Problems with Dill Zone 5

[jcox416]

Hi!  I planted my Dill in May from plants.  In a large pot on my deck.  It was GORGEOUS!  Then, all of a sudden, I picked these HUGE catterpillers off of it and ever since it has just looked dead.  Not even enough sprigs to use in my potato salad now.  I am so disappointed.  I have fed it, watered it, and babied it. All to no avail.  What did I do wrong?  Why can't I bring it back?  I have tons of other herbs and they are all flourishing.  HELP! 

[Owen'nZoe]

Were the caterpillars like this: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.pbase.com/v3/48/95248/1/49089994.BlackSwallowtailCatB.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/image/49089994&h=432&w=648&sz=97&tbnid=BoMJqGso0tG30M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dblack%2Bswallowtail%2Bcaterpillar%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=black+swallowtail+caterpillar&docid=-OuhLwLXEtFIwM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hZQ0TqSDBvPFsQLV0q3lCg&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ9QEwAw&dur=47?

Black Swallowtails love laying their eggs on dill plants, and one caterpillar will totally decimate a plant. For this year, I don't think there is much you can do - you can keep waiting, or try reseeding, and you might get a big enough plant to use before the season is over. Dill is an annual, so it was probably getting ready to flower and go to seed soon, anyway.

For next year, if you have space, I'd just recommend succession sowing and sowing more plants. I plant twice as much as I think I need, so I can get what I need and the caterpillars have what they need.

[jcox416]

YES!  that was the caterpillar.. Or I should say.. caterpillarS! I picked two of the largest ones I have ever seen, then all of a sudden.. my dill just pooped out.. I about cried because it was so beautiful.. and I had a huge pot of it.  Ok, so I should plant it in the ground next yr and plant a ton of it right?  Will that save it, or will the caterpillars just keep killing it all?  

[jcox416]

I'm sorry, I forgot to ask one more question.. Should I let the dill go to flower?  I shouldn't cut them off?  On most plants you don't want them to flower.  I am new to herb gardening so your help is so appreciated.  Thank you very much for answering my questions so fast.  

[Owen'nZoe]

Well, you probably won't have caterpillars every year. I've had them twice in the 5 years I've had my garden. I always plant extras for them just in case, though. The caterpillars will be happy with anything in the same family as the dill - so you might find them on your parsley, carrots, or parsnips, too. I've never had more than a couple caterpillars at once, so hasn't really been a problem to give the caterpillars have their plants (which they do eat to the ground) and keep the rest for myself.

As for snipping off the flowers, you can try to snip them to prolong the greens, but in my experience, at a certain point in the summer, those plants are just going to want to flower, and it becomes really hard to keep up. I really think it is much easier to just seed some new plants every couple weeks, so you always have some plants that aren't ready to flower yet. If you make home made pickles, you can use the dill plants that are going to seed to flavor them. You can also collect the seed and use it kind of like caraway seed in recipes.

[RosieL]

I wish I could ship you my dill. It's taking over and I have NO CUCUMBERS this year to pickle with. :( Good luck...I used to squish those caterpillars but since I've falled in love with swallowtails on my flowers,I've been cutting them some slack.

[Ruthiegirl]

Dill can be like that. By August, mine has usually suffered all the heat it can stand and starts to decline rapidly. It is a biennial usually grown as an annual since the second year is mostly devoted to setting seed.  If you want to let it go to seed, just let it alone.  Or yank it and start fresh next spring.  

I just read that dill has about 70 days from planting to harvesting the leaves, 90 days for seed.  So, it had probably lived out its life span and was ready to be done.  Nothing you could have done to prevent it.  

If you want a longer dill season, you could start seed twice next year.  Once in the early spring for an early harvest and again in the early summer for a later harvest.  

And good luck.  I love an herb garden.