BDN speaks to Dill about bedstraw hawk moth
Jim Dill, pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, spoke to the Bangor Daily News about the bedstraw hawk moth. Unlike its relatives in the Sphingidae family like the tomato or tobacco hornworms, the bedstraw caterpillars pose no threat to gardens or crops, but will feed on fireweed. “As a moth they are flying most of the summer and they are a good sized moth with a couple of an inch wingspread with reddish underwings and black or brown colorations on the bodies. Like the name implies, the caterpillars feed mostly on bedstraw, which is a very low growing weed, so it’s not really a pest,” Dill said.