Bloom 2015

Share native plant sightings, info about plants that grow in the Death Valley area, or ask questions about wild desert plants here.

Re: Caterpillars

Postby mrfish » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:17 am

I've heard a lot of people calling the caterpillars army worms and that's totally wrong. There is another smaller caterpillar which is correctly called army worm, but the ones that came through Trona last week ain't them! These are white lined sphinx caterpillars and they'll turn into those moths that are about the size of hummingbirds in a few weeks.
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Re: Caterpillars

Postby panamint_patty » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:37 am

mrfish: Okay so I did a little research and technically you are correct, but I still think that army worms is a good name for them. They invade like an army and they sometimes even march almost in formation like an army. Besides that the actual bug that is actually called army worm is just another very similar caterpillar type of bug and so army worm is close enough!
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Re: Bloom 2015

Postby wildrose » Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:07 am

Unusual weather causes flowers to bloom in California's Death Valley
Apparently the caterpillars (or army worms) also like sand verbena...
Have you ever had a garden, that was growing so beautifully, and just before harvest time, the bugs got it? That’s how I felt when I went down to Ashford Mill this week. The sphinx moth caterpillars have DEVOURED the flowers there. The sand verbena – gone. Literally gone, not just gone to seed, but eaten up almost completely by the voracious caterpillars.

Overall it sounds like this year produced a pretty good bloom, not really above average, but in comparison to recent years pretty strong.
LINK: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/unusual-weather-causes-flower-to-bloom-in-death-valley/47512/
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Re: Bloom 2015

Postby James Sel » Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:57 am

I was able to take a few picture this year enjoy

Image

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Re: Bloom 2015

Postby twister » Thu Apr 16, 2015 6:37 am

James Sel: Great flower pics! It may not have been the greatest bloom in the last decade or two, but it was not too bad either. Your close ups came out really well. What kind of camera are you using?
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Re: Bloom 2015

Postby James Sel » Thu Apr 16, 2015 11:04 am

Thanks its a SX700 HS Canon just put it on the auto setting and wait for the wind to stop
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