I have a lot of these all over my milkweeds.
Are they a problem?
I did a search and read they would overmultiply and eat 30% of a fir tree and other sites say they are only found on older milkweeds and dont even compete with monarch cats. Other sites don't say either way.
I don't know if I should let them be or not.
These are the brown and black ones.
Tussock moth cats
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Tussock moth cats
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Re: Tussock moth cats
I am not that familar with those particular cats...but too many of anything is bad for the food source. If they are eating the mikweed then they are competing with the monarchs. I don't grow milkweed because of the aphids it attracts but we have lots of wild milkweed around here. Guess it is your judgement call to make. Sorry I am not much help!
Claudia
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest" - John Muir
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest" - John Muir