Myth 1: They Eat Plants
When a caterpillar munches a leaf, it leaves holes and crinkled edges. This is not damage; it’s an indicator that the caterpillar is eating!
It’s important to understand that caterpillars feed not only on the plants they eat, but also on the plant feces they leave behind. This feces provides vital nutrients to the soil.
Most caterpillars have evolved to eat specific types of plants, called host plants. If they aren’t available, the caterpillar dies. Native grasses (left to grow long), wildflowers, weedy garden plants like nettles, docks and bedstraws are good choices. Many caterpillars also like cultivated plants that are related to native plants, such as Verbascum, Mullein and Fuchsias.
Keeping native plant species that provide host plants is especially important for birds. When these plants are replaced with exotic trees that don’t serve as host plants, the caterpillars disappear – and so do the birds that depend on them for food for their young. Doug Tallamy explains this dynamic in his book, Nature’s Best Hope (affiliate link).
Myth 2: They Eat Fruits
https://peaksfabrications.com/aftermarket-caterpillar-parts-debunking-misconceptions.html A caterpillar’s favorite foods are fruits and flowers. They use their proboscises to sip the juices from fruit, much like a butterfly uses flower nectar. When the caterpillars are full, they form a chrysalis to become a butterfly.
Once the butterfly emerges, it can eat fruit. Monarch butterflies enjoy drinking the juice of ripe bananas from their wings. They also love eating apples, watermelons and oranges.
While it is true that plants can sense vibrations, such as the sound of their own leaves being chewed by caterpillars, they do not feel pain or experience suffering. Some plants can even release chemicals to protect themselves from damage, but these reactions are not shaped by the fight-or-flight response that we and other animals have.
Myth 3: They Eat Flowers
Caterpillars and their larvae feed on a variety of plant parts including flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, and roots. But the majority of their diet consists of the leaves and stems of the host plants they lay their eggs on. This is why a garden planted with native host plants, or “keystone” plants as described by Doug Tallamy in his book Nature’s Best Hope (affiliate link), is so important for local wildlife and ecosystems. Interestingly, adult butterflies and moths do visit flowers to sip nectar from their long straw-like mouthparts called proboscises. While doing so they cross pollinate, either by contact with the flower’s anthers or from the air currents created by their wing beats which cause the release of pollen. This is how they fertilize flowers to help them reproduce.
Myth 4: They Eat Trees
Seeing bare trees or shrubs with holes and dangling caterpillars may make you want to spray or remove them. However, in most cases the critters aren’t harmful to the health of your plants.
Trees and shrubs often produce toxins or bad-tasting chemicals to deter herbivores, including caterpillars. But these chemicals aren’t foolproof.
The black cherry, Prunus serotina, produces cyanide-like compounds with a pungent, bitter taste that makes it unpalatable to caterpillars. These toxins are also known to deter parasitoids and predatory birds.
Another reason the cherries may look wilted and discolored this time of year is because they’re hosting a large population of tent caterpillars or webworms. These larvae live in webbed areas of leaves, which become an eyesore filled with shed skins and excrement after a few weeks. But the damage isn’t nearly as severe as it looks. Unlike gypsy moths, which kill their host trees, the caterpillars usually do no permanent damage. But repeated years of defoliation can weaken the tree and cause diseases.
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