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#1
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
Hi
Pick them off they will cause havoc to your plants.(please dont use chemicals though). The black stuff IS caterpillar droppings. I had an infestation of these on my calendula one year....devastation!!!!! Roy "Kostas Kavoussanakis" wrote in message q.np.hx... Hi, I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars on them. Any idea what they are? Should I leave them to continue their deeds or will even the hollyhocks eventually succumb? I have never seen the hollyhocks flower (seedlings transplanted last September; leaves then munched away by earwigs). I also noticed small black balls on the same leaves; poo or eggs? Or just "dirt"? TIA, Kostas |
#2
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
Hi Kay
I am sorry I didnt mean I had THOSE caterpillars just an infestation of some sort that I thought would be dealt with naturally (i do not use chemicals of any sort).But in this instance were not and completely devastated the plants. I have not had this happen before or since. Roy "Kay Easton" wrote in message ... In article .hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes Hi, I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars on them. Any idea what they are? Mallow skipper Carcharodus alceae '..up to 23mm, fairly stout ... body greyish green, tinged with blue; collar behind head conspicuous, banded with black and yellow; spiracles (breathing holes in skin) yellow with black rims; head large, black' 'caterpillars live in shelters constructed from spun, folded leaves' Larentia clavaria '.. up to 32 mm; green, sometimes yellowish betwen segments, with whitish dots and black spiracles; a brown or pinkish line extends down the middle of the back and a dark line along each side; head whitish with grey-green markings' 'When the caterpillars are disturbed, they drop to the ground, curled up to resemble mallow seeds' (1) Moths from both are smallish mottled brown things. Should I leave them to continue their deeds or will even the hollyhocks eventually succumb? Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow plants nearby to transfer them to? I have never seen the hollyhocks flower (seedlings transplanted last September; leaves then munched away by earwigs). I also noticed small black balls on the same leaves; poo or eggs? Or just "dirt"? Poo (1)carter and Hargeaves: A Field Guide to caterpillars of Butterflies and Moths in britain and Europe, pub Collins. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
#3
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:
In article .hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars on them. Any idea what they are? I knew I was careless in my description: I have two (one: green; two: gray), possibly three (brown?) types of caterpillars. Mallow skipper Carcharodus alceae '..up to 23mm, fairly stout ... body greyish green, tinged with blue; Not sure I have this (and I am off sick, so I won't go out looking for them today). The gray ones looked to be a dull colour (I went close with a macro lens). Larentia clavaria '.. up to 32 mm; green, sometimes yellowish betwen segments, with whitish dots and black spiracles; a brown or pinkish line extends down the middle of the back and a dark line along each side; head whitish with grey-green markings' 'When the caterpillars are disturbed, they drop to the ground, curled up to resemble mallow seeds' Probably have these: they look lime-green, matching the hollyhock leaves. Could see no other colours yesterday. Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow plants nearby to transfer them to? Not to my knowledge (not that I would be able to recognise them). (1)carter and Hargeaves: A Field Guide to caterpillars of Butterflies and Moths in britain and Europe, pub Collins. Excellent posting, thank you very much. Kostas (thanks to the other contributors to the thread too). |
#4
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
In article .hx,
Kostas Kavoussanakis writes On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote: In article .hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars on them. Any idea what they are? I knew I was careless in my description: I have two (one: green; two: gray), possibly three (brown?) types of caterpillars. I hope it's only two! My book reckons there's only two species that attack plants of the mallow family. Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow plants nearby to transfer them to? Not to my knowledge (not that I would be able to recognise them). They have similar leaves to hollyhock. They're often covered with orange spots of rust fungus (though usually later in the year). Unlike most 5 petalled flowers, mallow family flowers have complete spiral symmetry - each petal is under one neighbour and over the other. And they have a sort of central tower with the stamens on. But all this is later when they flower, which is a bit late for you now. Or you could pick the caterpillars off into a box and put in several sorts of leaves to see if they'll eat anything else. Or you could just wait, and if your hollyhocks seem to be losing, pick of the caterpillars and squash them. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
#5
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
Kay Easton wrote in message ...
In article .hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes Hi, I was wondering why the new leaves of my giant hollyhocks were full of holes. I just noticed large (5cm) gray, green and brown caterpillars on them. Any idea what they are? Mallow skipper Carcharodus alceae '..up to 23mm, fairly stout ... body greyish green, tinged with blue; collar behind head conspicuous, banded with black and yellow; spiracles (breathing holes in skin) yellow with black rims; head large, black' 'caterpillars live in shelters constructed from spun, folded leaves' The Mallow Skipper _Butterfly_ does not occur in the UK as a resident breeding species. http://www.butterfly-guide.co.uk/spe...pers/bret6.htm Larentia clavaria '.. up to 32 mm; green, sometimes yellowish betwen segments, with whitish dots and black spiracles; a brown or pinkish line extends down the middle of the back and a dark line along each side; head whitish with grey-green markings' 'When the caterpillars are disturbed, they drop to the ground, curled up to resemble mallow seeds' (1) Moths from both are smallish mottled brown things. This is the Mallow Moth and the caterpillars are active at around this time of year. http://cgi.ukmoths.force9.co.uk/show.php?id=1776 What you said earlier about caterpillars eating only one plant species is generally true. However, some are more generalist feeders. This is particularly the case with some of the moths. For example. I have yet to find anything that the Garden Tiger moth will not eat. It will even eat Japanese Knotweed although it seems to prefer other things. I haven't tried it on Leylandii (yet) :-) -- Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/ "At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog National Nature Reserve |
#6
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
On Mon, 7 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:
In article .hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote: Possibly. Caterpillars have big appetites. Can you find some mallow plants nearby to transfer them to? Not to my knowledge (not that I would be able to recognise them). They have similar leaves to hollyhock. They're often covered with orange spots of rust fungus (though usually later in the year). Thanks for the description. I just found out what the orange spots on my hollyhocks are. I will attack as quickly as I can with something containing sulphur. Or you could pick the caterpillars off into a box and put in several sorts of leaves to see if they'll eat anything else. Well, I did just that and fed them a plantain (I think it's called) leaf. They ate part of it but looked distressed to me. I released them away from the hollyhocks and they have fled/been eaten by something. Kostas (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway) |
#7
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.8/32.553
MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 13 Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 00:57:56 +0100 NNTP-Posting-Host: 212.159.36.219 X-Complaints-To: X-Trace: wards.force9.net 1050105850 212.159.36.219 (Sat, 12 Apr 2003 01:04:10 BST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 01:04:10 BST Organization: Customer of PlusNet Path: news7.nntpserver.com!newsfeed-east.nntpserver.com!nntpserver.com!skynet.be!skyne t.be!landlord!wards.force9.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: news7 uk.rec.gardening:134564 On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 20:14:54 +0100, Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote: Kostas (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway) Is that a remedy for rust? Huss Grow a little garden spam block - for real addy, reverse letters of second level domain. |
#8
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
"Hussein M." wrote Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote: (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway) Is that a remedy for rust? .... and can I ask if that rust is the same as rust on other plants, or are these different diseases for specific species? Thanks. Sue |
#9
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
On Mon, 14 Apr 2003, Sue wrote:
"Hussein M." wrote Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote: (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway) Is that a remedy for rust? http://www.backyardgardener.com/pren/pg70.html That's not the initial page I read, btw (so there's more :-) ... and can I ask if that rust is the same as rust on other plants, or are these different diseases for specific species? Thanks. I think that I read (after the previous answers on my problem) that Hollyhocks and Marrows share this kind of rust, which is specific to them. Obviously not an expert. Kostas (I hope you don't mind me answering 2 in 1). |
#10
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
In article . hx, Kostas
Kavoussanakis writes On Mon, 14 Apr 2003, Sue wrote: "Hussein M." wrote Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote: (time to spray the roses with sulphur anyway) Is that a remedy for rust? http://www.backyardgardener.com/pren/pg70.html That's not the initial page I read, btw (so there's more :-) ... and can I ask if that rust is the same as rust on other plants, or are these different diseases for specific species? Thanks. I think that I read (after the previous answers on my problem) that Hollyhocks and Marrows share this kind of rust, which is specific to them. Obviously not an expert. Are you sure you meant 'marrows' and not 'mallows'? Hollyhocks are in the mallow family (mallow as in marshmallow, which used to be made from IIRC the roots of the marsh mallow plant) -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
#11
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Caterpillars on Hollyhocks
On Sat, 19 Apr 2003, Kay Easton wrote:
In article . hx, Kostas Kavoussanakis writes I think that I read (after the previous answers on my problem) that Hollyhocks and Marrows share this kind of rust, which is specific to them. Obviously not an expert. Are you sure you meant 'marrows' and not 'mallows'? Hollyhocks are in the mallow family (mallow as in marshmallow, which used to be made from IIRC the roots of the marsh mallow plant) You are of course right (sans voir). Thanks for the correction and apologies for any confusion. Kostas p.s.: I will post the URL of pictures of the Caterpillars soon, in case you are interested. |
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