The azalea worm

By RAY WYCHE
Staff Writer

The fearsome-appearing caterpillar that is chomping away at azalea plants in the area is far more menacing in appearance than he is in damaging the county’s predominant lawn planting.

Even in the present drought and the stressed condition of the bushes, the damages the caterpillars do to azaleas seldom kill the plants or affect next year’s growth and blooming.

“The damage looks worse than what it is,” Dalton Dockery, Extension Service home horticulture agent, said. “Caterpillars will rarely kill an azalea.”

The black caterpillar, about two to three inches long with yellow stripes running lengthwise its body and with a red head, is the larva of a moth. It appears every August and September and with countless other family members will eat the foliage of azaleas, leaving unsightly bare twigs and branches that were once covered with deep green leaves.

Azalea caterpillars, also known as redheads, begin life when the moth lays about 100 eggs on the underside of an azalea leaf in the spring. The eggs hatch into small worms in late summer and begin their diet of azalea leaves. As they grow, the batches of newly hatched larvae leave their siblings and strike out on their own, usually on a nearby branch of the same azalea.

The grown larvae, their heads and legs a deep mahogany red, can devour large numbers of azalea leaves in a day but the plants normally recover completely.

The caterpillars, small and large, have a habit of raising their heads and tails in unison when disturbed, presenting a more frightening appearance.

The pests are easily controlled; since they have no defense mechanisms, they can be removed from the bushes by hand and destroyed by crushing or by dropping them into a container of soapy water. Mild insecticides such as Sevin and Malathion also easily control them.