catarpillar damage

[planthelper]

large areas of oz had a lot of good rain, and i never have seen as many butterflies,

but unfortunately some of them love eating the growing tip of the pachanoi we call the standard brackenberg.

i have seen this damage with pedros (same strain) which have been sent to me, but did not know what caused it, now i know, hehehe.

anyway, only this one strain of pedro so far has been attacked, which might give rise to some speculations.

i check on my cacti quite often, and spotted first, thought it would only cause minor damage, and ignored the issue,

but this was a mistake, as all up some five growing tips got attacked in the long run.

so this is a reminder for you, to often check out your pedros after all that rain,

and pull off as many catapillars as you might find.

[GingaNinja]

and pull off as many catapillars as you might find.

 

I never find them to pull them off

I have also had them on bridgesii monstrose pups, scop x bridge and a trich crest in the last few weeks. So I dont think its just the PC they are interested in.

[tripsis]

I found a few on a bridgesii tip, but removed them. Haven't seen any others on any other cacti yet.

[kadakuda]

night is a godo time to hunt. this last month i have had the little worm fuckers EAT COMPLETE plants(or i should say the leafy/green parts) of the following: turbina, HBWR, ibog, brugmansia, yopo, Lophophora fricii, koehresii and williamsii, all trichs without heavy spines except tbm (pach, peru, bridge, macro, cuzco, boliv, tersheck), cocoa, an array of cacti without heavy duty spines, tabernae. sp., kratom and countless fruit/veg and herbal plants....teh fuckers are ruthless and should be stopped....though no idea how cause there are so many and the pretty little devil in diisghuise sex machines pop out eggs so fast.

[gerbil]

We've had a cracker season with them this year where i am. Cacti were a big target, now that went away and things slowed, the brugs just got done in no time.

We've had at least 3 different types that i found regularly.

[mac]

I have had the same problem but with grasshoppers , they only attacked the growing tips of the batch of sausage plant X ?? seedlings

They did not touch the other pachanoi, bridgesii, loph or C.peruvianus seedlings that were next to them ?

Edited February 25, 2010 by mac

[Quill]

Yeah I had some grasshoppers eat a bunch of seedlings that came from seed from PD, they were about a week old.

[bℓσωηG]

not quite grasshoppers but CRICKETS aaaarrhhh!!! squash them f@#k it , bite newly grafted baby scions on peres , not to eat them just bite holes in them again and again , i put the grafts in tubs now and put on lids before nightfall (they seem to attack at night) when i can i go out with a torch and get revenge hehe

Edited February 25, 2010 by blowng

[Quill]

Kill those fuckers blowng

[Shroomeup]

Yeah teh caterpillars have been giving me alot of grief lately also. Totally decimated a couple of sallys and eaten out ALL the tips of the Pedro's I have down the coast. I hate those bastards they been giving me the shits!

What can ya do to deter those suckers?

[Olga]

I just read that garlic oil will deter and kill them, although I haven't tried it yet. I like the idea of anything natural so I'll be trying it around the vegies first

[planthelper]

when they eat whole seedlings and grafts it's heartbreaking...

night hunting is a good idea, neem tree products might help with an organic type of approach.

snails are another big danger, one has to look out specially after the rain.

chasing all those pest with chemical means, is though, not my cup of tea.

i just always try to make sure that my growing enviroment, does not encourage pest to a high degree. i mean that catapillars, fungus gnats, snails and probably other pests, favor moist dark areas with little airflow, so let's just make sure our growing conditions don't make it too easy for those creatures.

many of those pest like to hide in one way or another, so a clean up often helps,

and to move the most endangered specimens to an isolated area.

[bℓσωηG]

warning picture may cause distress ,viewer discretion is advised

[kadakuda]

snails are ok, can use copper wire if your paranoid. but spiny trichs prove difficult for them toclimb with their shells.

the thing i hate about caterpillars is they mommie scan fly and lay eggs anywhere...and the little worm bastards have silk threads and they can "fly" inteh wind....so even my roof, which is 40feet up from any other plants and is also an incredibly smooth, hot surface, te fuggers can get up there with the wind.

chasing all those pest with chemical means, is though, not my cup of tea.

ditto. leafy plants, its a live/let live thing, leaves regrow easily. cacti dont, so i tend to keep tem in more protected places...ie have barriers like clear plastic.

[zelly]

worms gotta eat too, but damn!

[Pacha]

These are snails damaged branches I was enlightened to salvage from this poor bridgesii, the spines didn't offer much protection, the pups are doing good and growing nicely.

[hutch]

They attacked all my brugs! Went away for near a week and come back and they had ate nearly all the leaves. Ravenous bastards! I wonder what would happen if I ate one? I use pyrethrum at 30ml to 5 litres water and that kills the little shitters. Haven't found one on any of my cacti yet but will be ever vigilant

Hutch

[Quill]

Good god, Zelly and Pacha that is heartbreaking.

A good way to discourage caterpillars from eating your ethnos is to have some other plant that they love. I've got geraniums in my garden and they love them. I wouldn't just leave it at that though, I search the leaves of the geraniums for the pesky buggers and get rid of them.

I reckon this is a good non-chemical way to deal with the fuckers.