thanks Catmint. I have 2-3 more cats out there I can up my herd to 4 in a larger tub.
Plant It and They Will Come part 6
Seq, it's a place for caterpillars to safely munch away, grow larger, and then form their chrysalises.
(1) A Monarch cat forming his chrysalis, hanging from the top of the habitat (usually they are made of mesh)
(2) The new chrysalis, with other Monarch cats ready to pupate
(3) Coming home to find the butterflies emerged and drying their wings
(4) Taking them outside and opening the habitat so they can continue to dry their wings and prepare for flight
(5) A Black Swallowtail cat munching away inside the habitat
I got this large white habitat online (Amazon?). I also got a smaller, black mesh habitat from Greenthumb at last year's fall swap. He had them to purchase from the Loudon County wildflower society.
Thanks, Catmint!
According to Carol Pasternak's book "How to Raise Monarch Butterflies", "only one in a hundred eggs in the wild survives to be an adult". I have been looking for eggs, but will try to spend more time doing it because I have a rearing habitat that hasn't seen any action this year!
Those are very sad numbers, Muddy. :-(
Checking remaining milkweeds for tussock moth caterpillars I found this monarch cat on a still-foliated A. perennis. In case anyone thinks I am an alarmist about the tussock moth cats, the second photo is the remains of a clump of A. purpurascens and the third photo of a defoliated clump of A. perennis.
That's a nice size caterpillar; do you have enough Milkweed left?
I think so, this cat is good sized and there are a number of leaves left on this plant. Hopefully it will feed its fill and crawl off to pupate.
you're not being alarmist, they -TM cats- are like a plague of locusts.
Wow those tussock moth cats did quite a number! :-(
Sally that's interesting about the cages. It sounds like some people keep live butterflies in them? I don't think I would want to do that.:-( good point about the need to keep them clean.
Thanks for the link, Sally! My rearing cage is looking like it's in need of a cleaning and I was wondering what to use....now I know!
Went to check on the seed pods of my Mikweed--and found a zillion yellow
aphids on most of the tips of the branches. UGH! They sure have done a number
on all the leaves below--all are sticky/shiny from their honeydew.
Cut most of the tips off and trashed them--as it was long done with blooming.
Left the pods to ripen a bit...then I will pick them off and save them.
WHO is it again that was collecting them??? g.
This little Skipper (?) was hanging out on this Passiflora incarnata leaf for awhile; does anyone know what it is?
I'll try re-posting those photos!
This message was edited Aug 16, 2015 5:50 PM
Take 2
Pretty sure it is a male Zabulon Skipper.
Thanks, greenthumb; I won't bother looking for eggs on that leaf, then : - )
LOL!
It's a pretty one.
Gita, its Monarchwatch.org
I did a bad bad thing. Put my swamp MW seedpods in a baggies and grew a huge mass of white mold! I wonder if the seeds can be saved. I'm sure I shouldn't send them to Monarchwatch. I will just take them to the woods.
So my SB swallowtail cat has transitioned to its 5th instar stage. I looked at it this morning and it was in the 4th stage and brown. I looked at it this afternoon and it had turned green.
I did that once too Sally. It happens. My milkweed seeds won't be ready until late October though.
what a cool cat!
Yeah, a cool cat with a cool cat....
HA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funny, Sequoia!
ahahaha--good one, Seq! and I agree--very cool looking cat! ;-)
So sorry about the seed pods, Sally. :-(
Sally--
Is there someone in out group that will act as "collector" of the swamp
Milkweed seed pods? If so--can I bring them to the swap?
I am not sure I can tell if they are ripe--but Sally said that if they are turning
a pale yellow--they should be ready. I will be watching.
I am also watching which little seed bumps on the Crocosmia are turning ripe.
Picking seeds of that too. I am a lost cause.............I cannot stop picking seeds.
It is scary how many seeds I have! You have only seen the BIG BOX I bring to the swaps--
I have boxes of sandwich bags full of extra seeds--some a few years old--some pretty current.
Sometimes--I just want to go to a field, somewhere, and throw them all to the winds...
I am "sick"---a lost cause---I cannot help collecting seeds from everything...
It goes hand in hand with my "sickness" of saving everything....I am "chained" to this
behavior...save! Preserve! hang on to....SOMEDAY!!! I will need it....HA!!
:o/... G.
Gita or anyone else, I will be happy to collect your Milkweed seeds to send to Monarch.org. Just bring them to the swap. Thanks. Oh, put the well dried pods in a paper bag and label with type, date and location collected.
Most wanted are Common, A. syriaca
Swamp, A incarnata
Butterfly Weed, A tuberosa
Judy--
My Tropical Milkweed you gave me is growing nicely. Not sure it will make it
to the blooming stage. seems kind of late....
My Swamp Milkweed--today I went to check on the seed pods--and found
most of the stem tips covered in the yellow Aphids. I trimmed all the tips off--
as the plant was done blooming anyway. Tomorrow--I will try to spray
it with something non-chemical...
I have NO cats yet on anything!!! I have not seen any on my parsley or Dill..
Second year now. NONE! Three years ago--there were piles of them chomping
away on my parsley and dill. Has it been a bad year? Overall?
Gita
Pics--July 2013
Gita, just hand squish those oleander aphids! No need to spray. Keep as many swamp milkweed leaves as possible as you may get some Monarch mama egg laying activity between now and mid Sept! Oh, by the way, the orange color does wash off hands but disposable gloves may save your nails! While you are squishing them look on the undersides of the leaves for Monarch eggs, a bit smaller than the aphids but cream colored. Those aphids will not bother any of your other plants, they stay on the Milkweed.
There is plenty of time yet for your Tropical, A curasavica to bloom and it will do so til 'frost'. Even if no seed pods, you can bring entire plant indoors and it will bloom all winter, or you can take cuttings to raise for an earlier start next year. Cuttings root easily in water or soil. Good luck.
Monarch eggs are smaller than those aphids?! Wow, maybe I've been missing them; I thought they were bigger. I did look with my reading glasses on today, and even examined some bird poop carefully because I know some eggs or cats look like it : - )
Lets move on to Part #7
over here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1403607/
Muddy, I'll respond to you oner on new thread!