This morning I discovered that my Hollyhocks were being attacked by black caterpillars (with yellow stripes down their backs). All told about half a dozen of the little creatures. They were steadily munching their way through the leaves of my young plants, and creating little parlors for themselves by spinning a web covering.
My first thought was -- is this just a negative for Alcea Rosea, eventually to transform into something positive for my garden? An attractive butterfly? Or just a pest?
So, I went to the web. My researches turned up a number of possibilities: tent caterpillars, wooly bears, a few others. None seemed to have any beneficial properties.
Next step -- take a picture, post it here, and have Briggs tell me what to do :-). I won't recount the tedium of my digital camera problems, but needless to say, no pictures were taken.
Impatience got the best of me. I plucked them all off and crushed them in the gutter. Score one point for the Hollyhocks.
Posted by rich at November 21, 2002 10:06 PMI can't believe you squished all those caterpillars!!!
Posted by: briggs on November 22, 2002 5:44 PM