I found this Tuesday evening:
Suddenly grasshoppers are everywhere!
And I do not know what this is that was in my tomatoes yesterday morning. I could not get a very good angle for a better picture and I really was not sure I wanted to disturb it!
I haven’t seen any more caterpillars in the past couple of days, but I picked several black fuzzy and cream colored fuzzy caterpillars out of my beans and peppers this past week. Last week several tobacco hornworm caterpillars practically decimated my bell peppers.
See the damage that five of those caterpillars did in one 24 hour period?
Luckily I had picked all the ripe peppers the day before. And I am pleased to be able to report that the pepper plants are already putting out new leaves and new blossoms!
Now if I can just get control of the powdery mildew on all my squash plants! I am using a mixture of 1 part milk, 9 parts water, with a little baking soda thrown in for good measure. I don’t know if it is working yet, but my whole garden area now smells reminiscently of our milk house back on the farm in New York, and that is not necessarily a good thing!
Plagues of grasshoppers, Eh? Seems like a lot of people are reporting them right now throughout the Southwest.
BTW, the moth in the third photograph is a white-lined sphinx. Generally the caterpillars feed on weeds of various sorts. (http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2008/10/what-white-lined-sphinx-caterpillars-eat/)
I don’t know about a plague, but definition more than I’ve seen the rest of the year! And good to know the “creature” was a moth and not some dangerous stinging something! Can you tell I’m a bit gun shy? LOL
I hate hornworms! Fat, nasty, squirmy destroyers.