I posted on the Butterfly and hummingbird forum this morning but no one has answered yet. I ordered some milkweed plants from Rose Franklin that arrived yesterday. This morning when I went to put them in the ground, I found a caterpillar on one of the plants. I brought it back inside hoping to save it from predators but it is consuming my small plant quite rapidly. Will they eat other types of milkweed other than the one they hatched on? I do have other milkweeds in the garden that I could offer to it. I am concerned that this baby plant will be totally consumed and I really don't want that to happen. I sure would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
Shirley
Caterpillar advice needed PLEASE
Here's 2 articles that may answer your ?'s
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2660/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/751/
Aside from monarchs which most people recognize, I have had several crops of milkweed tussock moth
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/2059/
on common milkweed, and they also ate hemp Dogbane, a close relative
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/67851/
Thanks for the article links, Jen!
Oh, gosh, Shirley, I wish I'd known you wanted milkweed plants. I have a nice stand of them I leave unmowed for the butterflies. I could have brought you some at the swap.
I'll try to remember to save you some seeds this summer.
Thanks yall! Diane, what kind of milkweed do you grow? I'm trying to get as many different kinds here as I can grow.
Just regular old run of the mill milkweed.
I have that too, plus some white and pink swamp milkweed, seeds from critterologist a few years ago.
I have oodles of the "common" milkweed. I dug up some from the side of the railroad tracks here and after a few years, it has spread enough to have Mike tell me I had too much of it growing, BUT I love how it smells when it blooms and all the wonderful creatures that take advantage of the flowers and leaves. I ordered the white and pink when I ordered the annual milkweed. The white one was the one where I found the caterpillar. Rose Franklin is such a lovelly person. She wrote back to me and told me my new friend could eat any of the milkweeds, so I am set to grow a butterfly. Thanks again for the responses. I really appreciate it.
I am getting seeds from Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed. It has almost been completely denuded by the Monarch caterpillars but that's why the plants are there.
I have some Asclepias perennis (White Milkweed) plants I started from seed this spring and can spare a couple. Also, I may still have some seeds around for A. amplexicaulis (Clasping Milkweed), A. purpurascens (Purple Milkweed) and A. tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed). If we don't hook up before then I can give you some at the Seed Swap that I presume we will have again in Frederick this winter
Just a few days ago I had time to look at my Common Milkweed and found over a dozen big fat monarch cats!!. As of today, plants are stripped and I hope they ate enough
Greenthumb, please,please save me some seeds from what you are growing! I am not certain if I will make the seed swap but I would love to share some seed via mail if possible. I have saved some of the seeds from the tropical milkweed and gathered a few off of a plant a my daughter's house. I was not sure if they were they white or pink milkweed and she couldn't remember but I got some anyway. I have been blessed with lots of butterflies this year visiting my plants and hope for more next year.