Agree with 3 strikes and you are out ------ don't necessarily follow it. After 2 strikes I take pause and try to find out as much as possible about the natural environment of the failing plant. I also try to identify a grower who successfully grows them. I have tried over and over again with Dendrobium cuthbersonii and have always failed . So I finally talked to Tom Perlite from Golden Gate Orchids who grows these things like I grow Dandelion and got some hints from him. Now it takes me 2 years to kill them instead of one. I have finally given up on these little beauties. Dendrobium nobile is another example. No matter how closely I follow the instructions as to how to grow them, winter rest etc, I cannot get a decent bloom. Either they don't bloom or they make a few lackluster blooms. So I finally talked to the grower in Hawaii who is the source of most of the commercial nobiles you see on the market every spring. Success, last spring all 3 of mine bloomed ------------ with a few lackluster flowers! Enough, they went on the plant table of my society and I'm done with them. Miltoniopsis; Killed every one of them in the past. Finally talked to Theresa Hill form Hillcrest Orchids who grows beautiful Miltoniopsis. Her advice was simple, keep them cool in the summer, warm in the winter, they like to be within 5F of 60F. Doing this I am now growing them successfully, meaning the plant is increasing in size. Last year they even bloomed, one or two spikes on a large plant. That should have been 10 spikes or more. So I'm not there yet and unless they pick it up may also give up on them but not yet. Parvisepalum Paphiopedeliums: I just got started with these so have no failures to report. Go to the Gallery where you see an entry I placed yesterday of my first success with Paph armeniacum. They also have a reputation of being a little difficult and I had a discussion with Dr Holger Perner at the San Francisco show who thinks most people are growing them wrong. Most people treat them as cold growers. True in the winter but not true in the summer. In their natural habitat, the ones from China get treated to a bright, sunny, cold, dry winter and a shady, hot, humid and very wet summer. The result of the monsoon season there. So unlike Dracula who should be kept as cold as possible in the summer, these Paphs should go in the warm greenhouse and drenched every day. Since there are 35,000 species of orchids available, I generally don't mess with ones that don't like me. My greenhouse is full of robustly growing plants. Not because I'm a genius but because that is the price they have to pay in order to stay. If a plant lingers, grows poorly and fails to bloom, I will get rid of it. Visitors to my growing area think I do magic because most plants look very healthy when in fact it is a process of throwing them against the wall and if they don't stick, they don't stay. There are innumerable others to replace...

Siam, I'm not positive they're ruby-spotted swallowtail caterpillars, but given their similarity in shape and overall look to giant swallowtails, I'm sure they're some type of citrus swallowtail. The only type citrus swallowtail that I know of whose caterpillars congregate is the ruby-spotted swallowtail. Even if they're another type swallowtail, they'll be big beauties! Please post a picture of one of the chrysalides - I bet it'll look a lot like a giant swallowtail chrysalis. Sherry

the image is on your other thread http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pests/msg052304234114.html Here is a link that might be useful: the image

We had an infestation two years ago where I live. The pests were into everything, in the house, into furniture, even clothing. I had a huge one and it lost at least half its leaves. They only go for Cape Lilacs, I was told, so as mine was killing everything in sight and needing pruned for the power lines every year, it went. The council sprayed that year but not again. I don't think they harm the tree, just defoliate part of it, and there are plenty round here which are fine and the caterpillars seem to be less.