I have a fairly large treed brug (gold/no id) that was defoliated literally overnight by nasty green hornworms- I just picked off eleven of the little buggers. The plant is maybe six feet by four feet, and is very well fed and healthy otherwise.
To help recovery (other than the obvious elimination of the hornworms) is there anything I should do?
Should I boost my feeding? It is rainy season here and I normally feed either a liquid fish emulsion, seaweed extract, or 20-20-20 every week- and that is in addition to the granular ferts I use four or so times a year.
The plant is in full sun a good part of the day.
Should I prune? I have finally gotten it into a really attractive shape and would hate to lose it unless there is no alternative. There are a very few tiny leaves left showing, and I am of a mind to not trim it but wanted to check with you guys first.
Thanks in advance- I've never posted in here before but drool over your photos regularly!
Defoliated by hornworms- will it survive?
Don't worry ------ Be Happy ..... lol
The leaves will grow back before you know it.
Never prune a brug unless they get way out of control or grow a weak limb.
BTW, I hope you didn't squish those cats .
We just move them to something they are allowed to chew on (((*-*)))
scoot said it all. i have had a run of them this year but now we are into fall and they are gone.
i hope she didnt squish them. the moths are so beautiful hummingbird moths.
LOL! I squish them. The hummer moths will pollinate the brugs and I would rather do that myself. I wouldn't leave the mites and aphids just to feed the lady bugs either. Sorry, that's just the way I feel about them and who knows if the hornworm might carry a disease from the tomatoes to the brugs. I'd rather not wait to find out, so when I see them on the tomatoes...it's so long hornworms!!
i throw them in the neighbors yard. they have all this ugly grass and the place is over run with weeds. i figure the worms may eat enough of it down to look at least decent. hhwww
I no longer have hornworms on my tomatoes now that I have brugs. Is that the silver lining on the cloud? Nasty foliage eating, bud gnawing.............
They will indeed bounce back. I too am eager for cooler weather and a break from the constant care of these plants. (Yeah sure, that is why I have several more varieties rooting.)
Never prune a brug!? I can tell you are not in zone 10. I have to sharpen the machete or they will take over the garden. Lol!
Frogs , I did say " unless they get out of control" lol
Wish I had your problems ;)
Hey wanna trade houses ........ heheheehe
While driving around lower Florida I've seen how those monster brugs can hide a house.
Lets see..... Sun tax for snow tires........ Don't think so. Lol!
Here is butterfly, once a hornworm defoliated 5 gal brug. She has been in the ground since spring. Was maybe 2 feet at that time. No one warned me. I have already removed 2 stalks for standards and still have to hold the fool thing off of the ground with lawn chairs. The buds were on the ground and fair game for any bug that happened by. When this flush is done some more standards will be cut from her. The leaf size is quite something.
This message was edited Oct 5, 2005 7:51 AM
How bout that picture?!
Butterfly is a great looking brug and I hope you will post pictures when she blooms. It looks like she will really put on a nice show. She is sure a healthy one.
She has bloomed all summer and is full again. She has come a long way from the little stick you sent, don't you think? I like the way the blossoms stick out every which way.
Frogs (Janice) doesn't do anything in a small way. She gave me a "cutting" of Butterfly that was bigger than I am. LOL Stuck it in a bucket and it got nubbies in a few days. I'm going to have to be careful that it doesn't try to take over the whole yard. LOL Thanks Janice!
Mary
Mine got so big this year, in a pot, that I'm going to let it freeze. I've got my cutting started. I hate to let these big ones go because they do have so many blooms on them, but I also get tired of lugging them in and out. Butterfly is probably 8 ft. or more and ForeverMorr and Double Peach are probably close to 9 ft. They won't stand up in the garage anymore, that's for sure.
Aren't you glad that they will grow from those little sticks? LOL! The big ones are nice, but a little harder to mail out.
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 9:40 PM
Brugie...are you going to be offering any cuttings before you let them die????
I would be willing to trade or what ever you might want for a few cuttings!!!!!!
Me Too!! Please let us know if we can entice you to share cuttings before you let them die!
Ah Mary, Little cutting like that lol. The plants you gave me are doing well. Little Rothkirch has leaves now.
I do not know how you all get them that big in pots. Our dry weather makes it a real challenge.
Shirley, If I had known better I probably would have paid to ship big sticks to start standards. I didn't really realize how big they get. I had seen SoCals frosty but it just didn't click that they ALL got that big. I managed to train V. peach by dumb luck and it is a nice tree. I will cut all but about 3 limbs from butterfly and see what happens. My KBS monster gets to stay where it is. It is too bug to argue with lol! Finally had to go systemic though. Couldn't get the spray up 15 feet and the bugs were laughing at me.
I'm sorry, but I've had a fractured leg, that is waiting for a brace to be made, and blood clots in my lungs and legs and I just can't do cuttings this year. I've been under the weather since July 10. If you want to drive up here before the frost, you are welcome to them. Wish I felt good enough to help, but I've realized this year that I can't do it all anymore and my health is more important than my flowers. I've given out tons of cuttings in the past...maybe some of those people will have some to share this year.
The problem with shipping the long cuttings is finding a box that will hold them. LOL! Three footers will go in a Priority box. Do they make them any longer?
I haven't read the entire thread so maybe someone already told you. The best way to "get rid of" the Hornworm is to leave them alone. Before long you will start to see them with white postules all over them--parasitic wasps. They EAT these worms!! Parasitic wasps mean that next year you won't have as many if any of these buggers. Personally, I think they are cute and like them!! Of course I did not haveanywhere near as many as you did!! I had worse problems this year--but not for my Brugs, for my Hibiscus. Something ate ALL the leaves off my Hibsicus but anyways it managed a SINGLE blossom!! Bonnie
I sent some in mailing tubes. I think they were 4 ft. Ummm PVC pipe with caps. Could get pricy. Finding someone nearby is the best answer for the big chunks.
Shirley, I wish I was close enough to give you a hand but it is just not a weekend jaunt lol. You take care of yourself and the rest of us will share the wealth. I have yet more monster pellets ripening on the tree. Only one pod from butterfly so far. Take care of yourself girl!
Janice
I'm trying Janice, but it is boring not being able to do what I love to do most. I'm in to baking bread now. That's a good thing.......... until I get on the scales. Today it is raining, so there wouldn't be much for me to do outside anyway.
I know. I am a "stick those fingernails in the dirt" kind of girl too. I have many pairs of gloves that I never use. Can I send you some succulents to play with?-make kind of a zen type garden? Get those little 1" tools and pebbles to move around. I used to keep one in an apt I had. Had it in a large terra cotta planter dish set on a cheapie table. Kept me harmlessly amused.
Blood clots are scary. And the meds make you feel like a wet rag. You be careful!!
Bread is a conveyance for butter. If I could train myself to jelly but no butter, I would be better off. Even better, train myself to smell it but not eat it LOL!
Not much to do outside today here either. To blamed hot!! Keeping the potted brugs watered is challenge enough. Jessie Noel finally bloomed though. (She was on the "if you do not bloom you are compost" list.) Just what I need-another peachy brug. Is it the blonde hair you think?
I am so sorry to hear about your health!! I will keep you in my prayers!!
Sue
The plant a Hornworm hatches on is normally where it lives for it's entire life. You don't have to worry about these worms spreading viruses and diseases from plant to plant. Hornworms do not do lasting horrible damage to the plant. Everything grows back and heals quickly. I'm surprised you had so many to survive on your brug at one time. Lizards usually eat the babies before they get big enough to do very much damage. I'm thankful for lizards! If there is only one worm I let it live. Neat critters.
Plume moths do more damage in my area than hornworms! I hate Plume moths!
I thought hornworms hatched in the ground. I had them on a tomato this year that was in an earthbox and I just figured it crawled from the garden tomatoes to get on it. We don't have lizards in Iowa. I think I'm glad. I'm not a big fan of them or toads.
Guess I better do some more online reading about the hornworms. Army worms are the ones that I really can't stand.
Oh lizards are good-at least ours are. I have lots of baby blue bellies right now. They keep down bug and ticks and such. They even think there is something in them that supresses lyme disease in ticks. Wouldn't that be cool?
Hornworms are indeed nasty though. They do indeed pupate in the ground as far as I know.
Never seen a horn worm. (Don't want to, so don't offer me any!) However I did find some lousy green worms without horns that had feasted on my brugs. They are hungry little creeps.
Mary
Thanks guys for all your thoughts- it is already sprouting new leaves. And as an added bonus seeing only the skeleton enabled me to tweak the shape a tad more obsessively.
I am wondering why lizards did not get to the eggs/hatchlings. I have a huge population of several species as there have been no chemicals used in this yard since 1995.
And- do these hornworms hatch on a seasonal schedule or are they always a possibility? Meaning do I need to inspect this plant every day all year or only every day during the fall?
Yes they do pupate in the ground. Usually they bury themselves in places away from the plant they grew up on.
Shirley you would love lizards. The little bitty babies that are newly hatched are just the cutest little things you ever saw! Hornworms could swallow them whole! lol! I'm a lizard lover too!
Mary you just haven't lived until you feel the squished goo of hornworms between your toes! :)
This message was edited Oct 6, 2005 8:49 AM
From what I've observed with my own eyes Lizards don't eat it unless it moves? I've never seen a lizard eat an insect egg of any kind but that does not mean they don't eat them. I don't know. I normally do not use chemicals either (but may resort to that to get rid of Plume moths). Lizards crawl all over my brugs and tree frogs live in them too. I love seeing nature living in my brugs.
In cold areas the hornworms are thru for the year. Here in my area I have not seen any new hornworm eggs or babies for a couple of weeks now. I do not know if they are thru for the year here or if it is just a coincidence. vicki