Collection of Caterpillars

[mrs fish]

I know the ones with yellow on them are Large whites but wondered what the other two are ?



I grow Nasturtians every year but have never seen so many caterpillars on them as I have this year, they are going to run out of leaves to eat soon !!

[GuyF]

As far as I can tell they are all Large White caterpillars apart from the green one on the right which I think may be a Small White caterpillar.
I'd wait for confirmation from someone else though, I'm not very good with caterpillars!
Guy

[Kayleigh]

I would go with Guy on the ids.
My Nasturtians are covered in large whites too.

[naturegirl]

I always grow nasturtians, partly for the bees who love them and partly for me as I love to eat the leaves (without caterpillars! ) in salads.

They have a lovely peppery flavour, yummy!

I was watching a war time documentary last week and the lady said she would be keeping the nasturtian seeds too?

Does anyone know if they can be eaten/preserved in any way?

Logic (female! ) says that if you can eat the plant then the seeds should be ok but some seeds are toxic.

Naturegirl

[mrs fish]

Yes you can eat the seed pods, people keep them in vinegar. I always add the leaves to salads they are tasty

I have some other nasturtians growing, dark leaf/dark red flower which the butterflies have ignored, thankfully

Thanks people