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applestar
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Grow your own on-site garden remedy for stings • bites

I posted in this thread --
Subject: Backyard bird and butterfly (and dragonfly too) watching
applestar wrote:I'm so excited :D
I was looking up for corn to harvest -- the Bloody Butcher corn all bore ears on their stalks higher than my head -- and saw this Saddleback Caterpillar.

Image

It's the first one I've ever seen in my garden. It is clearly eating the corn leaf, but I had no idea corn was a larval host for them.

Looking at the photos of the adult moth in the above link, I think I've seen them around.

I had considered trying to catch it to bring inside, but it was a bit too high to reach, and now that I had the chance to research it more, I'm glad I didn't risk getting stung :shock:

...hopefully, that tiny shadow next to it is not a parasitic wasp... :|
Today, I was tickled to see that the caterpillar was still feeding on the corn over my head:
image.jpg
However, I was NOT so tickled to discover this smaller saddleback caterpillar a little while later.
image.jpg
I had noticed some weeds underfoot and unthinkingly reached in and grabbed to pull a bunch with my bare hands... And felt a fiery pain at the base of my thumb. It was stinging so badly I could hardly hold the iPhone steady :cry:

Luckily, most of what I needed for field remedy was growing right near by:
image.jpg
Plantain, Jewelweed, Creeping Charlie, Toothache Plant
At first I used the toothache plant for anesthetic but toothache plant smarts on open wound, and this one hurt, so I switched to Creeping Charlie. I normally would use peppermint, but don't have any growing in this area. Generally any mint will work so I used CC but think I will plant some spearmint.

I kneaded and worked the leaves and stems into a wet poultice and held the juicy wad against the base of the thumb where the saddleback stung me for about an hour while I continued to potter around in the garden.

This field remedy really works. Now, I can't even tell which hand it was let alone where. I highly recommend growing them somewhere in your garden. They are all considered invasive "weeds" but I find them invaluable and have patches growing near all the different areas of my yard so they are never far away and easily found in case of a bite or sting.

imafan26
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Good to know.
I have another kind of plantain growing in the herb garden. It is plantago major. It is used to heal wounds as a poultice as well as for insect bites.

https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgm ... com43.html

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applestar
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That's a good reference. :D
And yes, that's the same one as mine. It really does work. I've read that it's found everywhere in the USA spreading westwards, planted along the colonial development and has been around imported from native Europe since colonial times.

I realized OMG I failed to clearly indicate what I used :oops:

It was combination of plantain leaves, jewelweed thicker stems (and leaves and flowers) and usually I use peppermint sprig as first choice or spearmint, but this time tried toothache plant Ieaves first, then scrapped that batch, and made another combination with Creeping Charlie.

imafan26
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I did not know mint was used for insect bites. I have 5 or 6 different mints growing in the yard and at the herb garden. If they work on ant bites, I might try it sometime.

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applestar
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The peppermint, in particular, is said to be analgesic and anesthetic (anti-pain and anti-itch) and antiseptic. Those are the effects I hoped for when I first tried using it in this combination, and it seems to work. I feel the difference without.

This isn't the original source of my info, but it does seem to mention all of it.
In vitro, peppermint has significant antimicrobial and antiviral activities, strong antioxidant and antitumor actions, and some antiallergenic potential. Animal model studies demonstrate a relaxation effect on gastrointestinal (GI) tissue, analgesic and anesthetic effects in the central and peripheral nervous system, immunomodulating actions and chemopreventive potential
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16767798

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applestar
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Hm. I don't have the background to understand the scientific gobbledygook but does the "antiallergenic" part mean it could be antihistamine (suppress histamine reaction?) too? Because that would help immensely.

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rainbowgardener
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applestar wrote:Hm. I don't have the background to understand the scientific gobbledygook but does the "antiallergenic" part mean it could be antihistamine (suppress histamine reaction?) too? Because that would help immensely.

that's how I would read that.

I just use the plantain. A niece of ours was over and got a bee sting while visiting us. I just made her a plantain poultice and it took the sting right out.

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applestar
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Ugh! I found the Saddleback Caterpillar... with my hand again. :cry:

I was providing support for some of my Arkansas Black espalier apple branches that are getting weighed down with fruits when I felt a sting on the back of my hand. My first thought was that I accidentally swatted a wasp, but no... Then I looked around for Stinging Nettle because the stinging sensation was spreading and intensifying like with Stinging Nettle.

I'm looking around thinking "how does an apple tree sting me?" But it had to be something else... then realized I was actually standing next to the pear tree... But same question... Then I saw them :eek:
image.jpg
-- they are definitely cool looking but NO THANK YOU! No thought of keeping them this time, :x
I clipped them off into this cup and tossed them into the woods behind the back fence where there are nice varieties of likely host trees and shrubs. I did miss one caterpillar -- the pruner blade caught and flipped one missing the cup -- I was too busy making sure it wasn't going to touch my -- ungloved (Dumb I know) -- hand and lost sight of it. :roll:

...yes back to the same herbal blend t treat the by then throbbing hand. REALLY works like a charm -- no marks, nothing. Can't even tell.



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