What is eating my clematis leaves?

Hi,

I came on looking for something else but saw your post and it sounds exactly like what has happened to my garden this summer! I have been invaded by green caterpillars and some plants have had their leaves entirely stripped and only stalks remain on the poor plants. I've been fuming about it but what a quandary because it's nice to have butterflies in the garden (as long as they don't decimate everything on their way). If the birdlife where I live wasn't so pitiful I guess I'd have help.

The damage they do is quite different to slugs and I knew early on that the culprit was not slugs/snails. Caterpillars are quite easy to find; they make a nest inside leaves that are found folded over, with the caterpillar inside. Also the tips of plants (new shoots - R.I.P. beloved flowers) can be found all matted together. They were about 1 mm long when I first found them but still quite easy to find because I have so many.

I don't believe there is any easy way of getting rid of them. The advice I have read about what to do with my caterpillars was to literally go around picking them off individually and putting them somewhere else or disposing of them. I have too many to do that, I tried but gave up.

Beware earwigs. They love flower buds. Small terracotta pot with some straw held on a stick is their favourite hiding place. You will need to play 'the destroyer' each day.