catapillers munching away in garden

 Any suggestions for running off those pesky caterpillars? They are those
little white pest, about an inch long and they are starting to annoy me. I
work too hard growing stuff to feed it all to bugs :)

njb

 

Let the ducks eat them.  Chickens will do it, too, but you have to be
careful with chickens because they also like some of your garden plants.

Or, you can pick them all off and drop them into a can of soapy water.


Ray

 norma briggs wrote:


Use Sevin dust.
Bill

 

Agreed....

K.

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 Looks like it's up to me to disagree....

First of all, before any kind of treatment, it's always good to positively
identify the pest.  There are online sites with pictures, or you can ask
more detailed questions here.  It's helpful to know what kind of plants the
caterpillars are attacking, and where you live.

Once you have identified the caterpillar, you have several options.  If they
will turn into beautiful butterflies, you may wish to leave them alone.  I
plant extra dill and parsley each year for this purpose.  You can wait a bit
and see if your local birds clean them up (it helps if you have a bird
friendly yard, with shelter and a water source).  You can hand-pick them,
dropping them into a bucket of soapy water.  Sometimes a sharp blast from
the hose is effective.

If you feel you need to take it to the next level, please consider using a
Bt formulation instead of Sevin.  Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria that
disrupts the digestive system of caterpillars and leads to their death.  It
is available in most garden centers and is not expensive.  (Mosquito
"dunks", used to kill mosquito larvae, are another form of Bt.) It normally
comes as a powder, which is mixed with water and sprayed on the plants.  The
caterpillars stop feeding soon after ingesting it, and die a day or two
later.  It has a minimal environmental impact, although you shouldn't spray
it around indiscriminately.

Cheers,
Sue

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