In our gardens, caterpillars frequently appear in late summer and early autumn.
They have many natural predators and can devastate some plants and vegetables, but they tend to adhere to a single variety of plant. They will, in fact, eat holes in your leaves, so only resort to drastic measures if you believe their behavior is excessively damaging or their numbers are out of control.
Gardeners often face some tough decisions when it comes to our seemingly friendly caterpillar friends. It’s a fascinating study to investigate caterpillar removal techniques. Controlling caterpillars can be difficult because it’s not always easy to see them, and we don’t want them to destroy our veggies and eat our perfect leaves.
Caterpillars are essentially just larvae that move around, waiting to become moths and butterflies. Despite being unwanted, they are frequently extremely hungry visitors to the garden.
Thousands of species of caterpillars are found in various parts of the world.
Here, we’ll take a look at the caterpillars that are most frequently encountered in gardens. We strongly advise contacting your local extension office for information and guidance if you spot a caterpillar in your garden that isn’t covered in this article.
Some caterpillars that might be having a feast in your garden are as follows:
Hornworms: The tomato plant is the hornworm’s preferred food source, but they can also be found on pepper, potato, and eggplant plants. They have a “horn” at the end of their bodies, are big, green, and have green bodies. However, they are large enough to be seen and simple to remove from your plants. They have the ability to quickly destroy a vegetable plant.
Cabbage loopers: The backs of these pale green caterpillars are striped. They adore eating lettuce, kale, and other garden greens like chard. Their tiny, spherical, white eggs may be seen adhered to the lower leaf undersides of your food plants. Cabbage loopers have a maximum length of 1.5 inches (4 cm). They will transform into silver-spotted moths with wings.
Cutworms: Your newly planted seedlings will be devoured by these vicious insects all the way down to their base. Depending on where you live, they have different hues, and during the day, they hide themselves away. Certain types also feed on trees. Their name comes from the way they like to wrap themselves around a plant’s stem and break it off just above the soil’s surface. The most vulnerable are the tender seedlings. Cutworm moth adults are safe to handle.
Armyworms: A relation of the cutworm, it would be remiss to omit these individuals from the conversation. Armyworms come in two colors: green or dark with a yellow stripe. Grass is what they live to devour.
Corn Earworm: These ugly critters have a yellow head and dark stripes down their backs. Their colors range from brown to pink or black. The maximum size of a corn earworm is two inches (5 cm). As they develop, they will feed on the silk and leaves of your corn crop. If you don’t find and deal with them, their larvae may eventually burrow into the tops of the corn cobs. Their eggs are brown or golden, flat, and small.
How to control caterpillars in the garden
Numerous in-built predators, such as parasitic flies and wasps, prevent caterpillars from overpopulating. Additionally fond of chowing down on caterpillars are assassin bugs, lacewings, predaceous ground beetles, spiders, and birds.
Additionally, there are a number of things we can do to keep caterpillars out.
Here are a few techniques to control caterpillars in the garden:
- After removing the caterpillars from your plants, place them in a pail of soapy water. Take extra care of your plants and keep an eye out for caterpillars and eggs. Certain eggs can be eliminated by running water over them, while others can benefit from an application of neem oil or a homemade insecticide.
- To keep caterpillars away from your plants, place cardboard or tin foil at their base. Certain types may find this to be an effective deterrent. Clear any rubbish from the ground surrounding your plants so that caterpillar eggs cannot hide there.
- Invest in helpful insects. In addition to enjoying feeding on caterpillars and using their bodies as a nest for their eggs, parasitic wasps do not sting humans. Wasp parasites are visible as clusters of eggs that resemble white rice in practically every way.
- If caterpillars are eating your seedlings in the garden, look into buying plant covers, also known as cloches, to stop caterpillars from getting near your plants. Cloches are covers for seedlings that will also keep them safe from other bugs like snails and slugs, and will stop wind from hurting seedlings.
- Opt for a microbial insecticide that poses no harm to wildlife, beneficial insects, or bees. It goes by the name BTK, or Bacillus thuringiensis. Only caterpillars that consume treated leaves are killed by it. Treat your plants ahead of time if you spot symptoms of caterpillars or are anticipating them. Other organic insecticides with the active component Bt, spinosad, pyrethrin, neem oil, or azadirachtin are also effective against caterpillars.
Insecticides that have the potential to harm pollinators and beneficial insects, such as bees and butterflies, should always be avoided. They are essential to the planet’s health.
