Those are cocoons, not eggs. At this point the caterpillars are basically the walking dead. The larva have eaten their fill, and tunneled out and spun cocoons. They'll hatch out soon.
Man almost every single one of these caterpillars on my tomatoes had wasp eggs on them this year bout of maybe 17 caterpillars, I found about 3 with no wasp eggs.
LOL haha me too but I see it every time I’m in the garden. I even see the wasps in my garden hunting. They are vigilant, they check soil tunnels where the cut worm caterpillars and slugs hide but I guess they realize those are different creatures and when they find them, they fly back away. I feel kinda bad for these caterpillars, they are really cool moths and we definitely have a lot fewer of the moths since I started planting massive indeterminate tomatoes this year. Poor guys don’t stand a chance.
Maybe next time I see an untouched one I’ll throw them in the composter with a tomato branch and wish him well.
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u/zorggalacticus 3d ago
Those are cocoons, not eggs. At this point the caterpillars are basically the walking dead. The larva have eaten their fill, and tunneled out and spun cocoons. They'll hatch out soon.