Something Chowing Down On Honeysuckle
It's eating the tips of the vines off and eating leaves and flower buds off of it. I noticed there are little black turds all over the trellis in these areas, but they almost look too small to be mice turds. Any idea what could be doing this and what kind of prevention methods I should take?
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applestar
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Look for a caterpillar, but DON'T BE IN A HURRY TO KILL IT.
My Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is chewed up each year by Snowberry Clearwing (Bumblebee) Moth caterpillars. The damage is minimal relative to the size of the vine. I thought I had a photo of the caterpillar here somewhere... it turns from green to blushed pink just before pupating....
Well, here's a post with a photo of the moth:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=53083#53083
My Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is chewed up each year by Snowberry Clearwing (Bumblebee) Moth caterpillars. The damage is minimal relative to the size of the vine. I thought I had a photo of the caterpillar here somewhere... it turns from green to blushed pink just before pupating....
Well, here's a post with a photo of the moth:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=53083#53083
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30550
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Noooo... please? Try to find the caterpillar first. If it's the Bumblebee moth caterpillar, it will be lime green with spots all along the sides and a single black-spike on its tail. It won't get any bigger than about 1.5"~2" long before turning pink to pupate. 
https://bugguide.net/node/view/25228/bgpage
They really don't eat that much, and they don't swarm like army moth or gypsy moth, etc. I've only ever found 3 or 4 at a time on my big honeysuckle trellis. Once they eclose into adults, you'll see them come to the honeysuckle flowers to drink the nectar.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/25228/bgpageThey really don't eat that much, and they don't swarm like army moth or gypsy moth, etc. I've only ever found 3 or 4 at a time on my big honeysuckle trellis. Once they eclose into adults, you'll see them come to the honeysuckle flowers to drink the nectar.
Well I didn't find one of those but I did find one of these:
[img]https://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/wrathloki/Caterpillar02.jpg[/img]
There must be more but I can't find any. It's definitely not minimal damage, most the vine tips are eaten off and so are most of the flowers. After a winter of the vines being eaten off by rabbits at the ground, after climbing to the top of the trellis the summer before, having something else slow the growth of these is really disappointing. Will the pyrethrin hurt the honeysuckle?
[img]https://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/wrathloki/Caterpillar02.jpg[/img]
There must be more but I can't find any. It's definitely not minimal damage, most the vine tips are eaten off and so are most of the flowers. After a winter of the vines being eaten off by rabbits at the ground, after climbing to the top of the trellis the summer before, having something else slow the growth of these is really disappointing. Will the pyrethrin hurt the honeysuckle?