Invasion of large green caterpillars

flossie44


Joined: 05/03/2009
Posts: 223

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 18:20

My grape vine has been looking a bit sparse the last couple of days and when I looked at it closely it was covered in huge green caterpillars. By the time I realised they had eaten every leaf! I only had fly spray and this sort of stunned them and then I had to resort to boiling water urgh!



Later that day I found them en masse on the olianders and walking across the road.



Does anyone know what they are, and how to prevent them attacking my plants again? I dread to think what they will have attacked tomorrow.



flossie

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 18:34

The are probably Oleander Hawk Moth ones... do they have bright green bodies and blue markings that look like big eyes?

daisy dukes


Joined: 06/09/2008
Posts: 3815

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 19:11

i posted a thread recently on here with a lovely photo of an oleander hawk moth....bloody enormous it was too!! They only ;live a couple of days, so don't worry too much....they turn black go to ground, and die....





DD

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 19:53

Err no they don't they turn into a chrysalis, pupate and turn into the Oleander Hawk Moth... the cycle continues..... otherwise they would be extinct...

LisaCedyNZach


Joined: 21/07/2009
Posts: 30

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 19:57

We had them last year on our oleanders, they munched away till all we had were stalks!!!

cobra


Joined: 07/08/2009
Posts: 16

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 20:24

Hi, I do not post often but was fairly shocked with the way that flossie44 dealt with these creatures. I would guess that they are Oleander Hawk Moth catapillars and are the catapillar stage of one of Europes largest moths. They will eat fairly large quanities of various plants but mainly Oleander. The plants will recover but obviously if you pour boiling water over the catapillars, they will not. I do not know if these Moths are on any endangered species list but they are certainly fairly rare. They do not turn black, go to groud and die, they spin a chrysalis and then hatch into the moth some weeks later (assuming they have not had boiling water poured over them).

How to deal with them - they are only in the catapillar stage for a short period so let them eat, the plant will recover. If you cannot do this then put on a glove, pick them up and move them to another Oleander that is wild (environmentaly friendly option).

What you should not be doing is killing them.

clayton


Joined: 30/11/2008
Posts: 1143

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 20:26

groucho

we had these caterpillars on the oleanders 2wks ago.couldnt pull them of,had to cut the branch of they were on.they couldnt half eat,i dont think it would take them long to strip all the leaves of.

gooligan


Joined: 30/01/2007
Posts: 1591

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 20:33

I remember you showing them to me Gary,big buggers they were.

daisy dukes


Joined: 06/09/2008
Posts: 3815

Message Posted:
30/09/2010 20:35

ok, so they don't die...but they DO go to ground, and they DO turn black!



http://www.drkrishi.com/metamorphosis,



DD