The VERY hungry Caterpillars...Help?

My ENTIRE garden is being ravaged by green caterpillars. They have a thin white stripe down the side, no visible hairs, no red heads or other marks of distinction aside from the white stripe. Before they pupate, they spin a sort od "pocket and then bunch up into an "s" shape and turn a puce/ yellowy green. I don't know if they're alfalfa loopers or what, but they strarted out eating my Morning Glories and now they are even eating lavendar- I mean, come on! Lavendar? They're even eating the MG blooms. I can't get rid of them. I hand pick them, but there's just too many of them. I have tried spraying with three brands of spray- Sevin, Ortho and Bayer. They ate my entire Basil plant except for the stalks and veins. My MG leaves look like Alpine Lace Swiss Cheese. I am to the point where I am concerned that I will lose a large percentage of my plants- it's that bad.

Does anyone know if those Rescue Brand moth lures actually work?

Does anyone have any helpful hints or tips or advice or perhaps a little sympathy?

Thanks, all

My suggestion would be to find a Bacillus thurengiensis formulation - there are a few available at feed and seed and/or home improvement stores. Thuricide is the name of one brand. It would target caterpillars only, so you wouldn't be killing any potential caterpillar predators such as paper wasps, yellow jackets, and parasitic wasps (whereas Sevin, Ortho, and maybe the Bayer would probably kill predators too). Bt works best on the small caterpillars though, so use it on the second generation.

The Bt won't be instantaneous, so the caterpillars might stick around a while (though they will have a tummy ache, so they shouldn't eat much anymore.) They will also be safe for birds to eat while they are in their lethargic state.

Someone else might have a more high powered suggetsion, but maybe if you can get some predators to your area, there won't be so many caterpillars later.

i second the BT! it's the safest and most effective, even if it does stink.

Start gathering wasps nests and bring them home to feast on the catepillars. My best anti worm suggestion. A big yellow jacket football nest would have enough to wipe out you catepillars. Place it in a plastic bag and collect it in the evening when they are all home resting. Then resupport it with a fish net from a tree near the pillars.

omg, sofer, you are a brave one. those big football nests are hornets and i want no part of them! LOL

They hardly move at night and a plastic (thick) bag keeps them confined when moving. I then just open the bag at the new site and walk away intil things calm down and then dump the nest in a fish net and hang it near the battlefield. The battle of Britian begins.