Don't know much about this other that was dug up from a garden by a friend in Ca. He says it is 2" in lenght and very ugly only sugestion so far is maybe a Fulgorid plant hopper nymph..
Help for a friend
No idea but it doesn't look friendly. Alien life pod?
Looks like a hummingbird/sphinx moth chrysalis.
Ew that would be really good but aren't there larva tomato horn worms?
Definitely looks like a bad thingy from Babylon 5...I'll have to watch my DVDs again. Can't remember what was bad about them :)
Kinda bet on Texas Tam's ID as he has told me that every summer he has lots of troubles with Tomato Hornworms
I second the tomato hornworm I.D. I love the moths, but darn they're voracious as cats. They can wipe out a bunch of tomatoes overnight.
Crow
I dont show them any mercy. Last year the larva of all kinds were so bad I waged an all out war on them.
C
I found one of those when weeding the beans, and tossed it to the chickens. THEY appreciated it. I do love those chickens. It was several inches underground. Ick.
I grow things FOR those beautiful moths and to see the cool cats. They are fascinating to me. My moonflowers and tomatoes and other larval hosts are all for them! So tragic (to me, to each their own) to kill such creatures.
I too grow the datura for the moths. When I do have tomatoes and find a cat on them, I will put them on the Datura, it grows fast and will regerate in no time. The cats go undergrown when it's time to pupate and will be dormant for a very long time. They aren't fast like the butterflies.
Please don't get me wrong -- I do appreciate life and beauty! I just don't want them in my vegetable garden!
I wouldn't want them eating my veggies either...that is why I toss them in the Datura bushes. LOL!
Lynea....Luna caterpillars feed on Sweetgum, hickories, & pecan trees.
That Datura is the one I have, could be they eat on the other also, but I am not sure.
I would stick it in a terrarium and see what becomes.
Thanks, Sheila. I was trying to figure out why I have lots of luna moths and not sphinx moths. A friend of mine has hundreds of the sphinx and she's only 2 miles away from us.
If the luna don't eat tomatoes (we have all listed trees) then the cats we get on the tomatoes must be sphinx. So, I know we get the cats.
MMMmm, it wasn't till Perkos said to stick them in a terrarium that I remembered in times past we tried to raise some and they always died from those icky wasp eggs hatching on them.
So, I think I got it figured out.lol But I'll move them to the datura, just incase some might live, Thanks
It's also tragic to attempt to grow healthy non poisoned food and have cats eat all of it! A balance to all things. I grow flowers and plants that attract butterflies and bees but do not have a garden that I spend most of my free time tending to have it be eaten to the ground by insects...and last year it almost happened!
This message was edited Apr 28, 2011 6:43 AM
I've learned so much about good bugs/bad bugs from yall. I've stopped blindly killing everything that crawls or buzzes! But I've with Newton--leave my veggies alone! I'll relocate if possible but I squashed 2 bad beatle-looking things that were eating my leaves. I guess that's common sense though. And sorry--tomatoes are sacred :)
I had pictures of the infested hornworm. Sad but this also happens to butterfly caterpillars but on the inside. When they start to make their chrysalis, they die and the nasty fly or wasp parasites emerge.
This hornworm will die too, but just look at all the empty cases releasing more of the parasites! Farmers use them to control infestations, but the parasites are wiping out our butterfly population because they don't stay in their gardens! OK...off my soap box.
Ewww, yep, that's the horror we had. Tho, the boys thought it was kind of cool. Boys will be that way.lol
It is a tough call, I didn't release the wasps. I'm sort of grateful that farmers would release them instead of spraying insecticides all over the countryside. I would like to have more sphinx moths...but, not an infestation.
People do have to eat and make a living...just pointing out the results of methods.
Room for all...just not one dominating all the others.
I agree, we're fortunate not to have so many of the pest problems I see else place on DG. I have no explanation as to 'why'...always a bit scared I'm going to disrupt the natural balance we have going.lol
Except, stink bugs..they are unnatural :0) Nothing should be that unsavory, uneatable to birds and predators.lol It's not fair.
My biggest pest this year so far is the Imported Cabbage Butterfly as it has been a non stop battle with them laying eggs on my Brassicaceae plants. Forever picking off the green larval worms and swatting the butterfly's as they are fluttering around my cabbage, and radishes. I have sprayed Neem 3 times over the last month and Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki-Btk every week for the last month.
Putting it nicely all I can say is I hate these Cabbage White Butterflies and will eliminate then in the Frisco area before this season is over.
I miss my days when I lived in Ben Wheeler and could go out and see assassin bugs eating caterpillars, robber flies carrying off a butterfly and the cute praying mantis eating the rest! Each time I walk out my back door in Frisco I see 2 or 3 Cabbage Butterflies, Colorado Potato Beetles, and the no see ums that leave holes in everything from Borage to Opuntia Cactus. Since this was a field for ever until 1 year ago I can only assume that field grasshoppers are coming in at night and have a smorgasbord on my plantings. May be time to spread Semaspore Bait once again.
This message was edited Apr 28, 2011 3:21 PM
LOL! Sounds like a lot of expense and trouble to go to over little white butterflies....but to each his own. Have a blessed weekend!
I HATE the Blister beetles their favorite food is Clematis and squash and they are hard to control and yes they will cause blisters if you foolishly mash on on your skin..GRRRRR
Get'em, Grits! I don't know which ones cause blisters and which ones don't. I got one under my armpit as a child and have never been tempted to squish without gloves!
Perkos, I do well with diatomaceous earth on cabbages and kale. I use a feather duster to apply. A little will go a long way and can be used on any non-blooming plants. Tho, I would really like to try row covers at some point in my life:0)
I was pleased today to find a small patch of American Nightshade, which Hornworms love. It means I can move them from my 'maters to the nightshade, and nothing has to die. I will admit i once threw one to my chickens, who stepped carefully backwards and looked at me as if I were nuts.....
LOL @ Catmad. Are those cityfied chickens? I had a flock that would come running when I called out 'goody, goody grub drops". Now, I only have their off spring and they act like I'm throwing things at them, instead of TO them. Silly girls.
Do you know the botanical name of american nightshade? DG doesn't list it as a common name and google shows a few different plants.
cocoa_lulu
Solanum americanum
I remember when we had chickens some years back and watch them gag while trying to swallow hornworms, and those airplane grasshoppers. That is when they could catch the airplanes otherwise you would see a blur fly by with a chicken chasing with it's wings sort of out and it's legs moving like a roadrunner. Most times before the chickens even went after those 4" grasshoppers they were already 4 houses down. Guess there is truth to why they are called airplane grasshoppers.
I guess we have highjacked Grits' thread enough, but it was fun. I am going to click "unwatch". Hope you Tx folks make it to the Round Up this Sunday at noon!! Have a great weekend all.
"LOL @ Catmad. Are those cityfied chickens?"
*G* Hardly. They freerange on about 7 acres, probably more, as some disappear for the day.
Thanks perk, for the clarification. Saves me trying to pin it down :)
I agree perkos, I have way more plant predators than insect on insect predators and that is a problem. I won't plant squash again even though its one of my favorites...just not worth the expense or stress.
C