South Carolina ETV

Making It Grow! News Articles

August 7, 2005

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South Carolina is blessed by rivers and watersheds that support amazing diversity of life in plants and animals. This summer, thunderstorms have cooled us and brought water to our gardens, crops, and woodlands, still green and lush after weeks of 90 plus temperatures. Water is a precious resource we all should treasure and protect.

Question: My azaleas are being devoured by nasty looking caterpillars that look like they could sting you. The eat every leaf to nothing. How can I get rid of them safely?

Answer: Red-headed visitors usually are welcomed in our gardens but the red-headed azalea caterpillar, Datana major, is a party-crasher. The adult female, an inconspicuou moth, lays eggs which hatch and quickly become major eating machines. They can strip azaleas of their foliage before your eyes and certainly need to be controlled.

When you mess with these bristly little creatures, they curl their heads and tails as if attacking and have a very menacing appearance. Fortunately for us, they are all bluster and have no stinging setae (hair-like structures) to cause us pain. It is perfectly safe to pluck them by hand and drop them in a bowl of soapy water where they will drown.

If you don't have any wild and wooly family members anxious to have a caterpillar-picking contest, you can control these pests with an insecticide. Bacillus thuringiensis, the safest product for caterpillar control, is not a choice here as it is only effective against very young Lepidoptera larvae. Carbaryl (Sevin) is highly effective and can be sprayed directly on the azalea leaves. Choose a wettable powder or liquid formulation rather than a dust; you'll be better able to control where a spray goes. Since carbaryl is highly toxic to bees, please make your application late in the afternoon after the bees have gone to sleep for the day. Cyfluthrin, available in Bayer Advanced Garden Multi-Insect Killer, will also give good control of these pests. Remember to read the complete label and follow all directions when using any insecticide.

Question: After waiting forever for our figs to ripen, many of them have a nasty taste and look like they have a slight oozing from the blossom end. Is there something I can do to treat this problem?

Answer: Figs have a condition called souring that you are experiencing in your garden. The ripe fruit gets innoculated with yeast, which causes fermentation, by insects that enter the small opening, or eye, at the blossom end of the fig. Removing fallen fruit from the ground can help control this problem. Fortunately, most gardeners find that only a few of their figs are affected and still get plenty of those sweet brown globes to eat and preserve. The variety Celeste is less susceptible to this problem than other Southern fig selections since it has a tighter "eye," making it harder for insects to innoculate its fruit. Celeste does drop fruit, however, during times of excessively high temperatures, but it is still one of the best figs to plant in South Carolina gardens.

Birds can also be pests of figs trees. Some gardeners hang aluminum pie pans or drape rubber snakes in their fig trees to try to scare these critters away. June bugs, too, are great fans of this delicious fruit. Fortunately, a large fig tree usually produces enough for the homeowner and all the backyard visitors. Figs are one of the most reliable and easily grown fruits for South Carolinians.