Why Does Yardener Offer Information On How To Kill Caterpillars

Question From: Pilot Grove, Missouri, United States
Q: Not a question, just a major concern-- why suggest killing caterpillars? Why? Please promote SAVING caterpillars and not using poison on your plants! Monarch butterflies especially are struggling to survive, and many of us are strong advocates for promoting awareness and encouraging people to not use poisons on their plants. Caterpillars turn into butterflies, and butterflies are POLLINATORS. Poisons affect other pollinators as well.

A: Obviously you and several of your friends have banded together to take issue with one of my responses or information on the Yardener website. In the twenty years I have been working with the public I have found that 98 percent of the people who request a product to kill insects that damage their plants don't care about what kind of product they use or the damage it causes. Yardener provides information on various ways to remove unwanted caterpillars from the garden - ranging from manually removing them to using natural and synthetic insecticides.  Yardener recommendeds a product that is certified organic and safe to use around any butterflies. It is not a pesticide. Please do your homework before ranting about something you know nothing about. Here is a website that might be a good place for you to start: pmep.cce.cornell.edu<a data-cke-saved-href="https://gardening.yardener.com/ajax/3D%22htt=" href="https://gardening.yardener.com/ajax/3D%22htt=" p:="" pmep.cce.cornell.edu"="" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;">
Best and Happy Yardening, Nancy