Vanessids on Stinging Nettles
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:18 pm
I have a Stinging Nettle bed on my vegetable plot, which I use to make nettle tea fertilizer.
A few weeks ago I saw they were being eaten by Vanessid caterpillars so I left the bed alone and they had nearly devoured all the leaves.
The nettles seem to be greening up again and the caterpillars are not there any more. Have they already gone away to form the chrysalis stage and if they have where are they likely to be so I don't disturb them?
Is it ok do you think to resume harvesting the nettles for my own use or are the caterpillars likely to have attached themselves as chrysalises on the nettle stems? Best to leave the nettles alone now?
A few weeks ago I saw they were being eaten by Vanessid caterpillars so I left the bed alone and they had nearly devoured all the leaves.
The nettles seem to be greening up again and the caterpillars are not there any more. Have they already gone away to form the chrysalis stage and if they have where are they likely to be so I don't disturb them?
Is it ok do you think to resume harvesting the nettles for my own use or are the caterpillars likely to have attached themselves as chrysalises on the nettle stems? Best to leave the nettles alone now?