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HUNDREDS of Luna Moth Caterpillars!!!

16 years ago

What can I do? they are decimating a small tree between my house and a retaining wall. The tree is in a neglected side cove, and while we had found one, and thought it was novel early in the summer when finally deciding to address the area and start making some improvements, We have discovered Luna Moth Caterpilars.

The one I found early in the season was cool, and i let it be on one of my miniature rose bushes, which it ate to the ground. The bush is just now recovering 3mo later.

If these hundreds of caterpillars were to get out, of this cave, as they will seek to do once the remaining leaves on this tree are gone; they could do a lot of damage.

That and they STING. The tree is covered with moving stinging eating machines.

How can I get rid of them, and how can I clean them up without getting stung?

Comments (6)

mandi_s1
Original Author
16 years ago
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rjinga
16 years ago
wouldn't you love to use a blow torch? Or small grenades? I wonder if you can tent a tree (or the cove area?) and use something like a fogger or something????

It's so frustrating to spend all your time not to mention money and then have these blasted things plop in, tie on their bibs and devour everything in their path? I am ready for some big guns myself personally...I cant take it any more ;)

the way I see it, if there are NO bugs, there may be fewer issues overall? (of course I'm sure there will be lots of people who will disagree)...but do plants really need bugs (beneficials? or are the beneficials just there to eat the NON beneficials? so if there simply are NO BUGS...whats left to attack?
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I can't see a yellow line running along the side of the body, so I think it's a polyphemus moth - the yellow line is what differentiates the two moths. Here's a picture of a luna moth cat with the yellow line visible - Sherry
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Sherry, the Polyphemus spins a white cocoon. Unlike the Luna, the Poly cocoon is quite dense. They spin a LOT of silk! Their cocoons look like tiny surgical casts. In fact, it is because of this, that the Poly's first cousin, native to China, Antheraea pernyi, was and may still be used for silk, just as the Bombyx is. The Cynthia moth is also used for silk. At one time, Cynthias were common in NE US, but have largely died off, chiefly due to habitat loss as well as parasitoids such as the tachinid fly. Susanlynne, one sureshot way to tell male from female Luna, at a glance, is color. The females are that characteristic green, while males are yellow-green. I could tell from my upstairs bedroom window, the Luna I saw, resting on a young hickory, was most definitely a male. No way could I see its body size or antennae. I hope this helps.
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Those are not eggs, but 'cocoons'. Some time ago, the caterpillar was parasitized by a tiny female Braconid wasp. She deposited eggs under the skin of the caterpillar, which hatched into minute (as you can imagine) larvae. These wasp larvae feed on the caterpillar from the inside and when they are ready to pupate (turn from larvae to adult Braconid), they create those little white cocoons on the outside of the caterpillar. Only the Braconid wasp makes those types of cocoons, though there are certainly other parasites of caterpillars out there. You can tell if your caterpillar is a hornworm or not by the little horn on it's back end. If it's a red horn, it is a Tobacco Hornworm, the most commonly seen. If black in color, it's a Tomato Hornworm. The caterpillar of the beautiful Luna moth is big and green but has no 'horn'. Most people are very happy to find a parasitized hornworm on their tomatoes.
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You might get lucky by leaving the porch door open and a male might accidentally find his way in...at the same time leaving the luna moth cage door open and getting lucky enough that the female doesn't escape at the same time. I wouldn't chance it if you're interested in getting a pairing. A better solution would be just to leave the female loose in the porch (assuming there's no way to escape) and then wake up around 1am and capturing any males that might have been attracted and toss them into the porch. If the female's cage itself is too small then pairing can be difficult (anything less than 3ft square would probably be cutting it close for a luna). A screen porch would be more than enough size. An even better and somewhat more advanced solution is to literally tie the female into a screen cylinder that's about 10" diameter x 24" in length. This of course assumes you are up for gently tying a string around the female to "lasso" her into the cylinder so she doesn't escape. It takes a little finesse. Then you just leave the cylinder outside overnight (tucked away in a small bush or tree) and check on it first thing in the morning (before the birds all wake up). I use this method exclusively for all NA species and it works very well. One annoying thing about lunas is that sometimes they pair rather quickly - just a couple hours. So unless you've seen them coupled overnight you might not necessarily be sure they mated. Unlike cecropia or regalis who remain paired the entire next day. That's why it's a good idea to wake up at 2-3am regardless to check on them so see if there's any action.
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Kimmsr
16 years ago
You probably have a large number of different insects on different plants. Moths and most butterflies are relatively plant specific and proper identification can be made, often, by the plant they are on. That said, most all leaf chewing insect larva can be controlled in the early stages of their life by applications of one, or another, of the Bacillus thuringiensis diseases that only infect leaf eating larva. Later in their life stages stronger and more broad spectrum poisons are needed so it is best to identify what you have and spray the Bt before theose buggers get to large. Often to these are very cyclical and while they may be real pest this year next year you may find it hard to find any, but then again weather also plays a role. Some are bigger pests during hot, dry weather than if the weather is cooler and wetter.
At this time of year there probbaly is no real reason to take action for control for these larva in deciduous trees, treess that will be loosing their leaves in a short time any way. But if your tree will not be loosing leaves you may want to find the least toxic means of control possible to use on them.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
The images are blurry, but the caterpillars appear to be spiney or spikey or something. Are they? I've never known them to congregate in large populations, either. Nor sting.

How about a good image of one of these critters so we can be sure of the identity?
mandi_s1
Original Author
16 years ago
Try this link, the picture at the bottom of the page shows the red stripe on the sides, and the spines. It looks like it has ferns growing out, and most definitely does sting. My youngest son brushed up against one and was in pain for a good long time. Ice and benydril.

Here is a link that might be useful: Io mothes
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
That's what I thought....the caterpillar of the Io moth. I was pretty sure that I could see those details in your image, but not positive. Io caterpillars are absolutely famous for their sting.

Luna caterpillars, on the other hand, are 'pet-able'!

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