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Furry things!

jamesharcourtjamesharcourt Posts: 465
in Problem solving
... have appeared on a bud on my youngish magnolia stellata and also on a bud on my recovering, moved mature Acer palmatum.  Should I cut these off or worry?  Here are the pics:


Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I'd leave them alone :)


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • arneilarneil Posts: 313
    That is the flower bud on the Magnolia
  • jamesharcourtjamesharcourt Posts: 465
    arneil said:
    That is the flower bud on the Magnolia
    Thanks, I had no idea!  I planted it last winter but it didn't flower and I also moved it as I put it in a place where the leaves were being feasted upon by creatures I could never see.

    Any idea what the thing on the Acer palmatum leaf is?  It looks like it has a face!  It certainly doesn't come off easily as I lightly brushed it was I was spraying the leaves with seaweed extract today.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    The first looks like a Pale Tussock moth caterpillar and the 2nd is a magnolia flower bud.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Like Nut said, leave them alone but enjoy.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • jamesharcourtjamesharcourt Posts: 465
    Ok, I'll leave 'em.

    The caterpillar thing is quite cute, but I hope it doesn't eat the foliage and buds for next year … that tree is short on foliage is it is :neutral:
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    edited September 2018
    Pale Tussocks eat a wide range of leaves including brambles. Perhaps you could gently move him or her to save your little Acer.
    I don't usually move things, but if you check it is not their only food source, also if you get a little bunch of leaf or moving to plant, you can persuade them onto it then wedge the piece in or on the new plant food source.

    This time of year they are just about fully grown and looking for somewhere to pupate, so a bramble patch or some other tree or shrub with lots of leaves and deciduous should be okay.
  • jamesharcourtjamesharcourt Posts: 465
    @Rubytoo thanks ... some silly questions ... the Acer is actually pretty big! and the furry thing is at the very end of one of the remote branches… by pupate, does this mean turning into a moth? Will it just fly away? I’m wondering if i can ignore it or whether it will munch its way through the entire tree!
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    edited September 2018
    It looks fully grown to me and is about to pupate so will be doing no more feeding.  Once the moth emerges from the chrysalis it will only feed on nectar from flowers so no worries there either.  Personally, I'd leave it there as it will either pupate where it is, move somewhere else, or be eaten by a bird, bat, etc. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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