Butterflies are pretty ...Caterpillars are not.
Rabbits are cute when they are stuffed. Stuffed full of your favorite flowers they are your worst nightmare. Most of this section is about different caterpillar worms including the newest Bougainvillea caterpillar, with just a little about other stuff.

Rabbit Scram

Rabbits can be one of your worst nightmares. They can bring a plant down to nothing overnight. You can find your nice lawn strewn with rabbit pellets and Urine stains night after night.
This is a product of dried blood [something that rabbits are born afraid of. Garlic, this works unless they are Italian Rabbits. The cloves that are in the mix help to make the smell not unpleasant. Thia is something that you sprinkle like a barrier around what you need to protect. The manufactures guarantee that it will work or you get to send the rabbits to them. All these rabbit products work by deterring the rabbits from your garden. They have to eat anyway so they go to your neighbors yard.

Caterpillars, Butterflies, Moths . For Southern California readers only
The ability to surf the web is wonderful, however you always want to see where the information is coming from. Especially regarding insects and garden pests.
Ex. In the midwest their ladybugs are considered pests and can get into the walls of houses and all sorts of irritating things. In California our Ladybugs are into eating aphids and other bad bugs. Different advice for different areas. Look at the source to be sure.

Right now in July and into August/September everybody will be fighting Caterpillar worms, Whiteflies and Rabbits.
Oh Brother! why do we bother to garden at all?
I will be adding more information to make fighting these pests a little easier.

Rabbits are getting worse every year. As new homes appear on the hills and open space of our neighborhoods the rabbits find your juicy green plants irrisitable. They can do a lot of damage and are really hard to control.

Rabbit Scram is a new product on the scene. It doesn't smell really terrible as some of the deterents do. Made of fine granules it is easy to scatter it to form a barrier around favorite plants or around your lawn. Should last about 30 to 45 days. Looks like the best thing so far. Made from dried blood, garlic and cloves. Weidners has it and your local garden center probably has it too. I am not going to ship it to you. Sorry!

Bougainvillea Looper caterpillar
The new hungry gang member in the neighborhood!!

There are certainly other sprays that will be more or less effective. Any of the pyrethroids, especially the artificial ones will kill caterpillars. They also kill lots of good insects too. The Trichogramma wasp is a natural parasitic minute little wasp. Many commercial agricultural growers will use them. The Trickies as we called her will deposit her eggs into the eggs that would have hatched out into a hungry caterpillar. Instead another trichogramma wasp forms and the damage never happens. These wasps are non-stinging almost invisible and totally harmless to humans. We used to make them available at Weidners but we finally decided that we were losing too much money and spending too much time. Ordering on line is one easy way to get any of these beneficial insects.
As always we are not recommending anything. Always be sure to read all the directions, measure accurately and wash thoroughly afterwards. We do not reccomend ny paticular sprays. Rules and laws vary from state to state so check your local rules to be sure.

July 2007 update...My reports tell me that the Bougainvillea looper caterpillar is beginning to munch away. Look at your new growth on your bougainvilleas to see the telltale notches eaten our of the edges of your leaves. See the loopers most easily very early in the morning. They work the night shift and are just getting off work at that time.
For all sorts of 'something is eating my plants' damage here's my best advice.

If your leaves are being eaten it is some kind of chewing insect or snails, slugs and of course rabbits. the rats are out there eating some of your fruit. I am going to work on this page to try to give all of you some better help.

There's a new member of the Looper Gang. In fact there are a lot of them, at least in north San Diego county.Look at the picture. You can see one in the foreground and one on the leaf behind.They are often on the stem and that makes them even more difficult to see.

Someone else said their Bougainvillea were being eaten by the Walking Stick insect. I haven't seen that but it's possible.
With the cooler weather the loopers will slow down. You can spray with Bt or with Spinosad. Neither one lasts very long on the plant after it is sprayed. It probably would be good to spray about 3 times a week apart. Go out scouting very early in the morning or at night if you have a good strong flashlight. Good luck.

Please walk out and look at your bougainvillea. Other insects can also be damaging your plant. Check for snails, especially on new foliage down near the ground. Snails usually eat from the middle of the leaf and leave a shiny trailLook for bites taken out of the edges of your leaves. Lots of bites making your leaves almost look scalloped. The caterpillars are difficult to see. If you have this damage on your plants why don't you send us a quick email to staff@weidners.com Be sure you say bougainvillea damage in the subject line and Be sure you say where you live. We know it is in San Diego county and some in other counties but don't know how widespread.
At the bottom of this page is more information on this new pest and on friendly sprays you can use. This page was updated October 1, 2006

The Pupae in the picture is not from the Bougainvillea looper because I don't have one yet. They look very much like the one in the picture. You might find them just on or below the surface of the ground.

If you want to see another picture of what this new gang member looks the easiest way is to go to Google and type in Bougainvillea caterpillar damage. The Hawaiian Ag Dept. page will come up with a great picture. Because it is a Pdf file I can't copy it to here.

Help! This summer of 2006 is the Southern California Caterpillar attack summer. Caterpillars are everywhere. Munching away on your leaves and flowers. When you turn over the leaf chances are there is no culprit visible. Damage yes, but no caterpillar worm is visible. Sometimes you see that hungry little invader and happily dispose of it, more often than not there is nothing there to see but holes. The caterpillar has either moved on or changed into its pupal stage

This page is meant to give you a very simple overview of caterpillars and other larvae that might be active in your garden this summer and what you can do about them.
It is not a great scientific page. If you want science Google in caterpillars and you will get plenty. This page will not talk about the exotic caterpillars that are in the tropics nor about some like the eastern Gypsy moth caterpillar that can denude every leaf on certain trees. We're only going to talk about the hungry 'munchers that you might see in your Southern California garden and what you can do about them.

By far the best non-poisonous and organically OK remedy are either Bacillus thuringiensis usually written as Bt. You will see Bt somewhere on the label and the spray usually says something about caterpillar control. Bt forms a toxin in the gut of the caterpillar when they eat a leaf or flowers that has been sprayed. That stops the feeding ability and in a day or so the caterpillar is dead. Spinosad is the other popular spray. It is also a non-poisonous biological but it has a broader effect. You not only get caterpillars, but thrips and leaf miners and a few other insects also. Both are totally safe to use. Safer caterpillar control and Greenlight Bt or Spinosad are two well known brands. To be effective you need to spray on a regular weekly or bi-weekly schedule.

Question? Why do we call them worms when they are caterpillars?
Because lots of them look like worms but they are not to be confused with our wonderful earth worms. Some of the caterpillar worms do look sort of like a worm. Most of the caterpillars that you see in your garden do not sting, bite or poison you. They often look ferocious but that is to scare away other predators like birds etc.
Take a trip to the Amazon and there they have some really poisonous caterpillars, but not here.

In your garden right now you are most likely to have damage from the Cabbage worm and the Cabbage worm looper caterpillar, the cabbage moth caterpillar and the Tobacco bud worms The Tomato Horn Worm can eat your tomato plant faster that you can find it. There are plenty of other caterpillars out there besides these.

There are beetles, weevils, earwigs, leaf hoppers and grasshoppers are out there too. Certain species are hosts to a particular caterpillar and at times you could have hundreds and hundreds of little hungry visitors. All of them intent on eating at your garden buffet.

Let's start with the Tobacco/Geranium/Petunia bud worm. Why did I use the three names? Because these are the three main plant groups that this very destructive caterpillar finds most attractive.

These caterpillars do not come from any pretty butterflies. Instead it is a small tan/gray night flying moth that you see on the right. It will be very active well into the fall months and then disappear for awhile in the winter.

She lays a single egg about as big as a small grain of sand on each tiny little flower bud. She has plenty of eggs and isn't afraid to lay them on your flower buds. You can see them if you look well on geranium or petunia young flower buds.

Her most romantic active time is right after the full moon. So right after the full moon is the most important time to spray.

The tiny egg hatches and burrows into the flower bud and begins to eat and eat and eat. Soon your geraniums look like this. This picture is from one of those upright zonal geraniums
At Weidners we choose to grow mostly the Ivy leaf hanging variety of geranium because it is much less susceptible to this bud worm.

Eventually the little caterpillar emerges and continues to eat on the flowers and leaves of your geranium or petunia. All of a sudden your plant is out of bloom and when you look you can't see a single caterpillar.
The caterpillars are there, you just can't easily see them because they are so exactly the same color of what they are eating. If you sit and concentrate on the foliage you will eventually see them.
The best time to look for them is at dusk when they become most active. One clue to look for are the little black specks of caterpillar poop also known as 'frass'. When you see some of those little black or green droppings look for a caterpillar nearby.

[My regular readers know that I enjoy that evening glass of wine and often make jokes about it. A glass of wine will not improve your eyesight or chances of seeing the caterpillars. You will only think you are seeing them better or maybe twice as many because you are seeing double!!]

Here are a some pictures of typical petunia damage.
Isn't that a great picture of the bud worm munching on a yellow petunia flower?

Here's what this petunia flower looks like after the caterpillar has eaten and moved on to a crunchy leaf.


Here's another image of the same worm that has taken on the lavender color of the petunia flower. They will be almost the same color as whatever they are eating.

If you have been using the safe organic sprays that we just talked about, you only need to spray the flower buds. If it is your first spray, then spray the entire plant. Remember on these types of control the caterpillars have to eat some of the plant that has been sprayed. These are not contact insecticides that will make your caterpillars curl up and die right under your nose. Once the caterpillar eats a bit of the spray the toxin forms in the gut and the eating process stops. The sprays do not remain effective for many days so at the height of the caterpillar season you need to spray often.

Which plants are most likely to be attacked, Any plants in the Geranium, petunia and tobacco family including tobacco, of course.
Even though one of the most potent and now banned insecticides comes from tobacco., this does not bother this pesky worm at all.
The spray used to be called Black Leaf 40 and I can remember using it as a young person working in my parents nursery.

I can also remember seeing the suggestion of soaking cigarette butts in water to make a natural organic spray. It might have been organic...but not necessarily safer!

So what about all those other holes in leaves everywhere in my garden. What are those worms?

Cabbage Loopers and Cabbage Moth caterpillars are some of the biggest culprits.

There are plenty of caterpillar species to go around but many of them right now are from some night flying moths like this Diamond back cabbage moth and those
little white or yellow butterflies that you see in such abundance. They are all busy laying eggs. Their first choice is anything in the Cabbage/cole family.
I really believe that when they don't have their first love in the cabbage group they love anything they are near. Hard to spot because again they will be just the color of what they are eating. Look for those little droppings and follow the trail upwards.

The little butterflies produce the cabbage looper or inchworm caterpillar that looks like this.

The Moth makes smaller green worms that don't move like the looper or inch worm but eat plenty and get bigger very quickly. I think of them all as little green worms that eat a lot and can get bigger and eat even more. Just as often it seems that the damage is done and the caterpillar has gone.
They eat voraciously and then excuse themselves saying something like,
"I hate to eat and run, but don't think I didn't appreciate the dinner! Now it's nap time."

Some plants just seem to attract caterpillars. Those plants with big soft tender leaves like Coleus, Sweet Potato Vine [Ipomea] and the fragrant Angels Trumpet [brugmansia]. Plants with more leathery leaves are less prone to damage.

What about this fellow? This big tomato muncher is called the tomato horn worm and comes from a big night time Sphinx moth. It looks very scary with the pointed thorn looking like it's ready to sting. On the contrary it is harmless to you but can eat up a tomato plant pretty fast.

Skippers are small type of butterfly with folded wings that moves so fast they are called Skippers. They lay small ivory eggs which hatch into sleek green caterpillars. Look for the tiny worms in the center of your zinnias. But I defy you to find even one of these invisible caterpillars, for they feed at night and hide by day in shelters of leaves stitched together with silk.

[Updated September 10, 2006]
This marauder has now has been identified by our Agricultural Dept. entomologists. It is the Bougainvillea Looper that has hitched a ride into our state from Hawaii. It hitched a ride into Hawaii in 1999 and now has a new home here in California.
There is a lot we don't know about the exact life cycles of this looper caterpillar. They seem to be most active in August, maybe longer. We do know what damage they do and I will share what I know and keep you updated as the real information comes to us from the Ag. Dept.

Especially look for damage on your newer growth leaves. These guys do lots of damage but nothing kills a Bougainvillea so your plant will recover. If you look carefully in the early morning or late evening you should see them resting or feeding on your Boug. leaves. They looks a lot like a twig the same color as your other twigs on your plant. This morning I found two resting on leaves further up into the plant. The adult is a night flying moth. The eggs look like creamy little grains of sand. You can see them on the leaves. One egg at a time, not a mass of eggs like some other moths lay.

Rather than using pesticides like Sevin or other poisonous sprays there are non poisonous and environmentally friendly sprays that you can use.

I think that if you have damage you should spray even though the attacks will slow down with cooler weather. See the part below on the non-poisonous sprays that you can use. All of your local garden centers should have some of the Bt sprays. Both Safer and Greenlight put out these products. Greenlight also has Spinosad as well as Neem Oil.
Don't forget that Weidners Gardens is closed to the public in September and October so don't drive all the way down to my place and find that locked gate.

There are three that I know of that should work. Bt or Bacillus thuriengiensis, Spinosad, one of the newer products and Neem Oil. I haven't tried Neem but I will be doing a little non scientific test with Bt and Spinosad. Bt works best on small caterpillars. Dr. David Kellums our Ag entomologist thinks that Spinosad will be a bit more effective overall and will stay active longer on the leaves. On both of these ingredients the caterpillar must eat some of the leaves with the spray on it. I have a good site around the corner from my house and it's long enough that I can spray one part with Bt and another part with Spinosad. Of course, I have the owners OK to do this!

I'll report the results in a week or so. In the meantime if you see damage on your Bougainvilleas it would be smart to spray and get rid of as many larvae as possible. The pupae

If it seems like we have way too many caterpillars think about this: In other parts of the U.S. they have many more and much more destructive caterpillars. Out here if you have certain types of trees or bushes you'll find them targeted by particular caterpillars, other pests such as leaf hoppers and beetles and other types of larvae but nothing like they get in other parts of our country.

A call to the Master Gardeners at your local Agriculture Extension office will bring you some quick answers. To find that number where ever you are go to your Government white pages/County/ farm and home advisor. The local San Diego number is: 1 858 694 2845. Across the United States every county has its own Farm and Home Advisor office and they all have the Master Gardeners to help you garden better. Your taxes pay for this wonderful service. Use it!

Your Ag department is fighting all the time to keep some of these most destructive pests out of California. They deserve a big Thanks!!
You can accidentally bring in a new pest like the Bougainvillea Looper just by bringing in a pretty branch with a few eggs on the leaves. If you throw it away in your yard in the wrong place and those eggs have already hatched out they can find a new life in your garden. Don't take chances.

Also 'Thank you' to various sites on the net for the use of their images. Many of them are County Agricultural Extension sites. These sites are some of the best information you can get. However be sure to look at where it is from. Other states have different problems, different solutions.

Alert, Alert, Alert!
In my mail this morning in late August came a color postcard about the Diaprepes weevil that is already in California and every attempt is being made to control it. This is not a caterpillar but rather a long snouted weevil [like a beetle but with that long snout] that our Ag department wants you to be on the lookout for. This weevil likes to hide and rest in flowers during the day, especially white roses. It comes out at night to eat big chunks out of your flowers and leaves. The big danger is from the larval grubs that burrow into the soil and feed on the roots of citrus, avocados and many other of our favorite plants and trees. The grubs can girdle those roots and kill your tree. If you see any of these please call 1-800-491-1899. The Agricultural Department needs your 'eyes' to help them stamp out this bad pest before it is endemic. Here is a link for the web site and then you will see a picture box to the right. You'll be ready then to be a Ag Dept. Detective. The web site for CDFA is www.cdfa.ca.gov

Go Outside and take a look at your bougainvilleas. If the leaves look scalloped and eaten then you have the new Bougainvillea Looper working in your garden. Click on the link below and learn more.

This summer there has been an unusual amount of caterpillars in everyone's gardens. The caterpillar lesson is up to help you understand better how to control the damage done by some of these eaters and the non-toxic products that you can use.

If you have Bougainvilleas in your garden please check to see if you have leaves that have been eaten and scalloped by a small looper caterpillar. Either Bt and Spinosad will work to control this infestation. Controlling them now might lessen the severity of the outbreak next year.
So---Here is the Link to the Learning Page with some pictures too.

That's all for now. I hope this was helpful and not too depressing!

Evelyn