Thursday, March 27, 2014

Help - caterpillars are killing our swan plant!

This summer we got a much bigger swan plant than the one we had last year, then covered it in plastic mesh to discourage monarch butterflies from laying eggs on it until it was nice and big.

By the time I removed the mesh, the plant had doubled in size and - to my surprise - there was already a fat caterpillar there.

Not long after that caterpillar went through its cycle and left the nest, about a billion tiny new caterpillars appeared! (More like about 20 - but still a lot).

And now they have devastated our plant. I tried laying bits of pumpkin about because my hairdresser say they liked it, but that's had very little effect.

I just hope they'll hurry up and make like a chrysalis already, before every single leave is chomped.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um, but isn't that what you want? Or is it a case of over supply? It will probably grown back!

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, the plant will survive. :-)

Violet said...

We are worried that the plant won't survive the feeding frenzy - yesterday I found two of them nibbling on the central stem! I've put out little bits of pumpkin and only some of the caterpillars seem to like it. We just want butterflies AND swan plant heads.