Hiroshi Sunairi’s last blog post..Sabine Vockins planted Persimmon and Jujube seeds on Memorial Day

Save the Butterflies – I’m trying to send this as a letter to the editor but it bounced back. I’ll try snail mail I guess. In the meantime, I’d like to stir up some discussion, and elict some further information.

I hope someone more knowledgeable than I am has already sent in a response to your Q & A article on
Tomato Hornworms. In it you recommend using Bt to control the Hornworm, noting that it “targets only
lepidoptera and spares the benficial wasps.” The genus Lepidoptera includes both moth and
butterflies! On behalf of all of us who enjoy these colorful sprites flitting through our gardens,
or who perhaps even take pains to grow butterfly enticing flowers, I say let’s carefully weigh the
costs and benefits here.

True, as the song points out, there are only two thing money can’t buy: true love and a homegrown
tomato! However, Robert Pyle points out in Butterflies of Cascadia, “. . .some new threats have
arisen to our Lepidoptera heritage. Perhaps the most alarming among these is the aerial application
of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis kurstacki . . .Studies at Oregon State University suggest
widespread suscpetibility among non-target butterflies and moths to this pathogen.” He references
Guppy and Shepard (2001) for further information, but I don’t have further time.

In addition, our Spinx moth, Smerinthus cerisyi, is an amazing being. Let us be aware of the
consequences of our actions and the need for full information. Responses and clarifications
welcome.
Joan Chantler 1009 Snowden Road White Salmon, WA. 98672 509-493-1976 or 509-748-2551 or 541-980-
5203 cell

Save the Butterflies – I’m trying to send this as a letter to the editor but it bounced back. I’ll try snail mail I guess. In the meantime, I’d like to stir up some discussion, and elict some further information.

I hope someone more knowledgeable than I am has already sent in a response to your Q & A article on
Tomato Hornworms. In it you recommend using Bt to control the Hornworm, noting that it “targets only
lepidoptera and spares the benficial wasps.” The genus Lepidoptera includes both moth and
butterflies! On behalf of all of us who enjoy these colorful sprites flitting through our gardens,
or who perhaps even take pains to grow butterfly enticing flowers, I say let’s carefully weigh the
costs and benefits here.

True, as the song points out, there are only two thing money can’t buy: true love and a homegrown
tomato! However, Robert Pyle points out in Butterflies of Cascadia, “. . .some new threats have
arisen to our Lepidoptera heritage. Perhaps the most alarming among these is the aerial application
of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis kurstacki . . .Studies at Oresong State Universtiy suggest
widespread suscpetibility among non-target butterflies and moths to this pathogen.” He references
Guppy and Shepard (2001) for further information, but I don’t have further time.

In addition, our Spinx moth, Smerinthus cerisyi, is an amazing being. Let us be aware of the
consequences of our actions and the need for full information. Responses and clarifications
welcome.
Joan Chantler 1009 Snowden Road White Salmon, WA. 98672 509-493-1976 or 509-748-2551 or 541-980-
5203 cell

Thanks for the info!

D

I’m with you: if there’s no feed, I won’t visit. I just don’t remember otherwise.

Without RSS feeds there would be no way I could keep up with them.

Douglas