HUGE Black Caterpillar, what is it????

[palmettogal]

I'm sure that's true but...must be scarred from my mom telling us bats would make nests in our hair because I'm pretty much terrified of flying animals, insects, etc., accidentally lighting on me. I prefer to keep my distance.

 

[Annette99]

I had a lot of the tomato/tobacco hornworm last year eating the datura leaves. Just love the moths. Have never came across the pupae.

 

[Kale]

Here is one of the poor hornie worms that ate much of the tom plant and aided the life of many wasps at the Pantry veggie garden last year.


And the humming moth that attacked my face *LOL
he was crazy!! Came flying at me as if he missed me or something, as if I finally made back to the garden from Mars*LOL
He actually makes a hummmmmmmmmmmmm sound! very interesting.

Kale

 

[Jade]

You are right Susan however they make great science lessons and I know how Kale loves her bugs and insects. The idea is keeping it contained hatching it and then pinning it to a board or as Kale likes to do scope it out.They are actually beautiful.

Reminds me of Grisom on CSI. I took an Entomology course in College. The prof was very into his bugs. I didn't have to do an insect collection, as I had it in the fall and winter months. I do think that I should have done one and maybe I will start that up now.

 

[Kale]

Jade, have fun with the theory and trying to say those names in the Hymenoptera family!*LOL
I just know how to spell them *lol I wish I can take a course, just to be around people that can teach me to pronounce them*LOL I enjoy researching everything else.

How deep did you get within the study?

Kale

 

[Jade]

I know that everyone around the world says the latin names differently. I still wonder if I am saying them wrong, ha. My number one greenhouse professor was from Boston, so he had quite the accent. I will never forget when he was trying to teach us about bar lines (I still don't know what they are, but something greenhouse related), he kept saying baa lines, and everyone was chuckling. He kept me after class to find out what was so humorous. Having spent two years as a teen living in Warwick, RI, I understood him, so I didn't laugh. I still remember getting used to that heavy New England accent. Rhode Island was the favorite state that I lived in, I would go back there any day.
Sorry, off topic, but I only had one semester of Entomology. I have always been the bug geek at all of the greenhouses and nurseries where I have worked. I always scouted for bugs on Fridays and flagged all of the areas of concern, including those that were succeptable, tho not necessarily showing signs. I am concerned about this Lacebug thing that I have never seen, which has apparently shown up on my azaleas. It is fun to learn new things in an area where I always felt pretty confident. I had a pesticide applicators license in PA until I moved to Ontario. We went to yearly meetings to keep our licenses up to date. Before I moved I got invited to be part of the team to hold the annual garden expos in Lancaster, PA. They are hosted by Penn State, and it would have been a great honor for me. Boss wasn't in favor of it, so I had to turn it down. My love of horticulture has always been there for me in my life, even when things haven't been good. I sure love being back with my gardening friends. Noone ever knows everything in life.

 

[Jade]

Ha, hubby and I were talking about know it allness tonight. He never accepts that he doesn't know it all, but sometimes we disagree about horticuture issues and he has to back down. He wanted to take town some of my shade trees in our woods area out back today and I told him absolutely no. He hid his chainsaw after that. I have a five year plan for the back yard and I need some shade. I give him his space for being intelligent, but, I need my horticultural space too.

 

[Randy]

Jade, that reminds me of a little lecture I gave my neighbor lady. First of all, it surprised her that I told her she was ignorant. But then I explained that everyone is ignorant to a point and that's why we need one another. There are things in which I would consider myself an expert, but not very many. The converse of that is that I am ignorant of many things. There is no shame in being ignorant unless I have a need to know something. Then if I choose to remain ignorant, I move from ignorance to stupidity. Oh, and if you are curious to know what precipitated the conversation in the first place, it was electricity.

 

[Kale]

Jade,
Whattcha do in that one semester of Entomology?!!

And why only one semester?

How did they start that course off!?

What groups were the critters divided in?!!

Very interesting.. Did you get to look at anyone under the microscope?


Kale

 

[Jade]

Oh Kale you asking me to remember something from 1980, ha. We studied all of the major families of insects and had to be able to identify all of them. We did do lab work, two hours once a week. It was a lot of memorization of Latin and common names. My major was in Ornamental Horticulture with a specialty in Greenhouse management. There were lots of things to cover in 4 years, so things like floral design and greenhouse management and floral crop production were generally two semester. Things that weren't as related were just a semester.