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oleander cats
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Posted by
karalynn z9 FL, Inverness, Ci (
My Page) on
Thu, Sep 20, 12 at 13:08
| A week or so ago I came home to a wasp moth laying eggs on my desert rose which I thought was neat since I'd never seen one before. After the moth left though I was careful to scrape most of the eggs off the plant since it isn't all that big and I don't have any oleanders to transfer the extra cats to. Well, it turns out that I do have another plant in my garden that oleander cats will eat and apparently that moth had visited it as well. Yesterday I came home to some of the cats wandering around the middle of the front garden well away from the desert rose. In trying to figure out where they were going I discovered that my red mandevilla vine has been completely eaten and all that's left is the stems and even some of them have been munched on. Who knew that oleander cats ate mandevilla vines?! And I'm pretty sure that by the time I get home from work today the last of the leaves on the desert rose will be gone too. So much for trying to limit the number of cats that hatched!
Kara |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: oleander cats
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| You don't have to let them eat up your plants, spray with Triazicide by Spectracide works great, I use it on all my plants and around my foundation. |
RE: oleander cats
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- Posted by karalynn z9 FL, Inverness, Ci (My Page) on
Thu, Sep 20, 12 at 16:47
| I don't mind them eating on the plants this time because I was curious to see what the cats looked like and I hope to see at least one go threw the whole change into a moth. Next time I see one of the moths around the desert rose though the plant will be moved onto the screened-in front porch. I don't spray any insecticides in my garden since I have quite a few host plants scattered throughout it not to mention that I worry about the spray getting into my pond and hurting the fish. The only thing I use in the way of bug control is the occasional ant killer and a little soap and water if the aphids get to bad. Other than that I prefer to let nature take care of itself. I just hadn't realized that the mandevilla was a butterfly host plant! |
RE: oleander cats
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| I think I'd move the desert rose now! You won't be able to see every moth that visits. |
RE: oleander cats
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- Posted by karalynn z9 FL, Inverness, Ci (My Page) on
Fri, Sep 21, 12 at 13:03
| Yesterday when I got home from work the cats had finished off the desert roses leaves and had started munching on the stems which I wasn't about to permit. So the remaining cats got knocked off and the plant dragged onto the front porch to recover. I can't keep the plant on the porch in the long term as I already have far too many plants there and it really doesn't get enough sunlight for plants that prefer full sun. |
RE: oleander cats
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| Thuricide (Bacillus thuringiensis) will kill them and it won't kill the fish. The caterpillars stop feeding very soon after they eat it and then die a day or 2 later. |
RE: oleander cats
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| I have a hemp vine which I just found out is apparently a host plant or the Oleander moth wasp. I don't have any Oleanders or Adeniums, but I do have a red mandeville. I don't spray either. Everything has it's place in the garden. So, it will be interesting to see what happens.... |
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