Caterpillars are eating my passion vine. I want the butterflies. What do I do?

Question

Is there a way to manage the catterpillars so that my passion vine survives? They eat all the leaves.

Answer 1

Try a mixture of dish soap, ashes & water. 10% dish soap, 10% ashes (cigarette ashes, wood stove ashes or even ashes from your charcoal BBQ will work well) and 80% warm water (not hot, no warmer than lukewarm or you could damage plants) mixed together & sprayed on the plants which have bug or caterpillar problems. This is a cheap & effective way of handling your problem. Repeat as necessary.

Answer 2

These vines are quite large and will take a few caterpillars. But if  you have an infestion go to the local garden center where they will have contact killer spray or a mixture of contact and stuff that enters the foliage and kill pests as they eat.Can't think what they call it now, but they'll tell you. Fraid it's not organic.

Answer 3

your passion vine is a perennial and the caterpillars should not kill and the butterfly should be the gulf fritillary.