Plant It and They Will Come part 6

would love to see a photo of your spicebush cat, Seq!

The caterpillar is the small cylinder on the upper right edge of the hole in the leaf, where he's eaten:

See him? Isn't he cute?? :-)

This message was edited Aug 12, 2015 9:49 PM

Ok, I see him now. It was hard to see because I have the brightness on my laptop on the lowest setting.

My cat sleeps during the day and eats at night. He sleeps in a folded over leaf during the day so I'll try to snap a pic but sometimes opening the leaf is a two hand job.

Mine seems to sleep at night and eat during the day--no new eating marks this morning, but he looks like he's grown! :-D

Here's a pic of mine.

How do you keep the leaves from wilting for your cat?

He's cute, Seq4! Is it in a container?

Nope, all naturale. He's straight on the plant in the yard.

Amazing pics, Cat and Seq! I must go check my spice bush to see if there are any eggs or cats on them. I have never seen a butterfly egg. Guess I need to look more closely.

By the way, does anybody know how long the swallowtail stays in the pupa stage? The one on my Sedum hasn't changed a bit since the photo was taken a week ago. It still looks exactly the same in colors and markings, but is (might be) slightly smaller.

Seq4, good naturale picture. I think you're lucky you can still find him. The monarch cats seem to disappear and reappear.

donner- coleup knows! I think at least two weeks.

I collected a bunch of mature leaves for the freezer today- and found two monarch babies. The kids at the library should enjoy this, and the staff even more so it seems.

My cat has been on the same leaf for the past few days so it's been pretty easy. We'll see, I have three plants right next to each other so he might climb onto one of those. These spicebushes are first year plantings so they are only a couple feet tall. If it was an 8x8' shrub, it'd be a different story.

Thanks Seq--must be fun to watch him with his little green saddle. :-)

I also have trouble with wilting leaves. I try to get a fresh one once or twice a day and lay it across the old one. Then when the cat moves to the fresh one, I discard the old one. It's hardest when they are eggs since they stay on the same leaf for a few days then!

Found another egg this morning! Yay!

The BST pupation time can vary from 10 days to months!

Doesn't the last generation of Swallowtails pupate from fall to spring?

This message was edited Aug 13, 2015 8:39 PM

Muddy stopped by for a visit today and when we strolled around back we discovered that Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars were just finishing stripping ALL the foliage on our Asclepias purpurascens and A. perennis plants! What a shock, green sticks with some pods at the top. Then we found a Dogbane plant where they were just getting started. One really has to be vigilant.

Rats! those tussock moth cats are voracious herds that seem to show up overnight.. They stripped a couple stems of my syriacus, then disappeared.

Thank you, Sally and Cat. We will just have to keep an eye on the little pupa.

Donner! We should both be asleep!

[quote="Muddy1"]Doesn't the last generation of Swallowtails pupate from fall to spring?

yes! They overwinter. I had a couple emerge this spring that had overwintered.

That is really too bad about all the Tussock Moth caterpillars devouring some of your Asclepias plants, Greenthumb! :-(

Not too bad for the Tussock Moth mommies and daddies

Sorry, Tussock Moth mommies and daddies--you don't get to feel the love often, do you. ;-)

So what did you do then GT? Did you destroy them?

My little cat has grown! I don't see any incipient horns, so I'm pretty sure it's a Monarch and not a Queen!

When cats shed their skins for next instar, they remain very still and do not eat for a day. after they shed, they eat the old skin, call effluvia I believe.

I hadn't heard of a Queen butterfly, but based on the photos I found of its caterpillar, I think you're right CatMint! Queen and Monarch butterflies do look similar. I haven't seen either one this summer : - (

Bees have finally discovered my Cephalanthus occidentalis (Button Bush) and seem to like it. It's supposed to be a great shrub for pollinators, so I was surprised not to see any on its flowers when they first opened. I guess the white "buttons" aren't open enough or don't have the best nectar.

I'm seeing swallowtail butterflies on the phlox every day, but I haven't seen any signs of caterpillars anywhere on the parsley or the fennel. The pictures here are wonderful!

Great photo, Muddy--and that is a cool looking plant.
It's interesting about the pollinators--one year they're all over the Salvia 'May Night' and the next year they ignore it in favor of Salvia 'Caradonna', and so on. Sometimes I think the larger the buffet is that I offer them, the pickier they get! :-D ;-) Anyway, maybe next year they'll discover the Button Bush?

Glad to hear you're seeing a lot of Swallowtails, SSG! I've seen very few BSTs this season--sounds like they are all visiting you! :-)

Not one caterpillar in my garden at all! And, I planted a lot of Parsley

I have seen quite a few BST's.....at least I think that is what they are...
saw one or two Monarchs at work--but there they can have quite the smorgasbord--
with all those tables full of flowers....

Discovered today that my Swamp Milkweed (is that right?) has grown a bunch
of seed pods. Still small and green. Will keep an eye out on them and pick
them before they pop. Someone here said I need to save them...for a "cause"...

Will do my best....

BTW--The Crocosmia scapes, which have been covered in seed capsules--
they are starting to ripen and open up. I will collect as many as i can....

G.

I went out last night to check on my SB swallowtail cat and he was gone. Not sure what happened. Maybe he will turn up somewhere else in a few days.

oh no! but sometimes the monarch cats seem to disappear overnight. I hope you find him. What's his name?

Haha I didn't give him a name. I did find him though. He moved to a new leaf and is getting much bigger. He's probably an inch long now and at least 3/16" thick.

I saw a monarch butterfly fluttering around for quite some time this morning in our front yard. At one point I saw it land on an asclepias leaf and it's butt touched the underside of the leaf. When it flew away I looked at that leaf and there were two round things (eggs?) underneath. If these were indeed eggs, how long would it be until they hatched?

That's great, Seq! Monarch eggs usually take about 3 days to hatch.

I had a lovely visitor for quite a while this afternoon. Followed her around and collected quite a few eggs!

Seq, is this what your eggs looked like? Little whitish ovals perched on the leaf?

Yes, that is exactly what they look like. Why do you take the eggs; why not just leave them in their natural state?

There were either tons of monarchs in the yard today or just one was stalking me all day long. It was crazy, every time I turned around there was a monarch.

I think only about 2% of eggs laid by Monarchs produce caterpillars that survive to become butterflies....probably more, but not the closer to 100% when reared inside.

This Button Bush is becoming a hopping spot.

I really like those button bush but I've never gotten one because of all the water I've read they need. I like butterflies but I don't think I'm all about raising one in captivity. It's great what you all do but I will let mine fend for themselves.

What Muddy said! :-) They're not likely to survive outside, given that Monarch eggs are apparently like candy to a lot of insects, whereas inside I know they'll most likely emerge to produce more Monarchs--something that's very much needed right now.

Love that Button Bush, Muddy! Great butterfly photos!

I didn't know the odds were that bad/differential. I'm gonna need more containers if I do more. coleup had large plastic (Gladware) tubs, the semi-disposable ones, with the center of the lid cut out and paper towel under the opening, across the top.

Yes, that's what I've been doing, too, Sally! I don't cut out the tops, though. When they're eggs, the leaves need a tiny bit of moisture to keep from crinkling, so a dew-covered leaf collected early in the morning and added to the container works well. I leave the top of the container cracked slightly to let the air flow (again, when they're eggs). I keep a close eye on them for when they might hatch. But the paper towel over the cut opening is a great idea.

As tiny cats, they do fine with the lid closed and fresh leaves every day. Once they're big enough, I move them to the butterfly habitat.

What is the butterfly habitat?