Skeletonizers - just in time for Halloween!

Aaaaacckkkk!!!  My beautiful grapevines are being attacked by skeletonizers!  Its a big creepy word, so I assumed that I was searching for a big creepy bug -  something hairy, with fangs and claws, big bulging eyes, and maybe even some blood-sucking tentacles...  So what do I find as I brave the damp dark underbelly of my grape arbor in search of said creature?  A teeny-tiny, itty-bitty, teensy-weensy caterpillar!

To show how tiny this caterpillar is, I photographed it next to a fork.
It would be nearly impossible to search for these in your garden!

Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer - Scientific name: Harrisina brillians
Photo from The World of Insects

How could this cute little critter and his many pals wreak that much havoc? Here is how - pale yellow or whitish capsule-shaped eggs are laid in clusters on the underside of grape leaves. After hatching, the larvae (see above photo) line up like armies and feed side-by-side on the leaf underside! From what I've heard over the years from other gardeners is that it only takes a matter of days before these little terrors destroy all of the vines!  So today I brought out the big guns - my Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT for short) and my 1 gallon pump sprayer.  It only takes 4 teaspoons of BT to one gallon of water.  We'll be sure to thoroughly spray the undersides and tops of ALL of the grape leaves, early in the morning or in the early evening.  You don't want to spray when its sunny out, the water drops act as a magnifying glass and burn the leaves.  BT is a naturally occurring bacterium that is safe to use in the garden.  It becomes harmful to the insects only after they ingest it.  They will stop eating leaves right away, then die in a few days.  For the next month we'll be spraying weekly, wherever we see signs of skeletonizers

or cut-worms and tomato worms.  So far we've seen signs of pest damage on our tree collards, purple hyacinth bean, okra, tomatoes, pumpkin vines, and the grape vines.

Found this morning just chomping away
on my poor grape leaves!

So BEWARE!  It's a scary time of year out in the ol' pumpkin-patch - be on the lookout for creepy crawly skeletonizers, cut-worms, tomato hornworms and ghoulish green monster-sized grasshoppers (which you will have to catch by hand).

Not pictured is my hard-working, bug-killing brother, looking like a ghost-buster out in the arbor with mask, gloves, goggles, and tank strapped to his back!  I will have the pleasure of watching this spectacle once a week, all the way up to Halloween ;-) .  Oh the things a sister enjoys! What can I say?