For various reasons I just haven’t kept a good eye on my TX mountain laurels. Right before I left for a trip I saw my two little guys had been eaten down to nubs and whatever it is has been working on my big one, grown over time from a one gallon container I think. Is there any hope for them? I don’t have a ton of time to sit out there fighting a pest war but I want to try and do something. Also please be nice. I want to take good care of my plants but sometimes life gets in the way.
by milquetoastsandwich
6 Comments
Ps I haven’t been out there in a week. I’m kind of scared to look. These pics are a week old.
They bounce back quickly – I had them bad this year as well.
They will recover. The Genista caterpillars evolved over time to depend on that plant. I let them go because we are creating ecosystems too, and the plants recover. If you want to control them you can spray BT which targets just the caterpillar.
This is native gardening. The caterpillars eat mountain laurel but the mountain laurel is also evolved enough to thrive. You have just helped the local ecosystem.
They will look beat up for a few weeks and then bounce back. It happens to mine every year and they continue to grow and get larger despite it all.
Dermatophyllum secundiflorum are very hardy trees. They take forever to grow, but I think these’ll be fine… what with stem photosynthesis being a thing. Also, I see a Cocculus carolinus vine growing on it. Those are important to the ecosystem as well, as they provide food and shelter to birds and critters. I wouldn’t let it strangle the Dermatophyllum, though, so I’d keep an eye on it.
This is the only native caterpillar that I remove from a native perennial. While the plant does bounce back, it sets an already slow growing species back quite a bit.