I found this rolled up in a canna leaf. I unrolled the leaf to see what was wrong but didn't remove it.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing??
I seem to be asking that a lot lately on here...LOL
Susan
=^..^=
Good or bad???
Not sure what it is. Looks like a left over refugium (leaf nest)??? Elsewise perhaps a moth cocoon??? Looks too short and stubby to be a skipper nest. Am leaning towards some type of moth.
Brazilian Skippers use canna leaves as a larval host..if you have those the canna leaves will be noticeably chewed!!! You'll see lots of leaves with a section cut and folded over...peak inside and you probably find a long whitish green caterpillar. They are pretty much see-through...ugly as heck!!!
The Brazilian Skipper is a decent sized butterfly for a skipper...slight greenish sheen to it.
~ Cat
This message was edited May 31, 2007 10:16 PM
Susan - I, too, am not sure what you have there. But I agree with Cat about what it could be.
I am waiting to see if my canna get used as a host plant by the skippers. I planted about 12 canna around my yard. And are they ever taking off! I need something to eat them! LOL!
LOL, so would you say skipper is good? I'd rather not have the canna eaten up, but I can spare a leaf or two.
Susan
=^..^=
Skippers are like the Fritillaries ..... very hyper and fast moving butterflies! I like them and planted canna for them and the hummingbirds I hope to get someday. :-) My canna just get burned leaves from the intense heat here. So either way they are gonna look yucky. I'd rather have them look ugly from cats eating them than the sun frying the leaves. Just my preference! LOL!
Uhmmm...hate to tell you this but Skippers won't feed on just one or two leaves.
The caterpillars will literally chew out strips on every leaf :o) They will look yucky as Becky said...but hey, that's what makes butterfliers like us smile. It means the larval host plants are being used by caterpillars!!!
I have two huge clumps growing on each end of my driveway...am sure the neighbors are wondering why I have such ratty looking plants (partly due to the hot south Texas sun and partly because of the caterpillars)...but alas, cannas grow like wildfire and I've dug them all out numerous times only to have them grow back from rhizomes I missed. I have since given up and leave them be for the Brazilian Skippers.
Will have to remember to take photos to show you what I mean.
~ Cat
Okay...here's a photo of the canna growing at the west end of my driveway. So far haven't seen any skipper cats rolled up in the leaves...so the damage is mainly from the wind and heat....but come the fall season they will look like ticker tape!
~ Cat
...and the east side...
Ya know...I can't get rid of these cannas...they multiply so fast.
~ Cat
