If you like having butterflies and moths in your garden, they are great pollinators, then stop killing the caterpillars until you get them identified. The caterpillars will eat the foliage which the plant will regrow after the cats have pupated but that doesn't destroy the plant, the roots will put out new growth.
I hear what you're saying toni, and I get that scolding every time I so much as mention Bt. I just have a VERY small "garden" of potted plants. In my case, the caterpillars can be devastating if not controlled. I do know though, that I only see one type of caterpillar that feeds on all my plants. I will take your advice and keep an eye out for different types of caterpillars, and try to spray only the damaged plants. I also found out that I need milky spore for the beetle larvae, and the monterey Bt I use for caterpillars probably won't work for them.
@toni I did not know Bt would work (unfortunately) on all caterpillars. I so love having all the pollinators in the garden. I grow 2 kinds of milkweed & rejoice over the monarchs flitting about.
