skychaser
Well-Known Member
We found the source of the mysterious "bore holes" some of us have seen on seed pods. I remember seeing some conversation on this here, but I don't think anyone knew exactly what caused it. The mature pods often look fairly normal on the outside except it looks like someone has drilled a 1/8" hole in it. On the inside there is nothing, like all the seeds were sucked out. We have only found about 2-3 dozen pods over the years with these holes in them, usually all on one or two plants.
Last week there was a short lived break in our summer heat and my wife spent the better part of 3 days out photographing plants. We are working with a gentleman in Nova Scotia who is writing a book on nicotianas, with a focus on their differing flowers. He has around 80 varieties he has researched and photographed thus far and we are providing him with as many more as we can. His book probably won't make the best seller list, but we feel honored to be a part of it.
Anyways.. After removing a bag to get a photo, my wife noticed this little guy with his head stuck in a pod. Something must have depositied an egg on the bud before it was bagged. We picked the 2 pods he was feeding on and put him in a jar to see what happens. He bored away happily for the first few days converting the pods insides into large amounts of bug poop. By day 5 the pods were looking pretty sad and the caterpillar was just sitting in the bottom of the jar in a half circle. I had to poke him a little and make him move just to see if he was dead or not. I picked a few new pods and put them in the jar, and within 5 minutes it had crawled up onto the biggest pod and had its head buried inside. The last photo is 6 days after the first ones. You can see how much this little critter has grown in that time.
Its moved to a new pod today and seems happy living in a cheese wiz jar on our window sill. I haven't had time to search through some bug sites to try to identify him yet. Maybe someone here knows exactly what it is.
Last week there was a short lived break in our summer heat and my wife spent the better part of 3 days out photographing plants. We are working with a gentleman in Nova Scotia who is writing a book on nicotianas, with a focus on their differing flowers. He has around 80 varieties he has researched and photographed thus far and we are providing him with as many more as we can. His book probably won't make the best seller list, but we feel honored to be a part of it.
Anyways.. After removing a bag to get a photo, my wife noticed this little guy with his head stuck in a pod. Something must have depositied an egg on the bud before it was bagged. We picked the 2 pods he was feeding on and put him in a jar to see what happens. He bored away happily for the first few days converting the pods insides into large amounts of bug poop. By day 5 the pods were looking pretty sad and the caterpillar was just sitting in the bottom of the jar in a half circle. I had to poke him a little and make him move just to see if he was dead or not. I picked a few new pods and put them in the jar, and within 5 minutes it had crawled up onto the biggest pod and had its head buried inside. The last photo is 6 days after the first ones. You can see how much this little critter has grown in that time.
Its moved to a new pod today and seems happy living in a cheese wiz jar on our window sill. I haven't had time to search through some bug sites to try to identify him yet. Maybe someone here knows exactly what it is.