Attracting butterflies to the garden can be a wonderful way to incorporate wildlife into the landscape design. Drawing butterflies to the garden by growing plants that butterflies use at each stage, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly, can benefit their dwindling numbers. Butterflies can be attractive in the garden but do butterfly gardens need netting because of the caterpillar stage?
Butterfly gardens do not need netting. Butterfly netting is made to keep butterflies from laying eggs and caterpillars from causing damage and disease to plants. Netting of four to seven millimeters is best. Butterfly netting can be useful for preventing pests from wreaking havoc on plants.
Butterfly netting is only one type of netting used in the garden to protect against insects, birds, and other mammals. Why don’t we explore the different uses of butterfly netting and how gardeners can help prevent caterpillar damage to plants?
Do butterfly gardens need netting?
Butterfly gardens do not need netting since netting is designed to prevent butterflies from making use of garden plants for food or laying eggs. The main use of butterfly netting is to prevent butterflies and caterpillars from destroying plants and crops. Most commonly, butterfly netting is used to prevent damage to crops like cabbage or broccoli from cabbage white butterflies. There are many other caterpillars that become butterflies or moths in which to worry about when it comes to damage to plants.
Butterfly netting is a soft, lightweight, strong, and durable plastic material with holes between four and seven millimeters small to keep away butterflies. The netting will protect your fruit and vegetable plants by keeping out butterflies and birds.
Use butterfly netting to cover seedlings, young plants, and newly seeded lawns to protect against birds and other garden pests like rabbits, squirrels, and deer. The netting is light enough to be used over crops without support and strong enough to be used over garden hoops and fruit and vegetable cages.
Whatever structure is used to support butterfly netting, it is important to securely peg or weigh down the bottom of the net to ensure that there are no gaps. As your plants grow, it is necessary to check regularly that the net remains free from touching any leaves. It is possible for butterflies to lay their eggs through the net if the plants are touching the netting. Hoops and cages can help prevent plants from touching the netting.
How to stop existing caterpillar damage?
Butterfly netting is not recommended to use with an existing problem of caterpillars as it can mask the camouflaged nature of the butterfly larvae. Finding butterfly eggs or caterpillars on plants can give a gardener instant anxiety and worry if left untreated.
Some ways of treating an existing presence of butterfly eggs or caterpillars are by picking off the caterpillars by hand, spraying the plants with soapy water, using products like neem oil or insecticide, and beneficial insects. If using an insecticide or neem oil, take care not to harm potential pollinating insects like bees.
Caterpillars and eggs can also be found on other surfaces around the garden such as tree trunks, fences, and walls. Another way of managing these little pests is by removing the caterpillars by hand. You may think this to be the most cost-effective alternative if you have a small garden area however, this is probably the least effective method.
It takes quite a considerable amount of time and patience to inspect each and every leaf of the plant for the tiny eggs or caterpillars. Caterpillars are great at camouflaging themselves to blend in with the environment. However, if you cannot see them, you might still easily be able to tell whether you have an infestation or not by simply looking for half-eaten leaves or leaves with numerous holes in them.
Alternatively, you can look at the stems of plants or vegetables for holes and signs of brown trails that are a sign that you might have a problem with these destructive pests. Once the larvae hatch, hungry caterpillars emerge, eating everything in sight with a voracious appetite.
The damage left behind can be catastrophic to any hard-working gardener. One thing that many gardeners do not immediately think about is the caterpillar excrement that is left behind that can cause disease to the eaten vegetation and surrounding garden plants.
How to naturally deter butterflies?
Naturally deterring butterflies is also an option. Using cedarwood in closets to prevent moth damage is not the only benefit of cedar. Using cedar woodchips in the garden can help deter both moth and butterfly caterpillars. Another way to deter butterflies is by planting herbs that have a lot of aromas such as lemon balm, sage, oregano, and rosemary.
Beneficial insects are also a great option to keep caterpillar damage under control. Beneficial insects include parasitic wasps (do not worry, they do not sting humans), praying mantis, ground beetles, lacewings, and spiders. Birds are also beneficial predators of damaging caterpillars. Many beneficial insects can be purchased through the mail throughout the growing season.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, it is clear by now that butterfly netting is the best, most cost-effective solution to protect plants and vegetables/fruits in the garden from damaging caterpillars. Attempting to get rid of caterpillars by picking them off by hand, can take a lot of unnecessary man-hours, especially with larger garden areas. Making use of butterfly netting saves time, money, and resources. Being proactive in preventing the infestation of tiny, hungry insects can be the best solution.
Utilizing butterfly netting can be more beneficial than other ways of protecting plants from pests. Netting allows airflow, sunlight, and water to get to the plants, three ways in which netting trumps plastic sheeting or other types of plastic coverings.
Finding ways to distract butterflies away from food-producing plants can be a challenge but also a benefit. Aside from focusing on netting garden areas, explore the creation of a butterfly garden by planting annuals and perennials that can be used to the benefit of butterflies in each stage of their lives.
Butterflies such as monarchs are dwindling in numbers and face many small and large predators. Many of the sought-after butterflies like monarchs and swallowtails can be attracted to the garden by planting native plants and wildflowers. Gardeners can discover a list of native plants in their area.
