i have a passionflower vine that is doing great this season after not doing
so hot last year. I think it will finally bloom this season, if I can keep
the caterpillars off of it. They tore it apart last year and even though I
was checking daily, they still were winning the battle.

My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them off of
the vine?

TB in Austin

"T.B." wrote in message
...
i have a passionflower vine that is doing great this season after not doing
so hot last year. I think it will finally bloom this season, if I can
keep
the caterpillars off of it. They tore it apart last year and even though
I
was checking daily, they still were winning the battle.

My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them off
of
the vine?

TB in Austin



A bluejay invitation usually works.
--
Jonny

T.B. wrote:
My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them off of
the vine?

We have two passion vines (one in a pot and one in the ground, different
species) that grow like crazy. We also have catterpillars that feed on
the leaves, but that doesn't prevent the plants from thriving. We like
butterflies too, so we wouldn't want to kill the catterpillars.
If you most, look for BT, I think they sell it now even at the
megamarts. It's a biological agent that kills catterpillars, ok for
organic gardening.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Victor Martinez wrote:
If you most, look for BT, I think they sell it now even at the

Must, not most.



--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

I read an article in the Oak Hill Gazette that Bt can be used to kill
those pesky worms that hang from our oak trees and drive everyone crazy.
I'm going to try it. Geo-Growers stocks it.

Victor Martinez wrote:

Victor Martinez wrote:

If you most, look for BT, I think they sell it now even at the


Must, not most.

I've used Palmolive dish soap in a hose end sprayer for leaf curler worms
on an oak that was decimated year after year by them. The sprayer is like
one with the rotating adjustable nozzle, but has a small bottle for the soap
and got it at Home Depot or Lowe's last year for $9. I also use that for web
worms on pecan trees. Set on "Jet", I can shoot it 20' and seemed more
effective than when I tried BT.
I also like to use Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap. I find that getting the
overspray on me or anything else to be not unpleasant as any alternative.

"deepeddygirl" wrote in message
...
I read an article in the Oak Hill Gazette that Bt can be used to kill
those pesky worms that hang from our oak trees and drive everyone crazy.
I'm going to try it. Geo-Growers stocks it.

Victor Martinez wrote:

Victor Martinez wrote:

If you most, look for BT, I think they sell it now even at the


Must, not most.

If you can encourage paper wasps to nest near the vines, they will keep the
gulf frittilary larva population in check.

--
Mike Harris
Austin, TX

"T.B." wrote in message
...
i have a passionflower vine that is doing great this season after not doing
so hot last year. I think it will finally bloom this season, if I can
keep
the caterpillars off of it. They tore it apart last year and even though
I
was checking daily, they still were winning the battle.

My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them off
of
the vine?

TB in Austin

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
...
Mike Harris wrote:
If you can encourage paper wasps to nest near the vines, they will keep
the gulf frittilary larva population in check.

They are such beautiful butterflies though... we don't care if we don't
get as many flowers.

--
Victor M. Martinez

I'm with you, Victor. We planted four passionflower vines
weekend-before-last mainly to attract gulf fritillary butterflies. Getting a
few macro pictures of flowers and/or butterflies, though, wouldn't hurt. ;-)

David, who found a black swallowtail larva on the flat-leaf parsley today

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
...
Mike Harris wrote:
If you can encourage paper wasps to nest near the vines, they will keep
the gulf frittilary larva population in check.

They are such beautiful butterflies though... we don't care if we don't
get as many flowers.


The frittilaries are beautiful - and BT might kill them all off. The wasps
take a "sustainable harvest" and keep them from stripping the plants bare.
It's also fun to watch the wasps "patrol."

I found this relationship out inadvertently. I overzealously sprayed every
wasp nest I could find ~2 years ago or so, after getting stung for about the
40th time. Within several weeks the fritillary larva population was large
enough so that the passiflorae were down to stems and no longer blooming.

--
Mike Harris
Austin, TX

Mike Harris wrote:
The frittilaries are beautiful - and BT might kill them all off. The wasps
take a "sustainable harvest" and keep them from stripping the plants bare.
It's also fun to watch the wasps "patrol."

Yup. We have lots of those wasps all over the garden. They really like
living under our porch roof, which is ok by us since it's quite tall.

I found this relationship out inadvertently. I overzealously sprayed every
wasp nest I could find ~2 years ago or so, after getting stung for about the
40th time. Within several weeks the fritillary larva population was large
enough so that the passiflorae were down to stems and no longer blooming.

We don't kill any insects except for carpenter and fire ants. Even with
the wasps, we have so many larva that they often eat most of the leaves
of the larger passion vine. It always comes back with a vengeance though.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

The reason you have catapillars is that the plant is a HOST for them.
The cats are probably butterflies or moths in the making. The eating of
the plant is not harmful for the plant, just in your eyes. Open your
eyes and find out what butterflies are hosted by your passionflower.
Then you can observe the beauty when they metamorphose. If you are
keeping watch so you can squash, look for the cocoon and put it in a jar
with a metal top and some air holes and a leaf or two from plant, wait a
short time and you'll have a butterfly.

JK

T.B. wrote:
i have a passionflower vine that is doing great this season after not doing
so hot last year. I think it will finally bloom this season, if I can keep
the caterpillars off of it. They tore it apart last year and even though I
was checking daily, they still were winning the battle.

My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them off of
the vine?

TB in Austin



--
J. Kolenovsky, 2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
ô¿ô - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - environmental resource
ô¿ô - http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/
ô¿ô - http://www.peakoil.org and http://www.endofsuburbia.com -
start becoming attuned to the "new lifestyle" ahead of you
ô¿ô - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

There's an article in "Texas Co-op Power" this
month about butterfly gardening:
http://tinyurl.com/fpvef (It's a pdf file).

Be sure to read the embarrassing admission by the
editor, who planted a butterfly garden, freaked
when the caterpillars started eating her plants,
and started flinging Sevin dust....

DT


J Kolenovsky wrote:
The reason you have catapillars is that the plant is a HOST for them.
The cats are probably butterflies or moths in the making. The eating of
the plant is not harmful for the plant, just in your eyes. Open your
eyes and find out what butterflies are hosted by your passionflower.
Then you can observe the beauty when they metamorphose. If you are
keeping watch so you can squash, look for the cocoon and put it in a jar
with a metal top and some air holes and a leaf or two from plant, wait a
short time and you'll have a butterfly.

JK

T.B. wrote:

i have a passionflower vine that is doing great this season after not
doing
so hot last year. I think it will finally bloom this season, if I can
keep
the caterpillars off of it. They tore it apart last year and even
though I
was checking daily, they still were winning the battle.

My question to the group is, aside from keeping an eye out for them and
squashing them and/or using pesticides, is there any way to keep them
off of
the vine?

TB in Austin





--
http://www.thehungersite.com/

"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
The reason you have catapillars is that the plant is a HOST for them. The
cats are probably butterflies or moths in the making. The eating of the
plant is not harmful for the plant, just in your eyes. Open your eyes and
find out what butterflies are hosted by your passionflower. Then you can
observe the beauty when they metamorphose. If you are keeping watch so you
can squash, look for the cocoon and put it in a jar with a metal top and
some air holes and a leaf or two from plant, wait a short time and you'll
have a butterfly.

JK

I tolerate a certain number of "orange dogs" on my two citrus trees for that
reason - they mature into the handsome Giant Swallowtail butterfly (papilo
cresphontes).

I'll hand pick the worst of them to keep damage in check (yuck - they look
like fresh bird poop and their startle response is - well, startling) - or
preferably hand pick the eggs, which are orangish grey, solitary, about 1mm
diameter and found most often on new growth.

I inevitably miss a few which pupate (looking like dried bird poop, natch).
I leave these to mature into new butterflies.

--
Mike Harris
Austin, TX