The color might be off a bit because I didn't have enough light. It's fairly accurate, though, if I'm remembering correctly. You'll notice dark spots on the stripes, if the picture displays large enough.
I saw the white stuff first and thought it was eggs. Now I think it might be frass. I'm looking at the picture and seeing little brown things - hope they aren't eggs. Will soapy water kill caterpillar eggs, or do I need to remove, squish, or otherwise destroy them?
Here's another shot. Didn't know that pineapple sage had those kinds of enemies. :o(
I have never seen this one before. This caterpillar could be either in the family Noctuidae or Pyralidae; both families have species that can be stem borers.
wow, that stinks. I am in Indy as well as we love the pineapple sage. I hope we don't see this worm!
I squished it, so it can't make babies to send your way.
Turned out to be kind of a good thing, actually. The original plant survived, and I rooted the stalk that it bored into. Now I have two pineapple sages!
Glad to see a neighbor around DG - welcome!
thank you! I obviously am not visiting as much as I should be! We recently became bee keepers. With the garden, the veggies, the this, the that ... to much going on. But I love this site! Glad to hear you took care of the pineapple sage. We discovered the pineapple sage by accident a few years back and have continued to grow it. Great to see the red flowers in the late summer/fall
:o) And the hummingbirds that come around for those red flowers!
