Flat Leaf Parsley -
 

Somethings eating my Parsley -
I mean even past the stems ~

I only grow flat leaf for the stronger flavor -
Is there a bug that just loves
to dine on it ?
And if so,
how do I get rid of them???!!!

~ Tom

I find loads of green caterpillars with black stripes on mine. They can really do a lot of damage. I just pick them off with my fingers and get rid of them. That's the only thing that has ever bothered my Italian parsely but it happens every year and I find them on there every few days.

Okay, I looked it up and lo and behold, it's called the Parsleyworm! It's the caterpillar that becomes the Black Swallowtail Butterfly, which is really pretty, but I still don't want my parsley eaten by worms!

People grow extra parsley and extra dill because they like the butterflies.

If you don't have this luxury, use BT powder (dipel dust).

i too see those caterpillars on my parsley and carrots. i never disturb them because there's usually only a few and they just don't eat that much. 1 year i did have 9 in my carrots. i love all butterflies and these are very beautiful butterflies. butterflies are the 1 and only concession i make to "bugs or critters eating my stuff"!

i have 6 5 gallon pails, 3 have 2 and 3 have 3 parsley plants. my carrot bed is 1' X 6' and i plant seeds 2" on center. as you can see i have a fair amount of parsley and carrots so i can afford to feed them.

on a warm summer day, to watch a butterfly floating on a gentle breeze, well it is one of life's great joys. i'll grow more parsley and carrots if need be!

tom

Parsley
 

I have found that the butterflies prefer to lay eggs near their nectar sources if possible. I always plant lots of parsley and dill in my flower beds, and more in my vegetable garden, (for me!). I've never had a problem with caterpillars on the herbs in the veg. garden. But if that's the only place you plant the parsley, you'll probably have the caterpillars in the veg. garden! Myself, I prefer the butterflies to the parsley!
:D Denise

We lose our parsley each year to the future Butterflies...which is just fine with us! Reminds me to take a look tonight to see if they've found this year's stash.

It bothers me because I usually only grow two plants. I do like the way it looks mixed with flowers though so next time I might start more seed and mix in several more plants so there's enough for all of us.

interesting ...
Now I'm in a dilly-of-a-pickle-of-a-jam -
because I enjoy both ...
Huh, maybe a second crop somewhere ?

~ Tom

I had read this post, and had been watching for cats on my parsley and I found one today, he's more than welcome to it I was only growing two varieties of parsley for seeds (i'll just buy more seeds next year)

[img]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/NoSupplies/Photos/catbutterfly.jpg[/img]

wow! those pictures are excellent, crystal clear and good close ups. i used to do nature photography and shots like yours won awards for me. are using a slr camera with a macro lens or were these pictures taken with a digital? i still use my 1980 minolta srt 201 but not very often anymore.

this cat is an anise swallowtail according to the audubon field guide to north american butterflies. i find these on parsley and carrots. they can munch all they want, never had too many that'd cause problems.



tom

Thank you, and just a digital camera, Olympus D-425. I love taking photos with it, It's all I need. I had a very cooperative subject, since he was on a container parsley, I just had to move it around to get these photos of him.

He has had his fill and moved on sometime yesterday(

so jbin, the way you say just a digital camera, i'm guessing that it is a typical 'run of the mill' camera w/o any special equipment?

a close up with a slr requires a macro lens which is a lens designed for close up photos or reversing a wide angle lens for extreme closeups or a bellows for extremely extreme close ups! whew!

i'm only aware of how film cameras with interchangeable lens worked. i'm curious if any and all digitals can do this type of close up work with such sharp results? flash? i did not see any unbalanced lighting and close ups are tricky when it comes to lighting.

thanks,

tom

I dunno about run of the mill, this is the only digital camera I have had. There is no special equipment, it has a built in macro setting which I used when i took the above photo.

No flash occured during those photos the lighting was right basically it is just a auto setting, macro setting, point click and shoot.

I can tell you for $110 I paid for it a year ago I am extremely happy with it, and I wasn't all that close to him the photo is cropped and resized down. If you would like to E-mail me I would be happy to send you the original and show you some other photos I have taken with it )

EDIT:
Cropped but not Resized. Click for full size
[URL=http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/TheDogKennel/Pics/chester1.jpg][img]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/TheDogKennel/Pics/th_chester1.jpg[/img][/URL]
[URL=http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/TheDogKennel/Pics/Chester.jpg][img]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/TheDogKennel/Pics/th_Chester.jpg[/img][/URL]

thank you very interesting. i am surprised at the quality for the cost! having a macro setting in the camera helps, tho i suspect many have this.
tom