Check on the caterpillars before you kill more, just in case they're some kind of great native butterfly 🦋 if so you can maybe relocate them instead. I get some fat green guys on my non-native gold medallion tree that become pretty yellow native butterflies, and the tree recovers.

[–] StickyDango@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ah, this is true. I didn't think about this. 😔 This poor tree has been through the ringer. When I lived at a higher elevation, it nearly died in its first year because of how cold it got. It recovered really well, and now survives all weather. I guess being my first native tree, I go in to protective mode because so many bugs seem to like to eat it, too!

I did see my first honey bee today visiting the flowers, and it had some decent-sized pants. My usual panic (might be allergic) was replaced with "Ah.. Hello, bee <3"

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm glad it's doing well! I've had good luck taking the whole leaf from one overrun tree to another untouched one, so I don't have to squeeze the caterpillar. Maybe there's a non- native citrus tree that could handle a caterpillar or two? You don't have to save them all, Nature wouldn't.

[–] StickyDango@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

There's no other non native (or native) citrus tree I could give it to. Suppose I could try to entice the magpies to have it, but I don't have any other bushes or trees that produce anything edible, so the caterpillar might not take to them. I'd have to huck it over the fence to the neighbours' tomatoes 😂