I just bought a maypop 2 weeks ago. I was horrible to it and didn't plant it until nearly a week after I bought it, and it was looking a bit wilty when I put it in the ground. It was also covered in fritilary caterpillars, which I left on the vine.

This week it was doing wonderfully. It perked up the day after I put it in the ground, and I even got to play with the butterfly the day after that. (She came within an inch of me, and stayed within a foot of me the whole time I was out there.)

Yesterday it was fine- it even had a bloom. Today I go out and all the leaves are gone, some of the fruit had fallen off, and 50 caterpillars are eating the stems.

Wondering if it's just the caterpillars or if maybe something about how I planted it could be off too.

I have it in acidic clay soil (probably not good), full sun, and have given it lots of water since I planted it. Today I gave it a batch of fertilizer.

The lady I bought it from said it grew like a weed, so I wasn't too worried about the caterpillars at first, but maybe that plus transplant stress might have been too much for the guy.

Any recommendations for how to keep this lovely plant (and the caterpillars) alive?