Can anyone tell me what eats Passion Flower leaves? I watered the vines yesterday morning and they looked fine. They were about 4 feet long and getting ready to traverse the top of my fence. The vines had plenty of leaves. This evening, I looked in at them and the vines were there, but none of the vines had a single leaf. On closer imspection, I did find a number of leaf stalks and a couple with just the most basic bit of leaf at the end of the stalk. I was amazed. Would gresshoppers do this kind of damage? I have seen several good sized bugs in other parts of my yard. Nothing else appears to have been destroyed like this has. There was no indication of any bugs of any kind on the plants, and no signs of a caterpillar. Any ideas?
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With the warming temps come new pests.
Robecology
Level 9
Aug 5, 2021
1
Heliconid caterpillars Heliconid caterpillars can eat these poisonous passion flower leaves safely. In fact, for them, the poison is an advantage: it stays in the caterpillars, making them poisonous…so birds that would otherwise eat them leave them alone. And when these Heliconid caterpillars grow up and turn into butterflies, the chemicals still remain.
heliconius melpomene
heliconius butterflies
heliconius erato
heliconius charithonia
I Googled it and look what showed up.
OldGoat43
Level 9
Aug 5, 2021
8
Fantastic. Thanks.
There should be orange and black caterpillars or grass hoppers. The caterpillars are the larval form of the gulf fritillary. The caterpillars are often killed by wasps that use them to feed their eggs. The vine is normally unaffected by this predation since the vines are green and continue to feed the roots. The flowers don't have as much of the compound the caterpillars need, so unless the vine is covered with them, it will still bloom. I am seeing a lot of grasshopper damage and a little caterpillar damage.
glennlab
Level 10
Aug 4, 2021
5
Caterpillars were my first thought but I didn't find any and no trace evidence either - they will often leave droppings. That's why I suspected the grasshoppers. From what little bit of leaf is left here and there, it's pretty obvious that it's a bug of some sort. The stems look fine at this point.
Any recommendations of preventative measures?
@RussRAB In spite of what it looks like, they are not damaging the plant, so no control is necessary. Grasshoppers can come from miles away and the butterfly/caterpillar have a symbiotic relationship with the plant. I have had as many as 50,000 on my vines and very seldom see any droppings. The plant will increase it's growth rate and "poison" content once the caterpillars start to eat it. It's a Texas native, so it should be OK without any intervention.
I don't know about there but here deer will eat almost any leaf including Rhubarb leaves.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Aug 4, 2021
1
I have seen plenty of wildlfe I never expected in a suburdpban setting - opossum, raccoon, gray fox, squirrel of course, and even a coyote. That last one was a real surprise. I have yet to see any deer.
How did deer get on your island?
@FrayedBear Oh, my dear Bear, deer are EVERYWHERE in the PNW!
@tinkercreek I ask the question because I was recently on an island that has large populations of kangaroos, koalas & possums. All would have been eaten to extinction by 1900. As far as I'm aware koalas & possums do not swim & I doubt that roos can swim 200 metres.
@FrayedBear They have been here sine the beginning. Most animals as deer and bears can swim. Our problem is that with all the sheep, pig and cattle ranchers here predators are not permitted. The deer and rabbit populations have exploded. Two years ago a epidemic wiped out most of the rabbits (they are making a comeback) and this year a sort of hemorrhagic fever has started hitting the deer. Oh, I forgot, this must be another governmental conspiracy!?
@tinkercreek Too often people bring some animals over as 'exotic' pets (look at all the Boa's in Florida). I doubt anyone brought deer. Last year a bear was spotted. It was a male looking for a partner and swam from the mainland to all the main islands. He was spotted but never caught.When he was spotted on Orcas people thought he might run for mayor (people who run must put their pet in place for them). Finally, he was caught on the mainland at a spot he was first seen. He had lost a lot of weight with no success (we think we have it hard). [islandssounder.com]
@JackPedigo that's how many of our ferals arrived. As you say deer & bears can swim.
@JackPedigo That poor guy!
@tinkercreek It was said he looked really emaciated. Now he's a member of the lonely hearts club!
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