who's eating my dill?
 

Our dill is getting eaten, cut off about 6" above the ground. The
beans, tomatoes, beets, and lettuce are (so far) untouched. I think
there's a woodchuck around, though I haven't seen one lately, and I
haven't found a hole under the fence. Could it be deer?

TIA,
George

who's eating my dill?
 

In article ,
George wrote:

Our dill is getting eaten, cut off about 6" above the ground. The
beans, tomatoes, beets, and lettuce are (so far) untouched. I think
there's a woodchuck around, though I haven't seen one lately, and I
haven't found a hole under the fence. Could it be deer?

TIA,
George

My guess would be baby swallowtail butterflies. :-)
They do a number on dill and parsley which is why when I do plant it, I
plant extra, and I plant Anise for them as well so I can relocate the
little buggers to it when I find them. I have no use for Anise....

but I do love swallowtail butterflies so I don't kill them. G

Plant more.

And plant parsley.

Check for caterpillars at dawn and dusk.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

who's eating my dill?
 

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
"My guess would be baby swallowtail butterflies. :-)"

http://www.earthfuture.com/gardenpat...il%20larva.jpg

I, too have seen the larva on my dill and parsley. Easy to control by
hand-picking.

who's eating my dill?
 

On 2 Aug 2006 18:49:10 -0700, wrote:


OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
"My guess would be baby swallowtail butterflies. :-)"

http://www.earthfuture.com/gardenpat...il%20larva.jpg

I, too have seen the larva on my dill and parsley. Easy to control by
hand-picking.

No!

Plant a little extra fennel and give a butterfly a break! Black
swallowtail caterpillars don't do as much damage as a tomato hornworm,
and they're such lovely butterflies. We just had about 20 black
swallowtail caterpillars over at my mother's house, and even with that
high a number on one fennel plant, they only stripped one large stalk.

And we know where 3 of the chrysalides are, and are watching for their
emergence. It's so exciting! My mother and I actually saw the
butterfly lay the eggs on the fennel.


Penelope
--
You have proven yourself to be the most malicious,
classless person that I've encountered in years.
- "pointed"

who's eating my dill?
 

Those larvae are so beautiful, I would never pick them off! If you tap them
gently on the head, their orange sense organ will shoot out like a
tongue--it's fun to tell children you've trained them to do this. :)

wrote in message
ups.com...

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
"My guess would be baby swallowtail butterflies. :-)"

http://www.earthfuture.com/gardenpat...il%20larva.jpg

I, too have seen the larva on my dill and parsley. Easy to control by
hand-picking.

who's eating my dill?
 

In article ,
"tuckermo" wrote:

wrote in message
ups.com...

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
"My guess would be baby swallowtail butterflies. :-)"

http://www.earthfuture.com/gardenpat...il%20larva.jpg

I, too have seen the larva on my dill and parsley. Easy to control by
hand-picking.

Those larvae are so beautiful, I would never pick them off! If you tap them
gently on the head, their orange sense organ will shoot out like a
tongue--it's fun to tell children you've trained them to do this. :)


I did pick them off of my dill as I did not have that much...

but I did it gently and moved them to the parsley (since I had plenty
and did not have much use for it) and the fennel on the end of the herb
garden as I have _no_ use for fennel. G The fennel was planted
entirely for the baby swallowtails. It seems to last them longer.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

who's eating my dill?
 

"tuckermo" expounded:

Those larvae are so beautiful, I would never pick them off!

I love them, too, and never remove them.

If you tap them
gently on the head, their orange sense organ will shoot out like a
tongue--it's fun to tell children you've trained them to do this. :)

I didn't know this! Thanx!
--
Ann
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