HELP...wondering if I should plant?

17 years ago

We are having quite an infestation of what I think are eastern tent caterpillars. They are leaving the trees and are in our yard unfortunately in large numbers right where I have laid down our SFG beds. I have also noticed them in our knock out rose bushes and some other bushes in our landscape. This is my first SFG and I am afraid to plant the tomato, bell pepper, and strawberry plants that I bought this weekend because I am worried they will eat the leaves. I don't have a cage made yet and even if I do get a cage made I am wondering if it will keep out the caterpillars. I am just trying to get any suggestions of what I should do. Has anyone had any problems with these or other caterpillars before? How long do the caterpillars stay? Should I try to get a spray or something to help get rid of them? Should I wait to plant the plants I bought from the store, but go ahead and put the seeds in the beds? ....Any info/insight would be appreciated. I am so bummed about this because I am so ready to plant, but don't want my efforts to be in vain!

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Comments (4)

homertherat
17 years ago
Get a cat or something that likes to eat caterpillars :)

I would wait until they start to die off or whatever it is caterpillars do.
greenbean08_gw
17 years ago
If I'm reading the info at the link below correctly, there's probably not much danger now if they're travelling around to find their spot to pupate.

You could also cover the plants with a row cover for extra safety.

Here is a link that might be useful: Caterpillar info
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ribbit32004
17 years ago
I'm just finding them now, myself. My neighbor has the brown fuzzy ones, but I have the thin, tiny green and thin, tiny brown ones. I just pick them off by hand since mine are small. I just hope they won't call their fat, fuzzy friends over for a chat.
smwester
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, it turns out that my 5 year old daughter and her friends love to collect the caterpillars and put them in their bug boxes/buckets... which takes them away from my garden area! There were 5 little girls having a blast finding the caterpillars yesterday and today I didn't see the large numbers that were out there yesterday. I went ahead and planted the tomato, green pepper, and strawberry plants tonight. I guess I had my own built in exterminators and didn't realize it. :)