Trichogramma parasitic wasp

How to recognise it

Under half a millimetre - you will never see it. It attacks the EGG stage of moths, before a caterpillar ever hatches.

Mistaken for

Invisible, so its work is invisible: moth eggs that darken and fail to hatch look like a natural failure rather than the result of a predator.

What it eats

Codling moth, Grape berry moth, Tomato leafminer, Box tree moth

How to attract it

Flowering strips and no broad-spectrum sprays. Sold commercially as cards for release in orchards and vineyards.

Plants that help

Phacelia, Coriander, Calendula, Dill

Lifecycle

Extremely short generation time, several per season.

Months: April, May, June, July, August

The thing people get wrong

It works one step earlier than everything else - it kills the egg, so the caterpillar never hatches and never bores into the fruit. That is why an orchard with good flowering ground cover has less codling moth damage than a bare-earth one, even with identical spraying.