My caterpillars are little pigs! I only have 2 cats left, but they are on the 1 plant I have left. I think it will only feed them for another day or 2. I have some fennel and dill seeds planted, but they haven't even sprouted yet.
I also have some new eggs, so they should have 3-4 days before they start eating.
Anyone have any plants or plugs they want to trade? Anyone know of a resource online?
Anyone have any fennel?
Don't have a clue where. But you can switch the first instars to parsley without much problem. That may not help with those you have now, but any new ones can be moved off of the plant. I have bought parsley in a grocery and washed it very well and was able to stay starvation.
OK, great. I have parsley and fennel right next to each other. The fennel got 14 eggs and the parsley got 1.
I use dill and parsley and when the dill is eaten I switch them to the parsley and they eat it just as well.
jpl...as soon as you see the egg hatched, cut the piece the cat is on and move it to the parsley. Like Roly said they should switch over, but you can help them do it quicker.
Thanks everyone:)
jlp222,
I've seen where you mentioned fennel in several posts. Can you tell me what this is?
Crit, fennel is a herb that the Black Swallowtails find attractive to lay their eggs on and is a source of food fot the caterpilllars. There are several types. I grow the Bronze Fennel myself.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/105978/
This message was edited Sep 19, 2010 9:39 AM
They gobbled up my flat-leaf parsley this year. :-)
The parsley replinishes itself so much faster than fennel. I wouldn't plant it instead of parsley, but I do have both. The fennel has a strong herb smell and they seem to go to it first. But if I am low, I take the small cats off, cage them, and start feeding them parsley.
In this pic you can see the BST first instar cat.
Yes, it does replinish more quickly ... but I love the smell (and taste) of fennel, as you say. No wonder the bfs do too. My dill really didn't seem to attract too many this year or they might have just liked the other things better.
I think really just depends. I have had no luck with parsley or dill, but the fennel has been a huge hit here. Of course I find lots cats on the wild Queen Anne's Lace that grow around here too.
This message was edited Sep 20, 2010 1:43 PM
My dill went to seed very early on. But it has been so hot and dry here this summer. At least the last seven or eight weeks we've had only about an inch of rainfull. Ugh! We have a good amount of wild Queen Anne's Lace in this area too. And milkweeds, thus we have Monarchs. I've also noticed a lot of dragonflies this year.
Thanks nanny. That's another plant I'm going to have to put on my spring list. I've been keeping it in my head but am going to have to start writing them down. I've planted dill for years in SE Kansas and NE Oklahoma. I had lots of BST on it. My dill didn't do well this year, we were sooooo hot and dry.
Yes, here they need partial sun to do the best.
I have not ever dug the fennel bulb...if I leave part of it, will it still come up again? Does it have small bulbettes like garlic? Mine was quite large this last year and in the wrong spot for something that large, it needs relocated.
I have never grown the bulb type either. I know the bronze doesn't like being moved. I killed one when I tried to transplant it.
Well that settles it then, I won't move mine since it is the bronze. Don't know if I have the bulb type then, just figured it all was. I only grow it for the BSTs.