CLOSED: Bye bye Mesclun. So long Marigold. :( Two IDs needed please!

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

I just started container gardening this year. Most from seed, and I'm scared I'm gonna lose them all!!

Two culprits -- please help ID them? (See images in follow-up messages too.)

Yesterday I found these little guys all over Marigold. (Little orange bits left behind -- is that waste or eggs?)

Then this morning, Mesclun was all eaten up, and I saw a few of these green guys chowing down. (Little green bits left behind -- is that waste or eggs?)

:( Please and thanks.


This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 8:26 AM

This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 8:27 AM

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Marigold 2.

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Mesclun 1

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Mesclun 2

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jul 24, 2008

The caterpillar in the second image looks somewhat like a geometrid called the common pug (Eupithecia miserulata) - see http://homepage.mac.com/eceisner/Insects/Moths/c3469.jpg for an image. The green caterpillars on the mesclun look like pierids, such as the cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae - see http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/news/insect/images/miu05_08_08b.jpg for an image. In any case, their 'leavings' are droppings, not eggs.

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Does this photo help ID it?

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jul 24, 2008

The last photo definitely is of a cabbage butterfly larva. What would help would be a closer and clearer view of the caterpillars on the marigold (first photo).

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Here are three more.

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

Next

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 24, 2008

And third

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jul 24, 2008

The markings on the brownish caterpillar do resemble those of the common pug (see first answer), but it would be very helpful to show the head and prolegs of the green ones; they might also be geometrids.

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 25, 2008

I'll do what I can on the head and prolegs of the green ones.

Just found some eggs in other pots -- they can NOT stay! I'll relocate them, I guess. Are they easy to identify as the same as one of the other two?

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bugslife98 Westville, NJ Jul 25, 2008

they look like inch worms that might havr fallen out of a tree into the flower.

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dividedsky Indianapolis, IN(Zone 5b) Jul 27, 2008

I had cabbage worms on my broccoli and was told that the little orange bits were eggs, if that helps.

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emblue Morrisville, PA Jul 29, 2008

Thanks all. The worms have disappeared, and the plants are coming back. (The orange bits weren't eggs -- they were waste -- bug-processed marigold. :) )

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