Dawn
These tiny butterlies (just around two cm across) love the jade plant for their thick juicy leaves. They hang around this plant and the kalanchoe all day. Butterflies love to lay their eggs under the leaves kalanchoe blossfeldiana plant. The eggs hatch and the caterpillars get inside the leaves.
Butterflies lay an large number of eggs and these soft, juicy, leaves get completely mauled by the caterpillars. These caterpillars often destroy the plant itself. I have lost a few scores of plants to these butterflies. I sometimes wonder how these beautiful creatures could destroy these lovely plants. But such is life. Often we humans who are supposed to care and protect our environment destroy it mindlessly.
This jade plant was given to me as a gift to by my friend some ten years ago. From this jade I have propagated hundreds of plants and given them to my friends. We have unknowingly been breeding these tiny butterflies.
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Question /
Do you think it is okay to sacrifice plants for butterflies?
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Yes
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No
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Question /
Do you like this tiny creature?
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Yes
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No
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It’s a beautiful butterfly, but I’m a little sad to hear it destroys plants.
Its a matter of survival, if there were just few the plants would survive , but since the numbers are huge the plants die a s slow death.
That is a very lovely little butterfly. I would not mind losing a plant for a butterfly.
If its just one plant its okay , but when they attack so many of my jades and kalanchoe i have this love hate relationship with them.
Beware of those tiny butterflies. They are the worst insects around. We have a swarm of those eating away tender leaves of our ficus palms. (lol)
Yeah, agreed but there is very little you can do about them. I lost a whole bunch of Kalanchoe in different colors and sub genus . But such is life.
Butterflies are so adorable, I would agree to lose some plants for them.
Hmm… but as a gardener my heart dies a bit with every plant.
Butterflies are really beautiful insects, dear Dawn … great picture … butterflies are so hard to paint
They are beauties alright but they do as much harm as the other insects in the garden. Thankfully they help in pollination as well.
Butterflies don’t seem to be very big pests …. I have the most problems with snails and ants every year
Butterflies only attack certain plants , apart from my lemon plant they don’t eat any of my edible plants.
But lemons do like them, dear Dawn
I think they only carry out their natural role in the balance of nature.
You are right, but I have a gardeners heart that dies a bit with every plant.
I have the same feeling as you, because I also really like gardening.
Wonderful to hear that Albert. 😊
As fellow gardener, we understand each other, right?
I would definitely lose a plant for the butterflies any day.
Same here, they are just so beautiful.
I wish I could say that Elle with a clear conscience, but that would be lying on my part. I love them so much and hate them more. 😀 🙁
That makes sense, since I only se the butterflies. You see the caterpillars and have to deal with the consequences, so I understand it might not be easy, especially if there are so many of them. 🙂
Very generous of you my dear, I have a love hate relationship with them. I don’t know which is more – the love or the hate . LOL