Little Green Caterpillars Turning Leaves Clear

[flipster]

Greetings.

 

I have just noticed these little tiny caterpillars (about 3mm long) on the underside of my leaves. They appear to be making bits of the leaves go transparent/clear...

 

See attached pic of what these little suckers look like.

 

Any, preferably chemical free, ideas to get rid of them will be appreciated.

[flipster]

And what the leaves look like...

[Luke Skywalker]

Hi flipster, welcome to Oz Stoners. There's few pests more devestating to crops than caterpillars, most of them can eat many times their weight in food in a day...

 

For a chem free method you can't go far past hand picking. If you place some white plastic below the plants foliage, you can usually spot the caterpillars by their droppings left below the plant on the plastic. Just look directly up from the droppings and you should be able to spot the offender underneath the leaves, for quick dispatching with the boot...

 

Alternatively, there is a cheap, effective and above all completely safe bio-pesticide available to deal with caterpillars of all kinds. A product you can find in most garden centers is called BT: aka Bacillus Thuringiensis var. kurstaki aka DIPEL. This product is actually a powdered form of bacteria which paralyze the mouth and stomach parts of any caterpillar which injests plant material with it present. So you spray your plants, under and over with the solution you make up with this powder, (a spray bottle is fine but a large canister pump pack is a good investment) and this will automatically kill any caterpillars which eat tissues of the plant. And they won't eat any more once they've had some.

 

The safe witholding period is recommended as a day, so it's about as safe as they come, as the bacterium is completely harmless to humans and all other insect life except caterpillars. Still, treat it with respect, as should all insect or pesticides.

 

Hope this helps mate, let us know how ya go, good luck with the crop.

 

Oh, and once again, Welcome to Oz Stoners.

[flipster]

Cheers...

 

Up until this point I've been picking them off and giving them a good flick in one direction or another. "Caterpillar, prepare for light speed..." If the caterpillar had a facial expression, that would be it.

 

I think I might try some of that pesticide though.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome to Ozstoners.

[Zell]

i just started getting these fu**heads DAM YOU CATERPILLARS DAM YOU! howd the pesticide stuff go?

[Guest BudWaver]

my outdoor veges Ive had to start using derris dust on my basil and japanese veges...cause of whitefly, caterpillars..la lala...

 

NOONE IS GOING TO RUIN MY PESTO

 

hehe