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There is some kind of worm or larva eating this plan. It has done quite extensive damage in what seems to be a couple of days. It is not the first year this has happened. Is there any way to get rid of the worm so the plant can be saved?

Picture is included on the left is the creature eating the plant and the right is the plant and a sample of the damage.

leaf damage

Marc
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  • I had a similar caterpillar in my garden in the past: https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/53092/caterpillar-identification-on-fennel – pazi__fisch Jun 02 '22 at 13:07
  • Where in the world? Eating what plant species? Somewhat similar: https://bugguide.net/node/view/452188 – Ecnerwal Jun 03 '22 at 16:44
  • There appear to be many smaller gray-ish caterpillars eating the plant in the picture to the right. They do not appear to be the same as your yellow-with-black-pattern suspect to the left. – Ecnerwal Jun 03 '22 at 23:54

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Bacillus thuringiensis Bt is highly effective against most caterpillars and fairly specific to caterpillars, though it makes no distinction between "good" or "bad" caterpillars.

Generally good to try and identify what your caterpillar (not worm) is, precisely, before taking action. Caterpillars lead to moths and butterflies, some of which are rare and endangered as noted in @pazi_fitch's linked question. Despite being unsightly, the damage rarely kills plants (you note this is not the first year this has happened, and yet here your plant is, still.) Some are obnoxious invasives where killing them is a good thing, but many are "mostly harmless" on balance.

Ecnerwal
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