Found these munching my in-ground plants?





Are these friend (butterfly cat) or foe? If they are friends I will let them eat this plant otherwise they are goners.

Oleandar moth who knew! Now where did I put that insecticidal soap>

http://www.floridanaturepictur...

Be careful with that soap! I would apply it, then a half hour later, wash it off with plain water. Adeniums are very picky and could drop all their leaves if they don't like a spray. Neem will definitelity make them drop off all their leaves.

I thought the oleander moth was one of the few pollinators of the adenium that we have here in Florida, just out of curiosity , did you get any seed pods on the plants?

I am fighting with it already 3 months. it covered all my oleander bushes and adeniums. I do not spray anything I just pick it up, but sure it can eat a whole plant alive. I hate it because now all my oleander bushes are leafless and some adeniums too.

They are vicious munchers!! Oleanders and Adeniums are their favorite food. I say break out the Sevin!

jimsned2 said:I thought the oleander moth was one of the few pollinators of the adenium that we have here in Florida, just out of curiosity , did you get any seed pods on the plants?

Did not know this. If there were any leaves or flowers left maybe they would have done some pollination.

No leaves no cats. That solves that. How long before I get some leaves back?

I've had a few that lost all they're leafs, I paid particular attention to them and within maybe two weeks I saw green at the tips. I guess a lot depends on the weather, here we are having tons of rain, and very few of my adenium are in bloom. I'd do as Melissa does and start checking the caudexes as long as it's good and firm you will have no problem. Thats just my thought, maybe some one else has a different idea.

Jim

Jim I am doing the same thing, we are not having rain yet, but we sure do need it, I have all mine outside now except the babies, decided they cannot take that hot sun, I still have one of your seedling doing good, I left the otherrs in hoping they still might pop up.I will post picture later.

OK I went and took the picture, this is your one that came up.



and these are my adeniums outside, on my plant stand, at least I can cover them if there should be too much rain.



and these are the babies inside

Thurgicide is great for getting rid of unwanted caterpillars. "Certified Organic Thuricide is a liquid formulation of bacteria, Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt), which is specific to leaf eating caterpillars" It won't hurt honey bees, or you, or your puppy or kitty. Most gardening stores carry it.

Melissa is right! I was wrong to say 'Sevin' since that is a last resort remedy.....

Will that stuff harm Butterfly cats? I have a Milkweed right next to the Adenium and it is covered in Cats. This is for next time when this happens. No leaves so no more Caterpillars on the adenium
BTW I try to use natural methods in my gardening. Sevin would be a non-starter in my gardens.

Thurgicide! Great; another thing I have to try and remember Yesterday I forgot which car I was driving and spent a half hour looking for my Saturn when I remembered I was driving the Fiat. This getting old has it's downsides Oh, I agree with Paul and try to stay away from sevin. I'm getting to enjoy electracuting bugs with my paddle

All cats, do NOT use BT (thurgicide) on Monarch butterfly cats.

Dooh! How long does this stuff last.

I believe not very long, a week or so. Here's a good description of the stuff. It's a bacteria that wrecks their stomach/digestion, they stop eating right away, then die in three days. Durn bugs!

http://www.ghorganics.com/Thur...

Be careful with cats, , after they eat all the leaves and no leaves are left they can start to eat the plant itself untill they are finish growing, had this happen to me twice. they will keep eatting until they are ready to change eather to moth or butterfly, what good are they if they eat the whole plant, there won't be any plant to form flowers to pollinate anyway, i had a tree that got cats. on it, i left them thinking they would only eat the leaves but after they eat all the leaves they were only half way through their growing so they aet almost all the bark on the tree almost killing it. If i had not get rid of them they would have kill my fruit tree, but lucky there was a one inch strip of bark left on the tree from bottom to the top and the bark started to grow back. if any part of that strip would have been missing the tree would have died from that part up

also I lost almost all my amaryllis to cats, after they aet the leaves, they aet the bulbs under the soil, I couldn't beleave they had eaten almost all the bulbs in two day, now if I see any cats I kill them, they have killed to many of my plants, besides besides I do a better job at pollinating my plante than they do and I don't eat my plants.

Your Friend Wilfred

Wilfred, what a terror! I lost a big passsionfruit vine to cats, also. Hungry buggars...

I thought I was the only one who isn't a fan of cats. I think butterflies are pretty but let's be honest, you get a few weeks of pretty and you pay with months of ravening mouths. I kill any I find too. Especially on my passionfruit, I want fruit and that means the leaves and blooms have to stay on the vine.

Of course, at first I thought you were talking about feline cats I have to put my adenium up on pillars so the felines don't use those wonderful caudex as a scratching post.