I have an asiatic lilly in my garden, something made a meal of it over the summer. I went out to water the garden this morning and came upon 1 inch of white cylinders bunched into a ball with an opening in the middle attached to my lilly leaf. I have attached a photo, somewhat blurry, of the nest or egg sac. Does anyone have an idea as to what it is and if it's good or bad for my garden?
The image is too blurry to be certain, but these could be cocoons of parasitic wasps whose larvae emerged from their host, such as a caterpillar.
I read the parasitic wasp cocoons were laid on worms or caterpillars to feed them as the wasp larvae hatched. I was able to find a picture and the cylinders on the lilly plant are different. At first I thought it was some type of spider egg sac. It just seems weird because there is a hollowed out area in the center of the bunched cyclinders.
Should I let the white ball of "something" sit on the plant? I'd hate to get rid of something that could be beneficial to the garden. Then again, I'm not very fond of all the creepy crawlies.
Parasitic wasps do not lay cocoons; these are constructed by larvae that have competed their development and then chewed their way out of their host. In some cases, these cocoons are attached to the host (examples include parasites of tomato/tobacco hornworms), but in other instances, the larvae may move away from the host before pupating or the host may disintegrate, leaving a cluster of pupae behind. See http://tinyurl.com/ycdpwgd for a cluster of braconid wasp pupae on a flower.
Thank you for finding a clear photo. Viewing a clear photo to compare to what I can see on the plant really helped. I believe you are right, it is braconid wasp pupae. I'll be sure to get rid of it before all the cocoons hatch.
Are the pupae a common thing to see in the garden? I am new to gardening, but did help my mother when I was young and never saw anything like it.
You may want to leave the cocoons alone; as these wasps all are parasitic on other insects, they may have fed on whatever was on your lily.
