Sommer Gardens / Saturday, September 22, 2012 / Categories: Garden Pests, Creatures When the gardeners away, the bugs will play... I was out of town on business for over a week and when I returned I found out my shade house had been invaded by caterpillars. Their feeding frenzy quickly gave many of my Brugmansia the Swiss cheese look.It is amazing how much foliage a caterpillar can eat in such a short time. When the cats are small they avoid eating the veins, but once they grow up they eat everything in sight.The weeks before I left for my trip my shade house looked like a butterfly conservatory, so it should not come as a surprise that the moths and butterflies would leave me a surprise.The infestation was so large that I had to resort to chemical warfare to get things under control. My plants were quickly drenched with an Orthene cocktail and now the caterpillars are history. Seeing how all my plants recently received their fall fertilizer dressing, in a couple of weeks the damaged foliage will be replaced with lush new foliage.Damn those cats! Brugmansia Marshmallow Sunset x Angel's Goldface Slug-a-Palooza! Print Rate this article: No rating 11765