Very Hungry GREEN Caterpillar

11Jul09 | 1 comments

Ugh! The very hungry GREEN caterpillars are back! This time they are attacking our grape plants.

Last time five of these voracious caterpillars ate all twenty of our pepper plants down to a stub in like 24 hours. Needless to say I am not a fan of this green caterpillar.

I used to read the book the "very hungry caterpillar" to my daughter and never making the connection of how destructive these bugs are.

I tried to identify it, but that proved to be difficult. The closest I've come is Darapsa pholus larva according to the website:

Discoverlife.org

The eyes and caterpillar fake eyes don't look the same though. (Apparently they have fake eyes to fool predators) Here is a closeup of the fake eyes of the green caterpillar:



Apparently that is the larva of the Azalea Sphinx Moth but its range appears to be east of the Rockies. So I'm not sure what it is exactly. I am just feeling fortunate I saw it before it devoured the whole plant. Now I will try the garlic spray and hope it repels these beautiful but hungry pests.

The grape plant is a zifandel we bought at Armstrong Garden center. A fun plant for a kid garden! My daughter is growing many plants in her container garden including Baby Lettuce, Rosemary, Thyme, Chives, Basil, Oregano, Sweet Peppers, Green Onions, and grapes. We are also trying to root some Lemongrass and she has two Spruce tree sprouts and some Sunflowers.

Gardening with kids is a lot of fun and especially great for homeschoolers!

The very hungry caterpillar gives us a chance to discover organic ways of repelling such garden pests from our garden and learning about good garden bugs like ladybugs and preying mantis. Children love bugs!