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Fred's Garden Blog

After a nearly five year hiatus, Fred's Garden Blog is back! Now you can enjoy and experience the gardening exploits and adventures of Fred in his quest to hybridize brugmansia and keep his jungle and nursery under control.

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.

CATDAMAGE.jpgIt 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.

FATCAT.jpgThe 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!
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