Caterpillar attack

[Old_Zircon]

I posted this to the entheogen.com forums also:

I couldn't get a photo of them, but I jsut found three small caterpillars builting nests on the underside of the leaves on the smaller of my new SD plants.  They were about a centimeter long, very skinny, light green and slightly segmented-looking, a lot like inchworms, actually.  They were not there yesterday and were still working on their nests.  Does this sound like something I'll be able to keep under control by vigilantly picking them off every day, or is there something more effective I should try?  I can't even tell what kind of catterpillars they are.

As a side note, while I was checking my plant, I noticed that the base of the stem has become very slightly waxy-looking up to the first node.  Does this look like the beginning of rot, or is it within the realm of normal coloration?  It is not soft or spongy at all, just slightly discolored.



The other plant has no caterpiallrs, but one of its stem is showing similar discoloration.  It doesn't seem to be suffering at all.

Thanks for any help you can give, hopefully I won't need to clutter the forums up with stuff like this for much longer.

[Jupe]

haha.don't worry about cluttering up the forum...it only gets worse!!!  well, there is always something going on in the garden.....I have some FAT caterpillars than chomped their way through a few plants, have never had them before, but august seems to be the month for these , they eat my other vines etc. as well.  They like drier conditions.

I would just hand pick them for now, as you should be able to get them all.

BT , a bacteria, is the best cure for caterpillars, as they are really tough.

Waxy is OK, I think, it could just be hardening off of the stem,  which happens naturally, (to support heavier growth as plant gets older) it may/maynot have dark brown tough areas, but if stem underneith is still green, its all good.

[Old_Zircon]

Thanks.  I do about 3/4 of my work from home, so I'm online a lot, which means I tend to post a lot when I post.  

I don't have a photo, but the stem discoloration on the other plant is slightly more concerning.  It looks more or less the same (slightly darker perhaps), but does have a slight white line on the upper edge, a little bit like one of the posts on here (I think) from about January.  It looks like that person's plant ended up in bad shape, so I'm a little concerned.  It's not waxy in the sense of buildup, really.  More like the difference in appearance between a sheet of typing paper and a sheet of waxed paper.  Slightly darker, slightly smoother, almost seems slightly transparent, but on closer xamination it isn't.  Anyhow, I'm glad to know that the caerpillars are probably more of a nusiance than a harbinger of some giant caterpillar outbreak.

[plantshaman]

THey are probably cabbage loopers . Everything loves to eat salvia . Watch out for snails, slugs , spider mites , thripes , and caterpillers. Mine are endlessly attacked by them and its hard to stay ontop of it .

[winder]

Indoors in winter, white flies and aphids attack.

Outdoors, in the late spring and early summer months, thrips are a problem.
But then in mide and late summer, the pests seem to be brought under control by predators or they find something else more yummy and leave the salvia.

[plantshaman]

where i live its a mediteranian climate and i'm by the beach its like 72-80 degrees 90 percent of the time so the pests never really stop just slow down in winter.

judging by your pic looks like u got the plant outside. I advise against keeping salvia outdoors untill its pretty healthy and established like 12 inches minimum, 2 feet and 20 plus leaves is better. Make sure you keep a clone inside to be safe . Its unbelievable what a hungry slug or other pest  could do in just one or two nights.

[plantshaman]

oh , and it looks like your plant either has spider mites or thripes. see hte browning tips and silvery dead blotches probably with small brown dots  ? or maybe i could be wrong cuz its not the best photo.