Bad thing is the parasitic wasps also attach our pollinator caterpillars. I grow herbs and milkweed to feed the Eastern Black swallowtails and Monarchs. I have to take them inside enclosures to keep them safe from the parasitic wasps that will lay eggs inside their bodies.
I was thinking the same thing. I also leave a good chunk of my farm totally wild and I never have to worry about an influx of aphids in my cultivated area.
We had a huge outbreak of tent caterpillars this year...zone 8/8b ....many of them had several white dots on their heads indicating the parasitic wasps had been very busy taking care of them...the pin apples and pin cherries and willow trees are finally leafing out again.
I've let last year's parsley go to seed hoping to attract hover flies and parasitic wasps. Plus, when that goes into the compost I'll be sure to have more parsley in the spring. I love that!
I would love to see more of these videos. I stopped using even the organic pesticides and following the "no mow May" on some parts of my property (like they do in the UK) to attract the beneficials. It would be helpful to know which insects eat what pests.
I’d love to see more videos about bugs that help with pests, I heard praying mantis don’t have that much of an effect compared to the wasps and lady bugs though. I’m wondering what other bugs are really effective
When it comes to ladybugs, it's the ladybug nymphs that eat the most aphids. I wish Luke would revisit the topic of ladybugs to show what the nymphs look like, as well as the eggs. Ladybug nymphs are longer, black bodied, with orange markings. Ladybug eggs are tiny orange clusters. I wish I knew this before I washed then off some mint leaves I was harvesting. The ladybugs seem to like using my peppermint patch as a habitat, so mint might be good for attracting them.
Praying mantis can kill beneficials and even hummingbirds/small birds (particularly at bird feeders). If you do decide to get one, get one native to your area. For example, the Chinese Mantis is invasive where I live since it competes with the Carolina Mantis.
Very interesting! I just saw my first tomato hornworm today..couldn`t figure what was destroying my bell pepper plants (but not the other peppers) Now I know! Ugliest thing I`ve ever seen! I think I see tent caterpillars starting in 1 of my pecan trees..so gonna get some of these wasps right away! Thank you for the info!
@@conniesanrn2730 - Eeeewwww! Ugliest little suckers I have ever seen! I use ice tongs to pull them off my plants, then just squish them. I think my outdoor kitty thinks they’re candy. Yuk!
Those caterpillars are evil little buggers.... LITERALLY! Maybe we don't have the right kind of wasps in our greenhouse, but sure have seen an increase in caterpillars.
The trichogramma wasps will also kill your butterflies and pretty much any beneficial insect eggs. They are great indoors for killing moth infestations. If you have pet birds the moths can get out of hand.
@@HouseofSquawk something serious to consider. Lots of thinking to do about the pros and cons of each method. So surprising about using them indoors for moths. Recently a friend in Florida told me her grandmother has pantry moths. Never heard of such a thing! I've got some research to do! Thank you so much for your reply and your information! Thank you all for your replies!
This series has been phenomenal! I've been reading The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and how insecticides have destroyed our environment, far beyond the insects they target so I love seeing an alternative that brings balance rather than sterility. Keep 'em coming, please! I'm learning so much! 😃
I have a nice supply of these in my garden/yard so I never worry about the worms, I also use preventive insect barriers on my brassicas to prevent damage in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Will these work on cockroaches inside the home? I have roach traps but they don't seem as effective on the tiny ones a litte bigger than the size of a poppy seed.
Diatomaceous Earth is safe to use indoors (away from pets) and is effective on hard-shelled bugs and insects. Roaches don't hatch into a worm, so the wasps wouldn't be interested.
Love all ur videos!!!! The more thr better :) . but I would love to request a video about beneficial nematodes and how to get rid of Japanese beetle larvae
I had such a hard time with pests in my garden last year. But this year nature seems to be correcting the problem on its own because my garden is full of parasitic wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, and other predatory insects. I wish I knew what I was doing differently!! Maybe they are just catching up from last year’s hellstorm.
These are tiny, not your typical idea of a wasp. You could just say you're releasing predators to help keep the pests down. Or just call it IPM (integrated pest management) lol
I need the kind of parasitic wasps that go after the Oriental Fruit Moths that attack my peach 🍑 tree every year. Where did you get those dormant eggs?
@MIgardener Can this wasp treat an infestation of leaf miners as well? I know I have been battling Asian fruit moth and now leaf miners. I don’t have the money to buy different wasps for each if they’re different. What do you suggest? I forgot to mention they are on my citrus as well as other plants.
Agreed. I posted a similar, earlier comment. I also rear monarchs from egg to release of butterfly. So sad to see their decline to the point of being endangered. 😢
Trichogramma is exclusively an egg parasitoid. It does attack many moth and butterfly species, but only the eggs. There are other parasitoids that attack caterpillars. They are all beneficial and they all need nectar as adults.
Although my comment was respectful (love ya, Luke), I think it got deleted because I posted a link from a monarch conservation site discussing this wasp. For anybody interested, YES, this wasp will also target monarch butterfly eggs and destroy them. Unfortunate. Monarchs are now listed as endangered. As a person who has spent many summers hand rearing them from egg to butterfly, it hurts to see the infected eggs shrivel and die. I try to gather them as soon as the female lays them, before anything can cause harm, but it requires a very watchful eye and a lot of time.
I’m curious if you have to worry about introducing a new bug to my ecosystem. Living in Alaska, doesn’t sound like they’ll survive a winter, so they aren’t native. Guess I have a new topic to research! Woohoo, thanks MI Gardner!
"Name something a caterpillar would not want to see when he breaks into a garden" Buzzer "Tricho gramma!" "Trich- wha?" Ding ding ding So the name of the wasp makes me think of that family feud clip the whole time XD
Luke, is there anything I can do about japanese beetles that won't harm bees? I'm losing the battle for my grapes but we have a bee keeper with bees on our property. I love your videos!
I'm not an expert, but for two years where I live, I have experienced watching regular old sparrows take care of my Japanese beetles in the garden. They stopped my roses getting killed as long as I fed them close by... They would perch in the bush and then eat bugs while there. Do you have any bird feeders you could try out near the grapes? It might be worth a try as one line of defense.
I released hundreds of ladybugs one time.. came back out a few hours later and there were dead ladybugs everywhere. I was so confused, then I saw an assassin bug with a ladybug stuck on its proboscis
What time of day do you check on them? If you check on them at night or very early morning, you might find them. Maybe some slugs or snails are hiding somewhere in your mulch or under the pot or something.
I'm experiencing the strangest year this spring/summer. Almost no bugs, and definitely very few beneficials; we did get aphids and those biting ants showed up. Seen a few bumble bees and a few dragon flies. Otherwise, my environment, southern VT, is void of most life.
Same here, SE Mich. The milkweed is tall and flowered but I have not seen one Monarch yet. Also, lots of salvia but no bees. First time ever have aphids on peppers. Very strange.
NE Ohio same- rarely seeing bees or wasps compared to last year. Aphids are rampant as are flea beetles. Every year is so different. More education on beneficial and bad bugs please!
@@karrenbecker1059 I'm dealing with aphids, slugs, and ticks. The aphid and slug problem is easy enough; ticks are bad news. While gardening I'm exposed to bites, and I'm chronic with Babesiosis, which is a tick co-infection similar to Malaria. Recently began researching natural inoculations of beneficials that feed on ticks, but the results always come up as chickens, ducks, or Guinea fowl. Moreover, we need more sun and less rain atm. Best!
If I remember correctly, these parasitic wasps are super tiny (like, you can’t even see them). Is that right? We tried them once to try and get ahead of what we call “tent caterpillar season” in the Houston area… two horrific weeks of early spring and the caterpillars invade our land like crazy. It didn’t work great, but I think that was because we had probably released them too early. Another gardening podcast had mentioned releasing them in like January or something. 🤔 I’ve been pretty confused on the REAL and actual best way to utilize them.
Unfortunately introducing any species into you garden has the potential for effects you didn't anticipate. Parasitic wasps are not choosy about which caterpillars and will also infect Monarchs etc. When these predatory insects find your garden naturally it tends to settle into a population which can be supported by pest species without decimating all the wanted butterflies. Releasing a huge swarm has the potential to just wreck everything. I don't think trying to take these shortcuts is a good idea. Make your garden attractive to the beneficials and let it happen at the pace it's supposed to.
Yeah I'm kind of concerned about this. I have a large garden in south florida. I have horn worms all over my tomatoe plants and they are absolutely covered with wasp eggs which is good and helpful. I didn't introduce them they appeared on their own. But I also have milkweed that is covered with monarch caterpillars year round. Wondering if this will become a problem for my monarch population? Where I live it's always to the extreme with pests. Not sure how too create a healthy balance and I sure do love my butterflies. Any advice?? Thanks in advance for your original comment posted.. J.P.
This may be easier than me running around my garden like a madman, swinging at cabbage moths with a fly-swatter.
But not as fun😂
Lol I do that with an umbrella
Video?? Lol!
I bought an electric bug zapper that looks like a tennis racquet 😂 My kids help too!
@@barefootgardens22 How well does that work?
Bad thing is the parasitic wasps also attach our pollinator caterpillars. I grow herbs and milkweed to feed the Eastern Black swallowtails and Monarchs. I have to take them inside enclosures to keep them safe from the parasitic wasps that will lay eggs inside their bodies.
You should mention that growing things like Dill attracts parasitic wasps.
I was thinking the same thing. I also leave a good chunk of my farm totally wild and I never have to worry about an influx of aphids in my cultivated area.
Also good to know.
We had a huge outbreak of tent caterpillars this year...zone 8/8b ....many of them had several white dots on their heads indicating the parasitic wasps had been very busy taking care of them...the pin apples and pin cherries and willow trees are finally leafing out again.
Thank you! I love seeing the eggs attached to those evil tomato horn worms.
I saw that once. Thought I was going to pass out!
Evil?!?!
anything that harms darlas tomatos are evviiilll@@KokoGogo1728
🤣 Loving that "bad bug" intro on these pest videos...😂💖
Omg!! Thank you. I've been battling hornworms since I moved here.
Did you show a picture of this good wasp and I missed it?
Lol, I wondered the same. He showed the cabbage moth and the hornworm but not the star of the show!
Thanks Luke. Another good vid. 👍
Very informative. More episodes, please
Thanks for the info, as always.
I've let last year's parsley go to seed hoping to attract hover flies and parasitic wasps. Plus, when that goes into the compost I'll be sure to have more parsley in the spring. I love that!
I love wasps in my garden, I leave them alone and they leave me alone. ❌⭕️🙏🏽♥️
I would like to see more Good Bugs.
Love this series!
Yes please, more good bug videos! 😁😁 also, maybe link the previous ones? 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you for posting a link to where we can get these bugs
I would love to see more videos like this.
thank you for what u do and give us!!
Thanks for this knowledge 👍
Looks good! Thank you for the info Luke.
🎉Great video! Definitely do more of these.🎉
Nice video. Wish you showed the wasp
I thought he was saying "Tracky Grandmas". 😂
I would love to see more of these videos. I stopped using even the organic pesticides and following the "no mow May" on some parts of my property (like they do in the UK) to attract the beneficials. It would be helpful to know which insects eat what pests.
Definitely like to see more of these videos. I have bought your garden planner and I’m filling it w all sorts of information. TY
Thanks for the important information, as always, Luke!
I’d love to see more videos about bugs that help with pests, I heard praying mantis don’t have that much of an effect compared to the wasps and lady bugs though. I’m wondering what other bugs are really effective
I just released some praying antis and am now on the lookout frt😊eir activity!
When it comes to ladybugs, it's the ladybug nymphs that eat the most aphids. I wish Luke would revisit the topic of ladybugs to show what the nymphs look like, as well as the eggs. Ladybug nymphs are longer, black bodied, with orange markings. Ladybug eggs are tiny orange clusters. I wish I knew this before I washed then off some mint leaves I was harvesting.
The ladybugs seem to like using my peppermint patch as a habitat, so mint might be good for attracting them.
Milky Spore is a beneficial bacteria that attacks grubs like Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, and others before they emerge.
Praying mantis can kill beneficials and even hummingbirds/small birds (particularly at bird feeders). If you do decide to get one, get one native to your area. For example, the Chinese Mantis is invasive where I live since it competes with the Carolina Mantis.
Thanks Luke. I'm interested in natural ways to get rid of pests in my garden. Keep them coming.
Since learning the benefits of these wasps, I have left them alone and respect them. Thanks for sharing Luke
Once again, thank you Luke!
Tomato hook worms show up under blacklight. I bought a small blacklight flashlight and ck my plants at nite!!
Very interesting! I just saw my first tomato hornworm today..couldn`t figure what was destroying my bell pepper plants (but not the other peppers) Now I know! Ugliest thing I`ve ever seen! I think I see tent caterpillars starting in 1 of my pecan trees..so gonna get some of these wasps right away! Thank you for the info!
I think hornworms are cute 😂
I agree with you. Ugliest and most skin crawling thing I've ever seen
@@conniesanrn2730 - Eeeewwww! Ugliest little suckers I have ever seen! I use ice tongs to pull them off my plants, then just squish them. I think my outdoor kitty thinks they’re candy. Yuk!
I freeze them and give them to friends w/chickens. Hydration next level,"chicken games". Heard folks that raise lizards will pay for them.
Don’t they also kill the butterfly caterpillars? What if you’re trying to encourage the butterflies?
Those caterpillars are evil little buggers.... LITERALLY! Maybe we don't have the right kind of wasps in our greenhouse, but sure have seen an increase in caterpillars.
They look for dill, cilantro and QUEEN ANNE'S LACE which explains why I had so many of them in my first garden that was over run with it lol
This is SO interesting. Gross and scary to me, because I'm allergic and terrified of wasps, but still extremely interesting!
they don't sting humans from what I understand.
Wasps are a huge and diverse clade of insects, and most of them are in fact beneficial. Bees themselves evolved from a kind of wasp.
The trichogramma wasps will also kill your butterflies and pretty much any beneficial insect eggs.
They are great indoors for killing moth infestations. If you have pet birds the moths can get out of hand.
They don't sting. They are teeny weeny too.
@@HouseofSquawk something serious to consider. Lots of thinking to do about the pros and cons of each method. So surprising about using them indoors for moths. Recently a friend in Florida told me her grandmother has pantry moths. Never heard of such a thing! I've got some research to do! Thank you so much for your reply and your information! Thank you all for your replies!
This series has been phenomenal! I've been reading The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and how insecticides have destroyed our environment, far beyond the insects they target so I love seeing an alternative that brings balance rather than sterility. Keep 'em coming, please! I'm learning so much! 😃
I’d love to see a picture of them so I can recognize them in my garden. Thank you!
I assume they would cause harm to monarch caterpillars as we have butterfly gardens as well
I would love to see more info on good bugs.
Thank you ❤
I have a nice supply of these in my garden/yard so I never worry about the worms, I also use preventive insect barriers on my brassicas to prevent damage in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Great helpful info!
Those wasps LOVE my peppermint when it flowers. I leave them be. Back in Michigan they loved my grapevines.
Love these videos
Would be nice to have a link to a wasp seller.
Love the opening song.
Trumpet vine attracts wasps and bees of all sorts. I have seen 4 different tupes of bee and 5 different types of wasps buzzing around it
This was great info.
Yaay !! Now we've got a chance to win this gm-bug war ..lol. Luke, you're a world hero for this one. .. Absolutely More on this topic. 🍒
Will these work on cockroaches inside the home? I have roach traps but they don't seem as effective on the tiny ones a litte bigger than the size of a poppy seed.
Diatomaceous Earth is safe to use indoors (away from pets) and is effective on hard-shelled bugs and insects. Roaches don't hatch into a worm, so the wasps wouldn't be interested.
Great stuff! So a rabbit pest control video next. Are there effective herbs for that?
Awesome video more like this brother
Very nice
Love all ur videos!!!! The more thr better :) . but I would love to request a video about beneficial nematodes and how to get rid of Japanese beetle larvae
How do you know if you’re actually hatching and doing any good?
Amazing.
So they kill the beneficial butterflies too, then?
Love it!
What about the tragedy of the monarch butterflies? Are we ok with eliminating butterflies?
I had such a hard time with pests in my garden last year. But this year nature seems to be correcting the problem on its own because my garden is full of parasitic wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, and other predatory insects. I wish I knew what I was doing differently!! Maybe they are just catching up from last year’s hellstorm.
I like these videos
Yes love these videos. ❤
I love this series of videos, but Luke can we talk about your intro song! 😂
Can u show a picture of the wasp
Also the garden spider and the Awesome web it creates..I see plenty of victims in the web..which Helps me and the WEB IT SELF IS LOVELY 🕷️ 🌱
If I told my wife I intentionally brought wasps into the yard, I'd be moving in with the wasps. 😂
These are tiny, not your typical idea of a wasp. You could just say you're releasing predators to help keep the pests down. Or just call it IPM (integrated pest management) lol
Great info! Thank you
Can't wait to see an episode on praying mantis!
What about butterfly caterpillars?
now i'll have bad bugs stuck in my head!
That's so cool
How can I encourage the parasitic wasps to arrive naturally rather than buying them?
i would like o see a video about Beneficial Nematodes
I need the kind of parasitic wasps that go after the Oriental Fruit Moths that attack my peach 🍑 tree every year. Where did you get those dormant eggs?
@MIgardener Can this wasp treat an infestation of leaf miners as well? I know I have been battling Asian fruit moth and now leaf miners. I don’t have the money to buy different wasps for each if they’re different. What do you suggest? I forgot to mention they are on my citrus as well as other plants.
Thanks, but I don't want these insects anywhere near my Monarch garden. It would be totally counterintuitive to my efforts 🙂
Agreed. I posted a similar, earlier comment. I also rear monarchs from egg to release of butterfly. So sad to see their decline to the point of being endangered. 😢
Trichogramma is exclusively an egg parasitoid. It does attack many moth and butterfly species, but only the eggs. There are other parasitoids that attack caterpillars. They are all beneficial and they all need nectar as adults.
What a cool thing 🎉
Are they native bug to Michigan or are you releasing something that could become a invasive.
Although my comment was respectful (love ya, Luke), I think it got deleted because I posted a link from a monarch conservation site discussing this wasp. For anybody interested, YES, this wasp will also target monarch butterfly eggs and destroy them. Unfortunate. Monarchs are now listed as endangered. As a person who has spent many summers hand rearing them from egg to butterfly, it hurts to see the infected eggs shrivel and die. I try to gather them as soon as the female lays them, before anything can cause harm, but it requires a very watchful eye and a lot of time.
Sounds like the movie Alien!
I was rolling at "Do The Dirty" hahahahahah
I thought you were jame progioni for a second 😂
I’m curious if you have to worry about introducing a new bug to my ecosystem. Living in Alaska, doesn’t sound like they’ll survive a winter, so they aren’t native.
Guess I have a new topic to research! Woohoo, thanks MI Gardner!
Yes keep them comeing .....this is a no brainer...thank you
Not really... these PESTS are a real threat to Monarch butterflies
Do we buy them and release them like lady bugs?
Do they prey on cucumber beetles?? I need some allies. 😅
"Name something a caterpillar would not want to see when he breaks into a garden"
Buzzer
"Tricho gramma!"
"Trich- wha?"
Ding ding ding
So the name of the wasp makes me think of that family feud clip the whole time XD
Necked granma!!!
@@jhorton9979 Well, I was thinking “tricky gramma” but whatever floats your boat!
@michelleperkins9886 you haven't seen the necked grandma episode of Family Feud?? Look it up. It's hilarious.
Luke, is there anything I can do about japanese beetles that won't harm bees? I'm losing the battle for my grapes but we have a bee keeper with bees on our property. I love your videos!
I'm not an expert, but for two years where I live, I have experienced watching regular old sparrows take care of my Japanese beetles in the garden. They stopped my roses getting killed as long as I fed them close by... They would perch in the bush and then eat bugs while there. Do you have any bird feeders you could try out near the grapes? It might be worth a try as one line of defense.
Can you hang them in the attic to get rid of carpenter ants ?
I released hundreds of ladybugs one time.. came back out a few hours later and there were dead ladybugs everywhere. I was so confused, then I saw an assassin bug with a ladybug stuck on its proboscis
I have never seen my balcony garden eaten by anything but THIS YEAR I have holes in my leaves..and see no caterpillars
What time of day do you check on them? If you check on them at night or very early morning, you might find them. Maybe some slugs or snails are hiding somewhere in your mulch or under the pot or something.
Do you have earwigs? They wreak havoc on leaves.
And I have tons of Lizzards that also eat them pest ..I see them in action
I'm experiencing the strangest year this spring/summer. Almost no bugs, and definitely very few beneficials; we did get aphids and those biting ants showed up. Seen a few bumble bees and a few dragon flies. Otherwise, my environment, southern VT, is void of most life.
Same here, SE Mich. The milkweed is tall and flowered but I have not seen one Monarch yet. Also, lots of salvia but no bees. First time ever have aphids on peppers. Very strange.
Mid Michigan too
NE Ohio same- rarely seeing bees or wasps compared to last year. Aphids are rampant as are flea beetles. Every year is so different. More education on beneficial and bad bugs please!
@@karrenbecker1059 I'm dealing with aphids, slugs, and ticks. The aphid and slug problem is easy enough; ticks are bad news. While gardening I'm exposed to bites, and I'm chronic with Babesiosis, which is a tick co-infection similar to Malaria.
Recently began researching natural inoculations of beneficials that feed on ticks, but the results always come up as chickens, ducks, or Guinea fowl.
Moreover, we need more sun and less rain atm.
Best!
If I remember correctly, these parasitic wasps are super tiny (like, you can’t even see them). Is that right? We tried them once to try and get ahead of what we call “tent caterpillar season” in the Houston area… two horrific weeks of early spring and the caterpillars invade our land like crazy. It didn’t work great, but I think that was because we had probably released them too early. Another gardening podcast had mentioned releasing them in like January or something. 🤔 I’ve been pretty confused on the REAL and actual best way to utilize them.
Unfortunately introducing any species into you garden has the potential for effects you didn't anticipate. Parasitic wasps are not choosy about which caterpillars and will also infect Monarchs etc. When these predatory insects find your garden naturally it tends to settle into a population which can be supported by pest species without decimating all the wanted butterflies. Releasing a huge swarm has the potential to just wreck everything. I don't think trying to take these shortcuts is a good idea. Make your garden attractive to the beneficials and let it happen at the pace it's supposed to.
Yeah I'm kind of concerned about this. I have a large garden in south florida. I have horn worms all over my tomatoe plants and they are absolutely covered with wasp eggs which is good and helpful. I didn't introduce them they appeared on their own. But I also have milkweed that is covered with monarch caterpillars year round. Wondering if this will become a problem for my monarch population? Where I live it's always to the extreme with pests. Not sure how too create a healthy balance and I sure do love my butterflies. Any advice?? Thanks in advance for your original comment posted.. J.P.
Tomato 🍅 catapiller / worms
Hold up if this stings you do you get parasites?
They don't bother people. Many species of wasps are non aggressive, and some are unable to sting at all.
Would these parasitic wasps give honeybees a problem?
Luckily I live in a town where we can keep chickens 😂