Caterpillar's Lunch

This week's challenge has been some munching worm-like critters on the vines.

Just next to my thumb joint is a green bending-backwards worm-like creature. He's not fuzzy in real life, despite the terrible focus in the picture. It looks a lot like a moth caterpillar, but I'm not great at identification. Could be a hornworm too. In any case, they hang on to the backs of leaves and munch away this time of year.

Rows 8 & 9 are the worst, where they've eaten more than 25% of the leaves & vines, but I found a handful on row 7, and very isolated incidents below there.

Removal is just that - you find 'em and pick them off the leaves. Sometimes you can shake the vine and they'll fall off - but even with a good shake those with really good suction-ey feet stay on the leaves!

From there, what I've read is that it's no good to just flick them away - if you do, the cycle of life will come back to bite the vines again. You need to transport them far away from the vineyard or go for the smush method :-(. I read a legend once that if you put them in a blender with some water and then spray that on your foliage it'll keep them away. I'm skeptical but we'll see if I get more desparate as the weeks go on.

Oh and today after removing the munching critters I sprayed - 1.5% solution of Stylet Oil.