Found a second one on my Hot Thai Ornamental. That one didn't even get a chance to eat anything. Went to Lowes and picked up some BT, removed the hornworms from the peppers and put them elsehwere in the yard so i keep the beneficials around. Sprayed the peppers with BT. Will be doing this once a week for a few weeks to ensure I don't lose anything else to the Hornworms. Fortunately the Hot Cherry that got partially eaten was my lesser producing plant.

Great pics, I had two last year. Same thing happened to them, wasp got them. I chose to leave them be, as a warning to any that may tread on my plants. No follow up with anything like BT nature took care of it. If it was too big an issue I may do the BT.

Mark

Nice madcat!

BT wouldn't take care of the monsters like that anyhow. It's not nearly as effective on the "older" ones.

You did the right thing madcat. I'm not sure what kind of plant they should go on though. Maybe they only eat nightshade leaves. And you want them to survive a little until the wasps emerge.

Sounds like a plan with the BT though. It only kills caterpillars. So, your other beneficials aren't harmed at all. Make sure you hit any tomatoes, potatoes, or eggplants also -- they're all in the nightshade family.

If you ever see you're being run over with hornworms, Spinosad works a bit better on the large ones. But it will kill bees. So, only spray at dusk.

Kevin

Kevin and Mark,
Thanks for the advice. I hope I still get those larvae to hatch, I just cut off the branch they were paralyzed on and threw it into the garden bed that isn't in use this year, has some weeds I need to get under control in it. Currently only growing peppers and figs this year, so I only need to spray the peppers. I'm amazed at how well they blend in, even with the larvae on them. Anybody know what the adult wasps look like? I'm pretty sure I have seen something wasp-like pollinating my pepper plants, and was wondering if that was them.

Good idea on the cut branch trick.

They're tiny. If you saw them, they may not necessarily be feeding on pepper nectar, but other beneficial attracting flowers like cilantro/coriander, dill, parsley, allysum, etc..

Yeah...although I've been making a true effort to grow beneficial flowers now, caterpillar camouflage is the main reason that BT is sprayed constantly in my garden.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: brachonid wasp pics

Based on those pictures, I probably was seeing something else pollinate my peppers. The only bees I get are carpenter bees, so it must be some sort of wasp or fly. In spite of the beneficials, I still lost part of a plant, so I don't want to worry about that happening again. I'm still amazed I had the beneficials, because I have nothing that attracts them as far as I can tell. The previous owner of my house seemed to be a big fan of Sevin. Yet I see lady bugs and praying mantis all over the place.