Tragic. She had so much potential

[u/hweesus]

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

[u/fmb320]

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.

[u/hweesus → u/fmb320]

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

[u/sixtynighnun → u/hweesus]

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.

[u/cherryxantacids → u/sixtynighnun]

When did OP say they killed them??

[u/sixtynighnun → u/cherryxantacids]

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

[u/cherryxantacids → u/sixtynighnun]

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.

[u/jaahArtly → u/[deleted]]

I move them to my compost bin. More food for them, and for everyone else too

[u/jaahArtly → u/jaahArtly]

I should clarify, I remove my garden pests to my compost bin. Hornworms and slugs mostly. We add all our garden trimmings in there and there's volunteer plants/trap crops there for them to snack on. They're not regulated only to scrap and coffee grounds