I recently got 2 passiflora incarnatas in a trade...These are two seedlings, aprox 6 months old, 9 inches long...I can hardly tell you how proud I was of these babies...I have wanted passion vines for sooo long...I went out of town over night and when I cam back today, the leaves where almost totally eaten off!! I was so upset...I found a catapillar on each seedling munching right now...I must say I murder each catapillar in cold blood...Will they survive with no leaves? Should I use some sort of pesticide??
Help!
Penny
catapillars and my passion vines! arrrgghh! =(
Thanks Karma, I feel better knowing they will be okay. =) I must say I was really upset, but have calmed down now.
Hey Penny,
I had similar problems with a very selective horde of spiny orange catipillars. They didn't touch anything else. What did yours look like?
Barry Kooda
Here is what the caterpillar becomes, if not murdered.. I also have them on my passiflora's, they eat the leaves but the blooms are still pretty.
Larkie
http://www.ndi4all.org/grade45/FritillaryButterfly-c.html
Ouch Larkie! That hurt. =( Wish I had thought about that before going into caterpillar rage! Thanks for bringing me to my senses.
Didn't mean to sound so mean.. I just love animals as much as plants..LOL..Years ago, before I knew what they were, I did the same thing..That I have to confess..Trying to assauge my own guilt..LOL
Larkie
My butterflies are rust colored with three small dark vertical bars in each wing. I was temped to kill 'em too but, like Larkie, I'm a fan of most(not all) living things. Luckily, I had some big, old growth passiflora and just moved the 'pillars off the little ones and onto the big ones.
For some info on the complex relationship between passion flowers & butterflies see
http://www.passionflow.co.uk/butt.htm
Rather than use Raid or whatever just thin them out or move them as barrykooda suggests...they usually pay for their free food by pollinating the flowers when adult butterflies.
P. morifolia is very popular with butterflies & regrows very quickly.
Myles
Myles, that link was very interesting, I enjoyed it. Kooda, I couldn't tell you what they looked like...Very small, almost thorny....and obviously very hungry! =) I moved the passifloras on top of a bistro...If they come back, I'll just move them.
Hi Penny,
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger about catapillar execution. I took mine in to be identified for a way to get rid of them and the guy couldn't find a picture of them in any of his books. We decided, together that I should let 'em live. I didn't want to be the one responsible for the destruction of the last of a species or something but , when I found the remnents of my plants and some fat catipillars, I was pretty P.O.'d too! If I hadn't let cooler heads prevail, it could have been a CAT-astrophy! It's hard to stand by and watch the endangered mountain lion eat your terrier, even if you know in your mind it's natural and all.
Since I like all the lizzards and snakes and spiders that depend on pests for food,I've just gotten into the habit of moving the pests I don't like to some other place where they can live and not ruin my garden.(Except grubs and grasshoppers. I throw them to the birds)I know I'm evil but the birds like me.
I moved the caterpillars from vine to vine too, and also keep them inside the house with fresh passion vine leaves. So far my wife and I have released 9 butterflies from caterpillars we took inside.
As Myles stated, they help pollinate the flowers.