Butterflies, Harbinger of Disaster!!

[Diane]

Rob;

Glad I am not the only one who feels that way about PETA

And I also have planted milkweed in the arroyo behind my home. A few monarchs so far, lots of yellow swallowtails.

[WolfinKW]

Louis is right about the tent catapillers though. You have to burn them out of the trees. They will eat an entire tree bare in a matter of days. They aren't butterflies though so I don't mind. If I remember correctly when I was little I heard they were non native to the US and had been brought over for some reason but then like everything else we do this with (cudzu, african bees) etc etc it got out and liked it here.

Peta isn't that flat bread that is used in gyros?

[Orchidzrule]

tent catapillers...If I remember correctly when I was little I heard they were non native to the US and had been brought over for some reason but then like everything else we do this with (cudzu, african bees) etc etc it got out and liked it here.

Hi Wolf,

No, tent caterpillars are native. You're probably (almost certainly) thinking of gypsy moths--they're an evil Eurasian import that have done a real number on trees in some parts of North America.

Cheers,

Rob

[Diane]

Peta isn't that flat bread that is used in gyros? [/QUOTE]

Not a bad idea though.......... ;-}

[Gin]

I agree with the rest ... cept for Wolf ... but can't remember why I don't :check: . I planted milk weed and a few more butterfly bushes awhile back . Don't like PETA either . Gin

[Tanya]

I don't mind them defoliating my vinca and my amaryllis, but NOT my orchids!!!

[RSJ]

Interesting that butterflies in your area attack your orchids.

I just got back from Victoria, B.C., and there is a conservatory called the Butterfly Gardens which is built specifically for breeding and raising butterflies and endangered moths. They had the most beautiful orchids and tillandsia mounted on trees everywhere inside their habitat area, in full bloom right now. But make no mistake, every plant in there is there for the benefit of the butterflies and their wormy offspring. Most of the tropical plants in there looked like they'd been sluggified, but the orchid leaves and flowers weren't touched--lots of nectar being sucked out of the flowers, but no damage. Mind you, the pb's were all rather like you'd find them in nature, not plump and juicy like we like to grow them, but withered and brownish. But the flowers were divine and since the plants are being grown in that humid lush environment, they had no need of fat pb's to sustain them.

The staff there described all the food source plants for each kind of butterfly larva they have there (mostly from tropical areas), orchids weren't on the list for any.

For you butterfly lovers, when I get my digital pics all downloaded, I'll share some of them. The Atlas moths were neat, and the morpho's were gorgeous!

RSJ

[Tanya]

Well, I have to admit that only one type of my orchids suffered this kind of devastation from butterfly larvae. Last year, I lost one growth, again to caterpillars, this year 3 growths, all the same type of orchids. Dendrobium Red Velvet. The others, even the other Dendrobiums are left undamaged.

RSJ, did you notice if all the orchids they are growing inside the Butterfly Garden are species?

[RSJ]

RSJ, did you notice if all the orchids they are growing inside the Butterfly Garden are species?

No, they definitely were not all species. There were several of different genera, but mostly hybrids going on there, at least the ones I could see within the areas we could walk in and that were in bloom. There were some HUGE vandas, and they were very proud to show off their vanda coerulea. Not sure it was the true v. coerulea species or not as I'm not familiar with vandas in general.

But, it was very beautiful anyway.
RSJ