Neighbor has oleander infested with caterpillars?

Question

My neighbor, it seems, abandoned his house and has an oleander covered with caterpillars. I know these are oleander caterpillars and will attack the plant. They are beginning to come over to our house. Could these bugs attack my grass and plants? I know he has several oleanders in the back yard too.

Answer 1

No, they won't attack your grass, but may take a liking to your shrubs. You don't want to go trespassing on someone else's property, even though there is no one living there now, someone still has ownership of the house. For you to go spraying insecticides on another property is "very" illegal and could get you a trespassing charge from the rightful owner or a fine, from the Dept. Of Pesticide Regulations. The only thing you need to be responsible for is your "own" property! You can spray your shrubs with a "systemic" insecticide that will be absorbed into your own shrubs and will kill any insect that happens to begin eating or sucking on its foliage. Ortho makes a product called "Ortho Systemic Insect Killer" which controls pests for up to 3 weeks after applying. You can usually find this at the garden sections of Walmart, Home Depot or the like. You can buy the concentrate or use a hose end sprayer supplied by Ortho, which makes the application very easy to do. You can apply this about once a month for control. Hope this answers your question.
http://www.ortho.com/index.cfm/event/ProductGuide.product/documentId/72c90bb34e83ab40af12b25b1d77e798

**Billy Ray**

Answer 2

Most caterpillars are species specific, that is they only eat one type of plant...and maybe it's cousins. If you have oleander, yes, they could come eat your plants, but as far as grass and other plants, probably not.

There is a very effective biological chemical you can spray that only affects caterpillars, not bugs, birds, or other plants/animals. It's called Bacillus thuringensis, or Bt for short. It paralyzes the caterpillar's gut so it stops eating and dies. Death is not instant, it takes a day or two...or three. If you accidently spray yourself, no problem it is nontoxic to us. It however does degrade in sunlight, so should be sprayed in the late afternoon.

You can report the house to the weed and litter department in your city and they can force the homeowner to care for the front yard, at least...and maybe the backyard.

Answer 3

spray the plants yourself with 1/2 dawn dish detergent and 1/2 Listerine and mix in a spray bottle and spray your plants and that of your neighbors . They will do away and they will stay away . If the house is abandoned then no one is going to take care of this . good luck .Oh and billy ray for someone who is a master gardener you should know that what I was using was all natural and would not harm anyone in anyway . and is not a pestiside .

Answer 4

The way I got rid of them is I burned them out. I did end up burning & killing the plant, but it was better than doing nothing. However, this is an abandoned house, so it will be hard to keep it under control if no one is looking after it.