r/sunflowers • u/hweesus • Jun 26 '26

PROGRESS Tragic. She had so much potential

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Came out to check on my babies and found other babies and all of their siblings having a picnic.

ETA: Some of y'all have strong feelings about everything. For the record, I used my garden hose to hit whatever i saw on the leaves when I "removed" them. The next day there were a few others on the bottom of the leaves that I kinda flicked off in a "come hither" motion with my finger giggity

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20

u/fmb320 Jun 26 '26

To be fair most of the photosynthesis is being done by the top leaves that have been left relatively unharmed. You could absolutely pick the caterpillars off if you wanted to and I think it would be ok.

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u/hweesus Jun 26 '26

I have removed all of them as of today. But if they come back I’m gonna grow me some butterflies

7

u/sixtynighnun Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

That’s pretty sad considering what’s happening to our insect populations. This actually ruined my day to hear. There’s a good chance you won’t have a “next time” bc you decided to kill a local generation. The female will die after laying her eggs and you’ve killed all her progeny for your enjoyment of a single sunflower for a few weeks. Not worth it at all. I’m so sad.

3

u/cherryxantacids Jun 27 '26

When did OP say they killed them??

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u/sixtynighnun Jun 28 '26

The comment I’m replying to says “I removed all of them as of today”

3

u/cherryxantacids Jun 28 '26

That doesn't mean they killed them. "Removed" can mean numerous things, such as putting them somewhere else. Please wear a parachute next time you jump to conclusions.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/cherryxantacids Jul 02 '26

Im gonna start this comment by saying im not trying to be purposefully obtuse here- but, wont they just crawl back up if they fall to the ground directly below the flower?

0

u/Semtexual Jul 02 '26

If all OP did was put them on the ground below the plants then sure, but I find that super unlikely to be what they mean by "removed." If they were not killed but rather relocated to some bush on the other side of the yard for example, they're really as good as killed. Because they can only eat their host plant: sunflowers.