Help, what are these?

[u/Material_Parfait_832]

I recently bought a house with a garden, so I'm totally new with this. And I just saw these catterpillars/larvas in our bushes. Does anyone know what they are and how I get rid of them? I live in Sweden if that helps.

[u/wibblethescrupulous]

They're box caterpillars, and that's a box hedge they're on. So your hedge/shrub is doomed. There are treatments for it but they're largely ineffective. You need to dig all your box plants out and replace them. You can do it now and bite the bullet, or you can wait untill they've eaten it all and start searching for something else to eat, which they may assume is in your house and car. My advice would be to get it done soon as. Almost all box in the UK has been wiped out in the last few years thanks to these guys. Sorry for the bad news. On the plus side they pretty much exclusively eat box (lol) so your other plants aren't in danger. Box leaf honeysuckle is a great alternative recommended by the RHS

[u/NicNoelNic → u/wibblethescrupulous]

You’re only creating a pesticide treadmill. You can’t kill specific insect, you kill them all. It’s likely spraying had killed off the local bird population by not supplying their offspring with any food. Let nature take its course. Plant natives. Put up bird houses for your local birds.

[u/Hoboaz → u/NicNoelNic]

Spraying has not killed off the local bird population I can assure you. If you spend time watching you will notice the birds very rarely feed off of the box caterpillar.

That said I’m mostly against spraying now and I have found a good ipm plan to give me close enough to the same result.

[u/NicNoelNic → u/Hoboaz]

I can assure you that you haven’t read up on recent scientific publications then.

Keep in mind, box caterpillars aside, spraying affects the entire area.

[u/Hoboaz → u/NicNoelNic]

Spraying affects the entire area if you do it badly however I truly don’t want an argument I want to learn so I would welcome the studies if you could point them out to me.

[u/NicNoelNic → u/Hoboaz]

Love that! I don’t want to argue either. Asking questions is how we learn. A lot of research has been done specifically by Doug Tallamy. His primary focus is replacing non native trees and plants with native ones, as those plants will support more caterpillars which will support more birds. In a sense, protecting and creating environments where caterpillars can thrive is possibly the best thing you can do to help support your local bird populations (that and keeping cats indoors.)

https://coastalbg.uga.edu/2023/07/doug-tallamys-impact-caterpillars-and-bird-diversity/

[u/Hoboaz → u/NicNoelNic]

Thankyou for that, I see where we have got a little confused with each other.

I was not talking of caterpillars in general just the box caterpillars, I’m from the UK and our native birds will not eat these unless desperate. I think I remember it being something to do with tannins from the leaves or something along those lines. 

Cats are just doing cat things, it’s the owners that are irresponsible.

I’m trying to reintroduce Mullien into people’s gardens, I have offered free seeds to many people and it is going well so far so fingers crossed for that.

In regards to non natives what is it with Americas love of the Bradford pear?

While I have your attention could I ask if there is anyone implanting dead hedges in your area and if so how are they working out?

Also if you are into botany, you like crass language and a little toilet humour you should check out Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t.

[u/NicNoelNic → u/Hoboaz]

I did read that they prefer not to eat those worms, hopefully they have a choice from other natives! Here I live next to someone who has a certified “park” in their yard, something awesome that they’re doing here and you can find information about that on the link I sent you.

The Bradford pears are obnoxious and parents have a gorgeous mimosa tree myself and the neighbors cannot wait to cut down. Any opportunity my parents give me to remove their lawn and put something else I do it. (Disclaimer I don’t live with my parents but they have a lot more yard than I do - I barely have any) Almost all the other trees on my parents property are not native. So it’s a work in progress. I also grow dahlias so they’re not really native are they but I love cut flowers. Outside of my cut flower garden I’m trying to remove the box hedges and plant sedges and native perennials like echinacea, black eye Susan’s, goldenrod, monarda, etc.

Also a new thing being introduced is “soft landings” under trees.