pests pests pests

As much as like the sight of fluttering butterflies and spectacular moths, the damage that their bubs make to our plants is not so good. Our two Illawarra flame trees have had pretty much all their foliage stripped off them by juicy fat green caterpillars that denude them each summer. I try and keep them under control by squishing the little 'tents' they shelter in during the day made of a folded back piece of leaf, but unless you are vigilant and do this on a daily basis, you may as well not bother.

Then, this morning I looked more closely at the water lily leaves, which I had noticed seemed to have had some predator action, and sure enough another variety of green caterpillar, this one more maggot-like and slimy, has been munching its way through our water lily leaves.

I made my way through the rank grass down to our creek plantings to discover that our red cedar plantings are now battling cedar tip moth caterpillars, while another variety of brown, bird-poo like fat caterpillar has been joyfully eating its way through a tropical Arum lilly.

Bitches!