There are quite a few of these chomping away. A good third of the tomato plants have been denuded. Fortunately, it was the end of the season anyway. And they’ll become a pretty moth, a Carolina Sphinx.

Even though the tomatoes are goners, the circle of life is in full swing in our little garden. See the white things on the caterpillars below?

Apparently the cotesia wasp, which is tiny and doesn’t sting people, lays its eggs inside the tobacco hornworm. Then the larvae burrow through the skin and spin cocoons. Eventually they’ll consume the host. It’s a heck of a way to solve our caterpillar problem, but I suppose it’s healthier than pesticides. Well, healthier for us, anyway.