Trust me!! I am not laughing at your plight aubade, but "(you can see it pooped right on my glove as I was taking the pic!) just struck me funny, because of what happened to me. After a spring and summer of fighting more kinds of vegetable eating bugs than I ever knew existed, I feel your pain. jimster, in case you were wondering where the tomato horn worms are- they are here eating my tomato, pepper and potato plants. I spent about 2 weeks trying to remain calm as I looked for them each day. That turned into yelling "Alright where are you? You miserable little B#%!!!D, I know you're in there!" The final straw was when I was deeply buried in a tomato plant looking for them only to turn my head just a fraction. One of the biggest ones I had seen so far was about 3" from my face. Startled me so I yelled and went over on my butt. I ended up putting row cover over my broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower as I didn't want to have to do battle with cabbage worms too. Glad you figured out what they were aubade.

If it makes you feel better, I have never seen so many onion root maggots in garlic -- usually it's more like two heads out of a hundred, or none. This year two out of five heads of small hardnecks were ruined. These grew near one another. It is possible that there was a "lens" of damage when flies laid eggs in a small area. Some silverskins in another bed had zero damage. Any opionions on whether it was location or variety that protected the silverskins? In the link below, you can click to enlarge the photo with the root maggots in it. Here is a link that might be useful: photo of onion root maggots on garlic

I only have the powder form. Will that work if I sprinkle it in the pot or do you have to get it on the leaves? I can't touch them either. I snap of the leaves and squish the whole thing, lol. John took over because he couldn't bare to watch me take off the leaves. I cleaned up some while he was gone this morning, lol. I got a tiny sprinkle of rain for about 2 seconds earlier but there is another band coming. Come on rain! You cann dooo eeet, lol! If this one splits right before it gets here I am gonna throw a fit, lol.

Thank you guys! You're too kind! I use a Sony Cybershot DSW7 digital with a Carl Zeiss lens, and I use macro setting (flower) for close ups of caterpillars, butterflies and moths. I think Randy has a more sophisticated camera than mine. However, I know a lot of people on the Butterfly Forum that just use a basic digital with the flower setting, and take gorgeous pictures of the critters. Parsley worms, or the Black Swallowtail caterpillars, will also eat the herb, Rue. I use Rue because it attracts both the black swallowtails AND the Giant Swallowtails. You can tell the difference in the eggs laid. The Blacks are white-yellowish; the Giants are orangish colored. The caterpillars of the Giant look like bird droppings. If you disturb either one of them, they will raise their osmeterium (little horns) on their head, and give off a foul odor. Not so foul you can't tolerate it, but this is their defense against predators. Of course, the Giants also have the added defense mechanism of looking like an untasty bird dropping. Giant swallowtails will also eat Prickly Ash, if you have any of that growing in your rural areas. Folks in town are better off using Rue, or a hardy citrus of some kind. I just planted a hardy lemon this year, but it's going to take some time for it to get big! Julie, there is not such thing as a "black monarch". Monarchs are just Monarchs period. There are other butterflies that resemble Monarchs, one of which we see often in Oklahoma, and that is the Queen butterfly. It also uses milkweed as a host plant. Monarchs are fast losing habitat as we destroy wetlands, tall grass prairie habitat, and continue to rid these areas of host plants for the Monarch. Native species in Oklahoma include Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), A. viridis (green milkweed), A. verticillata (whorled milkweed), A. syriaca (common milkweed), and probably others. Don't get A. tuberose with the orange flowers unless you just want it for a nectar plant. The Monarchs won't lay eggs on it, or at least not very often. They actually prefer to use A. curassavica (tropical milkweed) which is an annual here. I plant seeds directly in the ground every spring. You can tell the difference between Queen larvae and Monarch larvae by the number of tentacles they have. Monarchs have 2 on the front and 2 on the back. Queens have 2 on the front, 2 on the middle, and two on the back. You probably won't run into Queens unless you have an established milkweed patch. Other butterflies that are easy to attract with certain host plants are Red Admirals - they like false nettle (doesn't have thorns like the other nettles); Buckeyes (they like plantain (or plantago), which grows as a weed in most areas, as well as Snapdragons and several other hosts; and Sulphur butterflies (the big yellows and little yellows), which like to eat senna species like hebecarpa (wild senna), partridge pea, senna alata (candlestick tree). Another butterfly that is gorgeous and frequents our area in summer is the Gulf Fritillary. It is large, with elongated orange wings on upper surface, and a silvery spotted underside - so gorgeous. Their host plant is passion vine. The caterpillars look malicious with their black spines, but the spines are very soft, and they won't hurt you at all. They are fun to watch. One you have them in summer, they will flit all around and stay in your garden, mating, laying eggs, eclosing from their chyrsalids and starting over again. They are a sight to watch, as they mate and fly everywhere. If you plant both hosts and nectar plants, you'll get lots of butterflies. Here's some butterfly pics from last summer: Queen on Tropical Milkweed: Common Checkered Skipper: My big summer's end Monarch I raised - it's a female: Male Monarch: Note the black "bags" on the lower wings: Gulf Fritillary: Bordered Patch (one of my faves!): Orange Sulphur desperate to get that nectar: Question Mark: I have tons more, but these are just a few impressive butterflies IMHO. Susan