The importance of planting larval food sources

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Doug Tallamy has taught us how important planting larval food sources is for moths and butterflies, which are the primary food most adult birds feed their babies, and the power of the mighty oak that serves that purpose for about a thousand different larvae. Well, for clothes moths, their larval food sources are wool, fur, silk, and feathers, all natural products that contain keratin. How weird is that! We are so focused on leaves. Silkworms are pretty focused on leaves, too, they are picky and want white mulberry leaves. Some people tried to start a silk worm industry here and planted white mulberries—they’ve spread all over, those Asian caterpillars weren’t interested in our native red mulberry – whose berries birds relish, and if you taste some, you’ll enjoy them too.