Caterpillars eating Swiss Chard

[luvnsurf]

Hi there! We have beautiful swiss chard but they caterpillars are eating it before we can! Any suggestions in how to combat the little buggers? We have been picking them off and feeding them to the pitcher plant but I was looking for a more long term solution. They are growing in pots and we have small bunches in each. I do not want to use a pesticide. Any suggestions?

[TZ -OH6]

If you don't want to use pesticides then you are stuck picking. If you want to use a non toxic organic pesticide then Bt is what you want for caterpillars (its a type of bacteria). Dipel and Thuricide are common bottle names.

[applestar]

Why kill off perfectly good source of food for your carnivorous plants? Everybody wins.

[luvnsurf]

Why kill off perfectly good source of food for your carnivorous plants? Everybody wins.

LOL. I might need to get some more carnivorous plants then! They are fairly large caterpillars ....

I do wish I knew what kind of caterpillars they are though, since I attract Monarch caterpillars with milkweed. These don't look the same. Thoughts?

[TZ -OH6]

Look up beet armyworm and pray that is not what you have.

Chard is a variety of beet, but those worms will attack a lot of things including tomatoes.

[garden5]

I'd say to go with hand-picking. That's probably your best bet.

[luvnsurf]

It looks similar to a beetworm but I am not entirely sure. These caterpillars have, or at least one of them, has kinda like a horn. I will try and take a picture tonight and upload it. Thanks!