When I noticed some droppings under my datura I looked up to see the plant. It was totally defoliated. ARGH! There were eight HUGE caterpillars on the stem. I am wondering which Moth, Butterfly would lay its eggs on this one. It is the first time it has been bothered by any type of insect. All that is left is the naked stems and seed pods.
And here is my poor datura. It all happened overnight.
This is the caterpillar of one of the Sphinx Moths, quite possibly the Carolina Sphinx Manduca sexta, which does like to feed on potato, tobacco, and tomato all Solanaceae like Datura.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6558/bgimage
Thanks. I thought it might be. I remember reading on one of the forums and thought this might be it. Darn, the datura is one of my favorite plants. We seem to be getting more caterpillars this year.
If it is any consolation, sphinx moths are very cool. It sure beats losing plants to some stupid fly larvae!
This message was edited Jul 28, 2005 9:21 PM
That is one way of looking at it Zarebeth! lol I must agree, fly larvae is MUCH worse!
The other consolation: the plants will come back. Just give them some extra water, fertilizer and TLC for a couple weeks.
Recently, I had some hornworms who ate my habanero pepper plant back to stems -- they even ate the peppers! (Which earned them a trip to my trash can, since I live and let live until you eat MY peppers! ;>) ) I gave the peppers some extra water and TLC and already, new leaves are sprouting back out.
Here is another beautiful moth. The larvae ate my maple sapling leaves. I found this is a rosy maple moth. Isn't it cute. Too bad the larval stage can be so hungry.
beautiful Windy
Too cute! Before I started gardening a few years ago, I just thought all moths were gray or brown.
Wow, that is beautiful moth!
