Caterpillars: Good with the bad?

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Plants4myPots Palm Bay, FL(Zone 9b) May 12, 2011

Hi!

I've invited monarchs and swallowtails into my garden with some milkweed, fennel, and a couple of other host plants and found a monarch caterpillar on my milkweed today! Unfortunately, I also finally found some terrible garbage green leaf tier caterpillars on my poor Thai bougainvillea, becasue it went from perfectly gorgeous to a chewed up, pooped on mess in two days.

I have ALL my plants in containers. Is there a way to control the garbage caterpillars without harming the good ones? Can I move the 'villea away from the rest of the containers and spray it with something? Will the 'villea come back?

There's also something munching on my Erythrina variegata, Sunshine Tree. I don't know what it is, but it is taking evenly spaced "bites" about the diameter of a nickel out of the edges of the leaves. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Post #8559137
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LadyAshleyR Oakland, MD May 13, 2011

Well I'm personally having a similar problem with my columbine.
Its covered in columbine sawfly larvae (YUCK!) which look like little green caterpillars.
I don't want to spray poison because Not only do I have radishes growing in the same bed, but my cats are always in it.
I decided to just opt for checking the plant every morning and evening, and removing the little pests by hand. Been throwing them into a pot of water where they drown.
Tedious yes, but totally worth it in my personal opinion.

Post #8559578
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Plants4myPots Palm Bay, FL(Zone 9b) May 13, 2011

Since there isn't much left of my 'villea, it was a lot easier to find the lil' green monsters this morning. They spin silk and wrap themselves up in leaves, so it's really hard to find them when the plant is still in decent shape. I pulled at least a dozen off it and stomped on them this morning. I'm sorry you don't have the poisoning option for your poor columbines, but I'm sure they really appreciate all the attention you can pay to it.

Post #8559647
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