Fort Bend County Master Gardeners

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Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden in Fort Bend County Beneficial Insects - Assassin Bug - Bark Lice - Bees - Dragonfly - Ensign Wasp - Lacewing - Ladybug Pests - Stink Bug - Leaf-footed Bug - Aphids Others - Praying Mantid - Large Milkweed Bug Fire Ant Control		MORE BEAUTIES… AND ANOTHER BEAST By Linda Rippert, FBMG F2004 Swallowtail butterflies are beautiful creatures, and we have several varieties of them that visit our gardens in this area! I have personally raised a number of them over the past few years, including the Giant Swallowtail, the Pipevine Swallowtail, the Eastern Black Swallowtail, and the Polydamas Swallowtail. The Giant Swallowtail has laid eggs on Rue in my yard, and also will use citrus trees. The young caterpillars look like bird droppings-brown and white. The tails on the butterfly’s hindwings have yellow centers. The Pipevine Swallowtail, has laid eggs Aristolochia fimbriata and also on other Pipevines including the Gigantea, but the caterpillars cannot tolerate feeding on the Gigantea and will die if they are not transferred to Fimbriata or another vine. This butterfly is a male; the females do not have the blue iridescent shading. The Eastern Black Swallowtail has laid eggs on Rue, Parsley, and Dill in my yard. The caterpillars start out brown and orange and as they grow turn green with black stripes with yellow dots. The one shown here on the left is a female-mostly black with blue; the male is mostly black with rows of yellow spots. The Polydamas Swallowtail has laid eggs on Pipevines including Gigantea, Fimbriata, Calico and Tri-lobed varieties. The caterpillars tend to cluster together on the stems of the vines. This butterfly has no tails like the other swallowtails and is mostly black with a row of triangular or heart-shaped yellow spots on top of the wings. AND THIS EDITION’S BEAST—The Land Planarian This month I received the “Dirt Doctor Weekly Newsletter” (dirtdoctor.com) which included this article: “Dangerous Beast in the Garden -- Breaking Story”. The beast in question is an Asian exotic, a land planarian, or flatworm, that’s harmless to people but preys on earthworms. It’s appearing in our gardens in the Houston area. I’ve seen several in mine, usually in moist places, under pots and once on the siding of my garage. This creature is very flat. It can stretch out as long as 20 inches and is between 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide. The head is shaped like a spade. The color is a light to medium brown with two dark brown parallel lines running along its back. According to the Dirt Doctor, Howard Garrett, the Flatworm is known to be a “parasite that eats earthworms and can wipe out entire populations”. According to TAMU, which is more cautious in its conclusions, “Most terrestrial (non-aquatic) planarians in North America are exotic, having arrived here via the trade in potted foliage plants. Although land planarians do not attack plants, they are predators of earthworms, a fact that has raised concerns among some biologists. Unfortunately, little is known about their distribution, ecology, or true impact on earthworms in Texas.” This worm does not like dry climates or strong sunlight. Dr. Garrett suggests using orange oil in the bottom of a container to kill the Flatworm. I killed the last one I found in my garden by putting it on the sidewalk in broad daylight for a while. It dried up and withered away. I urge you to familiarize yourself with this earthworm predator and help researchers find out if they are dangerous in our gardens. You can read more at dirtdoctor.com and subscribe to the email newsletter. I also urge you to visit TAMU’s excellent site: (http://citybugs.tamu.edu/FastSheets/Ent-1039.html).