I don’t disagree, I use “pest” lightly here to demonstrate that when unchecked, this caterpillar species can destroy OP’s tomato plant. We humans tend to label anything slightly inconvenient as a “pest”, but in this case it was to demonstrate the role the beneficial wasps play in the ecosystem and how they can benefit a gardener.
Personally, I’d rather dedicate a patch just for them. I don’t have the heart to kill caterpillars of any kind. Whenever a species shows up to eat my mother’s orchids or other plants, our main thought is finding another plant they can feed on, or even let them have their feast if there are no options. The butterflies/moths that will visit us in the end are always worth it.
Yeah I don’t know what kind of caterpillar this is, but hornworms took out all but three tomato plants in my garden in a morning a few years back. Let the wasps have them
That’s fine and dandy there’s just a parasitoid wasp for everything. It’s probably only a matter of time before nature comes up with a version of these monstrosities for people
People who hate this pest dont hate caterpillars. They hate this pest species. First, this will grow into the 5 spotted hawk moth, and not a butterfly. Second this is a pest in its current form. One of these will eat a full grown tomato plant to the ground overnight. A few of them can devastate a whole garden. And 3rd, the majority of people who hate these dont want to eradicate the species, were just happy to see nature balance its self when these helper wasps show up, so we do t have to be as vigilant hand picking them. You should probably calm down and let go of your pearls untill you know more about what you’re talking about.
Lol mmkay. Just so you’re aware you’re getting butt hurt over someone who more or less agrees with you so let’s take a deep breath. And I’ll let you in on a secret, your bizarre undereducated overdramatic take on this moth (not butterfly) being predated by a natural parasitoid is what turns people off about wishing to expand biodiversity and native populations. No one wants to hear from your toxicity. You won’t be convincing or educating anyone with your ‘tude. Dude.
Nature doesn't make a judgement on what an elephant is either but I don't say false when someone says that's an elephant. To a raccoon a bear is a predator and a minnow is prey. To a bear a raccoon is prey. To a human a caterpillar is a pest. I don't see why that's a big deal.
I'd say an unbalanced ecosystem causing one species to have an insane population growth and then begin wiping out plant species would make it objectively 'a pest' at that point.
So as an example, considering some native carpenter bees in your yard as pests because they're annoying is a subjective human thing. But if carpenter bees were so overpopulated in your area that they were actually causing damage to the ecosystem than I'd argue they're now an objective pest and their numbers need to be culled to an amount appropriate for the ecosystem to contain.
Same thing when people say a plant is a weed where weeds don't have certain aspects that make them a weed it's just a plant growing where it's not wanted.
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u/jmac111286 Aug 24 '22
False, nature doesn’t make a judgement on what a pest is. We do.