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Beans, Peas & Legumes

Help ID Caterpiller Destroying my Pole Beans

11 years ago

HI! I have/had an infestation of this caterpillar. It started on my pole beans in controllable numbers. I sprayed with neem and a few days after I went to check on the population, I noticed I had a huge surge. They were everywhere, eating my fall garden, and destroying the pole bean leaves. I had to spray with malathion. After I sprayed, I found SO MANY DEAD!!!! A few days later, I went to check and pick, and there are still adults chomping away. I only found one, but I bet there are more. Any ideas??? Thanks.

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Comments (7)

gardengirl37232
11 years ago
I saw two of these on my pole beans today for the first time. I later went to remove the leaf they were on and only found one of them. Your story is not making me feel good about delaying removing them. It is a bean leaf roller (Urbanus proteus).
lizzygracepond
Original Author
11 years ago
GardinGirl OH NO! Well, I waited and Geez, They ate my fall garden to the stem, and as you can see I take the word "Pole" bean literally. LOL. I get on a ladder to pick. The leaves on most of the vines are destroyed. The picture I took is looking up at the eaten leaves at the top. I read that BT will kill the young,(on my plants, they were white/cream tiny larva with a bump like head. They have big heads eh!! BT won't kill the adults because their stomachs are too strong to be affected. This is from an .edu extension pdf, can't remember where. I can't get a balance in my garden. I know on paper what to do, I do it, then something else gets it, now I got whiteflies, and squirrels, and tomato pinworms, and most likely a hornworm somewhere in there LOL!!! If you are lucky, you have enough good pests to eat them, if you keep getting cut leaves, spray the dang things. I also tried Neem Oil, did nothing to them.
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They will never go away. If you spray them it will only kill the baby budworms, then the adults will lay more eggs, and you will have to spray again all year until winter. They are endemic. Pat Welch, who wrote that book on SoCal goardening, says to begin spraying in April with the maiden flight of the budworm moth at around the time of the full moon. I have to spray my garden every week. Thank goodness for BT. I use a hand held squirt bottle so I can avoid getting BT on the milkweeds and passion vines, where the butterfly larva grow up. I'm sorry. Renee
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ocalagirls
11 years ago
Here in my part of Florida they arrive every year in August. Since I know when to expect them I keep an eye out for the eggs and the young caterpillars. I have a small home garden so it's not hard to find the little guys and squish them before they do too much damage. I still get some damage but not enough to ruin my crop.
gardengirl37232
11 years ago
I see some leaf damage but the majority are ok. I haven't found any more, and still can't find the one that I missed. Hopefully, I won't get a full blown infestation. I wonder if they are eating the nearby sweet potato leaves instead as I saw some leaf damage there. However, that isn't so bad as I have way too many sweet potato leaves to be able to eat all of them.
gardengirl37232
11 years ago
I spoke too soon. I saw some more today. I removed all the ones I saw but it was getting dark and would not be surprised if I missed some.
lkzz
11 years ago
Silver-spotted skipper.

Habitat: Gardens, roadsides, and open areas.

Range: throughout North America

Food: Caterpillars eat foliage of leguminous plants(an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae)

Flight: throughout the summer.

The caterpillars hide all day in silken nests among foliage, emerging to feed at night.

Perhaps hand-picking would help?
brownthumb65
11 years ago
I had those also on my pole beans. I would go out in the morning and unfurl the leaves and cut them in half with scissors!
I did not have too many plants, so it was not that bad. Thanks for the info on the butterfly, I thought it was a moth also.

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