i have some zebra-striped catepillars who are all over my parsley -- like a
whole family just appeared one day and began camping out. they are eating
the be-geesis out of the parsley, too. are they likely to move on to other
plants? should i be concerned? should i pluck 'em off and git rid of 'em?

thanks for any help.

steve snow

--
=======================================
Stephen Snow, MA, National Certified Counselor
"Where love stops, power
www.commcure.com begins, and violence
704.569.0243 and terror." -- CG Jung
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Don Chapman (www.commcure.dom/don)
GROW BY GIVING: VOLUNTEER
=======================================

On Sun, 3 Aug 2003 12:32:52 -0400, "shsnow"
wrote:

i have some zebra-striped catepillars who are all over my parsley -- like a
whole family just appeared one day and began camping out. they are eating
the be-geesis out of the parsley, too. are they likely to move on to other
plants? should i be concerned? should i pluck 'em off and git rid of 'em?

thanks for any help.

steve snow

Larva of black swallowtail butterflies most likely. Parsley can take
quite a lot of damage and will come back, but if you object to them,
the easiest way is to just pick them off and squash them. The will
also eat parsley relatives, dill, anise, fennel, Queen Anne's Lace,
and the like. If you don't have the right food, they will not be
there. Their relatives, the giant swallowtail (yellow where the other
one is black) munch on my citrus. Usually the mockingbirds and the
wasps get them before they grow more than 1/2 in. long.

Augh! No! Wait Please! Don't hurt em! They're beautiful butterflies...try
floating row covers if you want your parsley! These little caterpillars are
about to give you a greater gift than fresh breath and a garnish for your
plate.
Jane
"shsnow" wrote in message
...
i have some zebra-striped catepillars who are all over my parsley -- like
a
whole family just appeared one day and began camping out. they are eating
the be-geesis out of the parsley, too. are they likely to move on to other
plants? should i be concerned? should i pluck 'em off and git rid of 'em?

thanks for any help.

steve snow

--
=======================================
Stephen Snow, MA, National Certified Counselor
"Where love stops, power
www.commcure.com begins, and violence
704.569.0243 and terror." -- CG Jung
----------------------------------------------------------
TeleCommunity Resource Center (www.tcrc.net)
Assn. For Community Networking (www.afcn.org)
Charlotte Folk Society (www.folksociety.org)
One Special Christmas (www.onespecialchristmas.org)
Don Chapman (www.commcure.dom/don)
GROW BY GIVING: VOLUNTEER
=======================================

They stick almost exclusively to parsley and dill, and are not likely to
move to your other plants. They will soon finish growing and crawl off to
pupate. Butterflies have a hard time of it these days, because of
widespread pesticide use, so I always gladly sacrifice some parsley when I'm
lucky enough to get the caterpillars.

Here's some more information:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/d...USA/mi/895.htm

Cheers,
Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA


i have some zebra-striped catepillars who are all over my parsley --
like
a
whole family just appeared one day and began camping out. they are
eating
the be-geesis out of the parsley, too. are they likely to move on to
other
plants? should i be concerned? should i pluck 'em off and git rid of
'em?

thanks for any help.

steve snow

"shsnow" wrote in message
...
i have some zebra-striped catepillars who are all over my parsley -- like
a
whole family just appeared one day and began camping out. they are eating
the be-geesis out of the parsley, too. are they likely to move on to other
plants? should i be concerned? should i pluck 'em off and git rid of 'em?


Check this:

http://www.chias.org/online/thebutte...de/native.html

I think you have black swallowtail 'pillars. Pretty catepillars and
lovely butterflies, but waay too fond of dill and parsley. If it's
possible, and you have more than one parsley plant, you might try
relocating them to a Designated Food Plant. Your choices are to
sacrfice some parsley and save the butterfly, or, um, save the
parsley. As to the other part of your question, they're pretty
specific in their eating habits. Not likely to affect many other
plants (the above reference mentions wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace),
parsnips (who knew?) and celery.

Larva of black swallowtail butterflies most likely.

Yup. I grow dill just for them. This year they must have laid dozens of eggs
on my dill and there wasn't enough. Some I moved over to my Queen Ann's lace,
but I was surprised that a few moved on over to the cilantro I had near by and
seemed happy munching it. I never knew they liked cilantro. Next year I will
have to remember to sow the dill every couple of weeks so there will be plenty
of them for the caterpillars.

joelle