Lately I've been so caught up in the joy and pain of urban poultry that I haven't mentioned the bane of my blogging existence, bugs and caterpillars, in awhile. The leaf-footed bug nymphs have all grown up. I assume that following their adolescence they've all gone off to college/trade school because I rarely see an adult leaf-footed bug around.
Caterpillars, on the other hand, are a completely different story. Things finally reached the point where my tried and true method of caterpillar control (picking them off by hand and throwing them in the general direction of a chicken) became impractical. There were simply too many of them, and they were starting to cause extreme damage.
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| The sad remains of what used to be a Brussles sprout plant before caterpillars devoured it |
Last week, I applied Bacillus thurigienisis (Bt) to everything that showed signs of caterpillar mastication (this Brussels sprout plant is an extreme example). The idea here is that Bt, a naturally occurring soil bacteria, only infects caterpillars and is harmless to basically everything else (trust me I'm a doctor). It infects caterpillars digestive tract. You know, the kind of illness that forces them to choose between sitting on the toilet or kneeling over the toilet (either way there may be a mess to clean up later).
Normally, caterpillars are occasionally infected with Bt when they eat a leaf that has had Bt from the soil splashed onto it from rain or whatever. Now, all of my plants have been generously doused with Bt. One week after a single application, I have not seen a single caterpillar on any plant in my garden.
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| I recommend this stuff |
Poor caterpillars probably didn't know what hit them. Serves them right though. If they want plants to snack on then they should grow them themselves, in their own garden I say!
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