As I mentioned earlier in the week, it was a glorious day for gardening on Sunday, and I was able to do a lot of spring cleaning. As I was cutting back ferns and palms I found several little green caterpillars.
Now, I have gone on the basis that, regardless of identification, most caterpillars are pests (and they certainly seem to have munched away on my Asplenium scolopendrium with their buddies the slugs). And so they were all put on top of the compost bin, where Mr and Mrs Robin were more than happy to have an extra tasty meaty treat.
Now, they're not cabbage white caterpillars, because they're black and yellow. So that was a relief. Two of them were found near the base of two of my Polystichum ferns, and the other was in one of the rolled-up Aspidistra leaves. What do you think - angle shades moth? And were they probably what chewed big holes in my Tetrapanax "Rex" before Christmas?
My solution is to train up my elite squad of attack robins, backed up by the blue tits, to remove the caterpillars for me. I'm not a big fan of insecticides, and I doubt my organic spray will do any good.
Now, I have gone on the basis that, regardless of identification, most caterpillars are pests (and they certainly seem to have munched away on my Asplenium scolopendrium with their buddies the slugs). And so they were all put on top of the compost bin, where Mr and Mrs Robin were more than happy to have an extra tasty meaty treat.
Now, they're not cabbage white caterpillars, because they're black and yellow. So that was a relief. Two of them were found near the base of two of my Polystichum ferns, and the other was in one of the rolled-up Aspidistra leaves. What do you think - angle shades moth? And were they probably what chewed big holes in my Tetrapanax "Rex" before Christmas?
My solution is to train up my elite squad of attack robins, backed up by the blue tits, to remove the caterpillars for me. I'm not a big fan of insecticides, and I doubt my organic spray will do any good.
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