The Fiery Skipper larvae
eats bermuda grass, creeping bentgrass, and st augustine grass. You
might think this bad news if you have a lawn with this type of grass and
lots of Fiery Skippers about. But if you have a cool season grass
such as Marathon tall fescue that is competing with bermuda grass this
sounds like a pretty good bargain. Beautiful butterflies and less
bermuda to try to eradicate how could that be bad? In my experience
they have not ever been the match for the bermuda, beneficial nematodes or
bacteria thuriginensis can reduce their numbers if this is a
problem. Adult Fiery Skippers love the lavender in our
gardens. We usually have clouds of these active butterflies from mid-Spring through the
first hard frost.
This
image of the Fiery Skipper is available in high resolution and is part of our photo
collection.
