Wednesday 23 September 2015

Whose been nibbling my Nasturtiums?

I thought the nasturtiums were looking a bit droopy, and wondered if it was just on account of the heavy rain. A quick glance was all that was needed to show that there was an additional reason for their appearance ...





These fine caterpillars will turn into Small White butterflies. At this larval stage, their favourite foods are cruciferous vegetables and, no surprises here, nasturtiums!

There has been a recent flurry of books about butterflies and moths. A couple are high up on my current wish-list. Meanwhile here is a link to an excellent article entitled Butterfly Enchantment by Sue Brooks on the Caught by the River site. Happy reading! 

5 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I hope your plant survives the caterpillar. They are kind of cute! Have a happy day!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Caroline, glad you solved the mystery!

I need to find out more about caterpillars.....

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

~Aha so it's the large whiter caterpillars that are black with yellow stripes

Gabriele Campbell said...

Those green buggers kept eating holes into my potted geraniums for years. I've now switched to different plants. I got a bit tired of checking half a dozen huge potted geraniums for caterpillars at the underside of the leaves every evening.

Donna said...

These caterpillars usually attack my kale or other crusiferous veggies but never my nasturtiums...I am surprised they don't actually.