YAY! I finally have cats!

This hop vine is just covered with cats in all size...teeny tiny to fat and sassy. My book says these are either question marks or eastern commas. I'm not expert enough to tell the difference.

P

I'm no expert, either...never having seen anything but photos! But it looks more like photos of the Question Mark cats to me. My book says Eastern Comma cats use leaf shelters, so if there are no leaves folded over or two sewn together, if probably wouldn't be those. So cute...I want some!

I'd check a little closer but they're prickly looking little dudes.

I've got about 5 var. of milkweed and tons of pipevine but haven't seen the first monarch nor pipevine swallowtail.

I did see...from what I could tell since it was in flight and I'n darn near blind w/o glasses...a Eastern Tiger but I only have one small tulip tree in a bucket and none of the other host plants close so I probably won't see any of those cats.

I have spicebushes,paw-paws,sassafras and loads of other plants but I just can't seem to get the cats, Maybe when I actually plant some IN the yard,I'll get them.

Talk about Dine 'n Dash! Just a day later and they've picked it clean. Only a couple left picking off the bits and pieces.

That's a common problem with most limited plantings of host plants---you run out of leaves before the cats are large enough to make a chrysalis. Try to find more hop vines to buy and grow at least one that is kept covered to prevent egg laying. Or find a friend who has LOTS of hops to give your cats. The problem with that is all of the hops in you area may host cats unless sprayed.
We have a great nursery here that plants a huge field of various host plants. People are allowed to pick leaves or even take leaves with eggs or cats to bring to their own host plants if no butterflies have noticed them.
In my area we have had many fewer gulf fritts the last 3 yrs...and fewer monarchs.
Johanna.

I had more vines in buckets so this morning I moved them inside. The hops vine I first found them on was one I planted on the back of the GH in hopes it would grow up big enough to shade the back of the GH so I put the buckets next to that one inside so they could switch over.


I haven't seen monarchs nor queens this year.Usually the passion vines around our pasture are covered in cats but I haven't found any of those this year either.

Hello BigRed,
It looks like you have Question Mark cats...Very Cool!!! I have a couple of false nettle plants for them. I'm going to put hops on my list for additional host plants for next year. Although we've had Question Marks and finally an Eastern Comma, I'm curious if the hops will draw more to swing by here. Thanks for sharing your pics :)

SL,
your welcome.

I find that cats do not switch from the kind of plant upon which they were hatched. If bl swallowtails are hatched and eatting fennel, I can't count on feeding them parsley if I run out of fennel. Is this generally true?
Johanna

It's not that hard to switch them between things like fennel and parsley...don't know about dill. Cats will usually eat another appropriate host plant if the one it started on is not around rather than starve. From my experience, it's harder to switch a cat to Rue from another host plant...and cats that start on Rue seem to strongly resist other host plants, IMO.

I didn't switch them to different varity of plants...I moved my other pots of hops vines next to the one they were feeding on so they'd have more.

Just got back from San Antonio early this am so I haven't had a chance to check on them this morning yet,

I have found that those BST on dill and fennel will switch to parsley if you bring them in really early. But the GST that is on Rue, doesn't switch to hercules club well.

apparently they were thur with me. None of them switched to the new hops vines I offered them. Not even the one I found wandering on a oxalis plant and placed on the hops stayed. Picky,ain't they...LOL

my hops vines flushed back out so these guys are back

and they brought friends

Those friends look like tussock moth caterpillars and will eat a lot of other plants. If it were me, I would remove them to a wooded area and save the vine for the butterflies.

Ok,thanks. I thought they might be a moth. What should I put them on in the woods.?

Not sure of the variety you have but one link I found says...

Well,I most of those are in my neighborhood so I'll transfer the moth cats to another food source.MY NFH(neighbor from heck)planted populars right up against my fence...wouldn't take much of a stretch to put them on those...Tee-Hee....but then it is right there off my property line and karma might come back around and eat all the new perennials I sat out this year.

Yeah, that karma does bite from behind when we do things like that! LOL!

yes...I try not to do anything that will cause karma biting behind vibes.