Thanks. -- Corinne Ness ANSWER: Your ferns are likely being eaten by Florida fern caterpillars. Spray the plants with a Bt insecticide (Dipel, Thuricide and other brands) a few times following ...

Lady fern also serves as a host plant to several kinds of caterpillars. This Florida native (Dryopteris ludoviciana) goes by several other names, including southern shield fern and Kunth’s ...

Benjamin Jaffe at the University of Wisconsin-Madison got an inkling of the unusual diet while studying a fern called ... the plants in Florida, he unexpectedly found the caterpillars of the ...