Normally we don't see these chaps till the autumn but this year they have arrived early
Not sure of the species but they will eat anything and aren't crop specific like many caterpillars. They will quite happily munch brassicas, tomato, peas, paprika, nasu or anything else they come across. They also seem to travel in large groups and grow very quickly so can swiftly cause quite a bit of damage or even wipe out a small patch in short order. They can also travel quite large distances (for a caterpillar) as we've found ones dying from Botanigard over 100 metres from the crop it was sprayed on.
Bacillus Thuringiensis works very well on them stopping them feeding almost instantly, neem can sometimes be effective if used while they are very small and Botanigard also works but takes 7 - 10 days to kill them in which time they can still cause a lot of damage.
Caterpillars
- Zasso Nouka
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