I am excited about this as you can tell. More on the same story.

Here is a link that might be useful: insect help

Helen, I am glad you are so observant! I hope I have those flies around here. I will now be looking for them. Half my tomatoes are stripped and yet I can't find the blasted caterpillars.

The trouble with organic methods is that the hornworm it was attacking was a big fat guy already full of my tomatoes. Same when I find them. I don't see most of them until they are about ready to drop and dig into the soil. It was very interesting to me because I had read about these flies and the tiny wasps. It is a tough world out there, but interesting to watch.

I hardly ever see hornworms and that may be the reason why. The hornworm you saw will keep eating but it won't mature and lay eggs later so at least it will keep next year's population in check.

I brought in a Gulf Fritillary chrysalis earlier this summer and wasps hatched out of it instead of a Gulf Frit. They were very tiny, about the size of large gnats and there were a lot of them.

I thought of you, Christie, when I read about this fly. People who were raising butterflies got flies instead. You like your butterflies and I do too. Caterpillars around here including cut worms for sure are my enemies for the most part; the striped stem borers are probably safe from these parasites and they are the worst. If I ever find a stink bug predator, I will be encouraging it.

Because of my darn Wii fit and that little voice that says I'm overweight, I have been trying to eat fruit. Three rotten bananas were put out to attract butterflies. I got different looking stinging insects, ants and lots of trachinid flies. It doesn't look very nice because there are other flies too and no room for butterflies - looks nasty but I'm letting them have it.