Caterpillars are eating my flowers!

[lizzie]

Yes...At least a couple of times. There is another product that last longer than BT that we haven't tried.

We've been in a persistent drought here in south central Texas for several years. We have deer eating stuff they wouldn't normally eat so, I'm guessing these bugs are just as hungry.

I'm not sure if it would help, but have you tried pyrethrin or rotenone? Maybe some sabadilla dust?

 

[WCH]

I'm not sure if it would help, but have you tried pyrethrin or rotenone? Maybe some sabadilla dust?

It suggest using broad spectrum insecticides and no we haven't as of yet.

Thanks for your help. I suppose it's back plant store for more choices.

 

[ChrisL]

Then they probably deep fry fast. Very crunchy I am told. But you don't want them in the flowers.

I'm not Bear Grylls. :lol:

 

[ChrisL]

I got some stuff at the store, but it says not to apply it in the sun, and it's pretty sunny right now. Also, I have to do a spot test first. Hopefully it works. I just picked another caterpillar off one of my flowers a little while ago.

 

[grip]

I had a flowering plant that got covered in caterpillars one season. I sprayed them with Spectracide/ Triazicide, which killed them and they never came back.

 

[ChrisL]

I had a flowering plant that got covered in caterpillars one season. I sprayed them with Spectracide/ Triazicide, which killed them and they never came back.

I'm sure mine will come back every year. There are woods right behind my house with huge trees that overhang, and I'm pretty sure the caterpillars drop off the trees onto my plants.

 

[grip]

I'm sure mine will come back every year. There are woods right behind my house with huge trees that overhang, and I'm pretty sure the caterpillars drop off the trees onto my plants.

I thought mine would come back but likely they moved on to better feeding. They didn't eat just the flowers but most of the leaves, fortunately the plant was big enough to bounce back.

 

[ChrisL]

I thought mine would come back but likely they moved on to better feeding. They didn't eat just the flowers but most of the leaves, fortunately the plant was big enough to bounce back.

The ones I have only eat the flowers. I can see a tiny little hole where it burrows in and then it just destroys the flower. The also sit on the already opened ones and eat them too.

 

[grip]

The ones I have only eat the flowers. I can see a tiny little hole where it burrows in and then it just destroys the flower. The also sit on the already opened ones and eat them too.

If you see those cocoon like sacs it's probably their eggs.

 

[Gardener]

Someone mentioned tobacco horn worms and that is what they look like.

View attachment 67151648

If it was me to whom you are referring, I mentioned tobacco bud worm rather than horn worm.

It's a much smaller critter.

 

[ChrisL]

If it was me to whom you are referring, I mentioned tobacco bud worm rather than horn worm.

It's a much smaller critter.

Yeah, I picked one off one of the flowers earlier this afternoon, and it really doesn't look like that. It doesn't have the little horn things. It's just little and green. It looks like it could be any number of caterpillars I looked at pictures of today, so I don't know.

 

[Fisher]

I couldn't find the gardening thread, but I have a funny gardening story and an issue too.

First of all, I had petunias in flower pots last year, which are annuals, so this year I thought they wouldn't come back. Well apparently they dropped seeds and were actually coming back, but I thought they were weeds, so I was picking them out until I decided to let one grow out and saw that it was a petunia! :lol: That's the funny part, me weeding the flowers; shows what an amateur I am! LOL!

Apparently the wet and humid conditions were just right for cultivating the seeds, so now I have petunias! Anyway, I've been having problems with caterpillars eating them, and I was wondering if anyone knows of any home remedies that actually WORK to get rid of the caterpillars without harming the flowers. They actually burrow into the flowers before they open and destroy them from the inside out. Buggers!

I have never had a real problem with caterpillars. I consider them next year's butterflies, so they need all the help they can get because my feral cats stake out the butterfly bushes and pounce on every flying critter they can catch.

As for the petunias though, once the bloom falls off there is a little tear-drop shaped seed pod left behind. If you wait until they start turning brown and pop them off, you can save the seeds inside and replant next year.

 

[ChrisL]

I have never had a real problem with caterpillars. I consider them next year's butterflies, so they need all the help they can get because my feral cats stake out the butterfly bushes and pounce on every flying critter they can catch.

As for the petunias though, once the bloom falls off there is a little tear-drop shaped seed pod left behind. If you wait until they start turning brown and pop them off, you can save the seeds inside and replant next year.

Well, they could be moths too! :mrgreen:

Awesome about the seeds! I already have some seeds that are turning brown. Do you have to store them any special way?

 

[Fisher]

Well, they could be moths too! :mrgreen:

Awesome about the seeds! I already have some seeds that are turning brown. Do you have to store them any special way?

I put them in a plastic bag but leave it unsealed so it doesn't mold and just stick them on a shelf inside. That is pretty much what I do with all my saved seeds and it works well enough. Portulaca (i.e. rose moss) is exactly the same way if you grow it--the pods are just smaller.

 

[ChrisL]

I put them in a plastic bag but leave it unsealed so it doesn't mold and just stick them on a shelf inside. That is pretty much what I do with all my saved seeds and it works well enough. Portulaca (i.e. rose moss) is exactly the same way if you grow it--the pods are just smaller.

Thanks, that's great advice! I guess I just got lucky this year when they came back all on their own. I'm just still so mad at myself for picking them out at first when I thought they were weeds.

 

[Fisher]

Thanks, that's great advice! I guess I just got lucky this year when they came back all on their own. I'm just still so mad at myself for picking them out at first when I thought they were weeds.

I used to do that with a vinca bed (the flower not the vine). I would spray the volunteers out with the weeds and then replant vinca and one year I just said to heck with it and now I have a self-seeding bed I never have to do much to except weed the stalky stuff out of. The Vinca crowd out most of the weeds though. I used to have enough flower seeds to start a business but one year someone zipped all my bags shut and everything molded/rotted before I caught it and then we had a crappy drought so I am just starting over re-ammassing my treasures. I used to routinely have about 4 or 5 gallon bags full of marigold seeds alone every year. I like to plant flowers in my vegetable beds to keep the weeds down and the pests away so I go with things I can harvest seed from.

 

[ChrisL]

I used to do that with a vinca bed (the flower not the vine). I would spray the volunteers out with the weeds and then replant vinca and one year I just said to heck with it and now I have a self-seeding bed I never have to do much to except weed the stalky stuff out of. The Vinca crowd out most of the weeds though. I used to have enough flower seeds to start a business but one year someone zipped all my bags shut and everything molded/rotted before I caught it and then we had a crappy drought so I am just starting over re-ammassing my treasures. I used to routinely have about 4 or 5 gallon bags full of marigold seeds alone every year. I like to plant flowers in my vegetable beds to keep the weeds down and the pests away so I go with things I can harvest seed from.

My yard is basically a small patio. I have planted pots and flowers, so I don't have to worry about weeds that much, just from things that drop from the trees basically. I have one of these cool planters though.

 

[Fisher]

I have some things somewhat similar to that in my office. I haven't done it in a couple years but when I first started out on my own, I used to buy all the nicer pots I could online or at end of the season close out sales and propagate plants and give them to people when they bought new houses as my version of the free pen and give them away to realtors and brokers and the like. It really worked well because it was such a fresh idea that all the lady realtors went gaga over it and steered all their customers to me and just bragged over all the plants. It is something I plan on starting to do again just for the fun of it as my way of vicariously running the greenhouse business I always wish I had started.

 

[ChrisL]

I have some things somewhat similar to that in my office. I haven't done it in a couple years but when I first started out on my own, I used to buy all the nicer pots I could online or at end of the season close out sales and propagate plants and give them to people when they bought new houses as my version of the free pen and give them away to realtors and brokers and the like. It really worked well because it was such a fresh idea that all the lady realtors went gaga over it and steered all their customers to me and just bragged over all the plants. It is something I plan on starting to do again just for the fun of it as my way of vicariously running the greenhouse business I always wish I had started.

That's wonderful! Sounds MUCH better than any old pen.

 

[vesper]

But...but...with every caterpillar you kill...... are you not wiping out the potential of a beautiful butterfly? hmmmmm.

My gardening problem this year has been rabbits. My flowerbeds have been their smorgasbords. One plant that they dearly love are morning glories. I had planted seeds to vine up over an arbor but as soon as there were leaves present, the rabbits ate them down to nothing. Come to find out morning glories are a hallucinate so evidently these rabbits were stopping by to get hopped up. Oh and if you have kids and happen to find morning glory seeds in their room, good chance they are not planning to plant a garden.

The DrugSpot: Drug group warns of morning glory seed use

 

[Fisher]

But...but...with every caterpillar you kill...... are you not wiping out the potential of a beautiful butterfly? hmmmmm.

My gardening problem this year has been rabbits. My flowerbeds have been their smorgasbords. One plant that they dearly love are morning glories. I had planted seeds to vine up over an arbor but as soon as there were leaves present, the rabbits ate them down to nothing. Come to find out morning glories are a hallucinate so evidently these rabbits were stopping by to get hopped up. Oh and if you have kids and happen to find morning glory seeds in their room, good chance they are not planning to plant a garden.

The DrugSpot: Drug group warns of morning glory seed use

the stupidity never fails to amaze me. Anywho, I live in the South. Morning Glories are prolific weeds that will take over my garden in a heartbeat if left unattended so more of them is the last thing I want.

 

[vesper]

the stupidity never fails to amaze me. Anywho, I live in the South. Morning Glories are prolific weeds that will take over my garden in a heartbeat if left unattended so more of them is the last thing I want.

Amazing how a few hundred miles can make a difference. I live in the North. They don't grow like weeds here. I love watching them open up in the early morning hours on my patio while enjoying my first cup of Joe for the day. They make me smile. I also like watching Moonflowers open up in the evening while I am outside enjoying a glass of wine watching the sunset. That too brings another smile.

 

[Fisher]

Amazing how a few hundred miles can make a difference. I live in the North. They don't grow like weeds here. I love watching them open up in the early morning hours on my patio while enjoying my first cup of Joe for the day. They make me smile. I also like watching Moonflowers open up in the evening while I am outside enjoying a glass of wine watching the sunset. That too brings another smile.

Funny you mention moon flowers-- I assume you are talking about what we call Devil's Trumpet. I have a bunch of those white ones planted around a red Japanese maple and really really need to get rid of them. I just recently found out that they are very toxic to kids and pets and I have both. Apparently some people use the seeds of those for the hallucinogenic properties as well. Who knew a flower contained naturally occurring atropine.

 

[ChrisL]

Funny you mention moon flowers-- I assume you are talking about what we call Devil's Trumpet. I have a bunch of those white ones planted around a red Japanese maple and really really need to get rid of them. I just recently found out that they are very toxic to kids and pets and I have both. Apparently some people use the seeds of those for the hallucinogenic properties as well. Who knew a flower contained naturally occurring atropine.

Psychedelic flowers? Cool!! :2razz:

 

[Dr. Chuckles]

It sounds like it might be tobacco bud worms. Petunias are in the same plant family as tobacco and are attacked by some of the same pests.

Look for products containing "B.T.". It stands for bacillis thuringiensis, which is a bacteria that attacks the caterpillers. It isn't a home remedy, but neither is it a toxic chemical.

I like spinosad a lot