Clearing up Crocuses and... caterpillars

Hi everyone,

Forgive me for two only slightly related topics in one post.

Is it ok to remove Crocus foliage now? I know you're supposed to let foliage die back with bulbs to enrich the bulb but does that count for Crocus too? I have an area of densely packed Crocus and the remaining foliage (still green) is covering up the other plants but, more importantly providing a lovely hiding place for slugs, especially after all the rain lately.

Some nearby plants have been devoured by something that doesn't seem to be slugs. I found the culprits in amongst the Crocus foliage: caterpillars! What do forummers do with caterpillars? I obviously want to let them live and grow into butterflies but in the meantime they are really devouring my plants! I'm never sure what to do with them

 

Well, I’m prob one of the few not liking crocus so I remove foliage well before it dies down. Makes no difference, every year I have masses and more and more every year of crocus flowers.
Thus, wren I say it doesn’t make any difference if you remove crocus foliage prematurely plus you are removing camouflage for those pesky slugs
The caterpillars? They must have a host plant.....What plants are growing nearby?

 

I remove them when they are yellow and mucky looking. but I do it gently, just a swish of a rake delicately , or my glove, depending on location.

 

Sorry for the delay in replying, I had to look up the plant names! There is a young Delphinium nearby which has been completely feasted on and lots of other things, Lambs Ears that seem to spread like mad, an mature Skimmia, gerberas that always get eaten to bits, a hosta that has never really grown before getting eaten, fuscias and poppies that seed themselves all over.

The problem of things getting eaten is usually caused by slugs but there are quite a few caterpillars this year and the Delphinium seems to have been their meal of choice.

Further along in the border there are some foxgloves that have been chewed to bits!

 

Yes delphiniums are a target for slugs wren.
Pellets or picking off the blighters after dark is now an urgent task.
Some say mulching with gravel, soot etc works

 

however, most of my crocus are in the lawn areas, so they just get cut along with the grass when I mow, which is today, first mowing.

 

It's the caterpillars I'm wondering about though! What do you do with them when you find them?

 

Caterpillars????? in my book, caterpillars make butterflies. I leave them alone. I never worry about caterpillars, don't even enter my realm of worry.

 

I know! I wonder what to do because they eat plants right? But don't want to do them harm.

 

It depends on what they are eating and how many caterpillars there are. On cabbages etc they are removed and squished, the same goes for gooseberry sawfly. Most of the others are too few in number to do much damage so are left.

 

To me, its no bother what they eat, if they are genuine caterpillars that turn in to butterflies. their are some wormy things that are not that, but birds here eat those things. Don't seem to have any issue either way. I think I have a good balanced system here, enough birds to eat things, and frogs to get the slugs. then there is the vultures that get dead stuff. and my owls that catch the little things. And of course my cats. So everyone does their job.

 

Talking of caterpillars, my friend bought me some cut flowers from the supermarket. There was what I think was a caterpillar in a Chrysalis in the leaves!

 

maybe this area needs to turn into what does a true caterpillar look like?

 

I wouldn't harm the caterpillars. If you can find out what species these caterpillars are going to become that might be helpful. You could always grow something the caterpillars might like more than their currant dining arrangements. Veg growers do something similar I think.

I'm not overly keen on slugs but don't kill them. I don't seem to have a lot of damage to my plants that are in the ground. Not sure why. I have more of a problem keeping them away from the hedgehogs food.