Ahh, thank you Ivy1! :) I'm just here to learn and pass on info, and have fun!
Scooterbug, do you have one of those "things"?! Wow! I would definitely want one if I lived up north. Here in Texas our season for gardening is so long that by the time it ends, I'm ready. Then right when I get anxious again it's almost time, since ours starts again so early. All this gardening time and WHERE are my butterflies and hummers?!
Our butterflies hatched today!
We also started with this Butterfly program thru InsectLore.com. I bought the kit for My Junior girl SCout troop. We ordered 30 Caterpillars which pupa and then hatch to Butterflies. We kept them long enought that they mated and then layed eggs. We just let them go about 2 weeks ago at the Butterfly garden and our Girl Scout Leader Meeting place. Unfortunatley the baby caterpillars once hatch from their eggs never live. 1 have 1 left of about 400 eggs.
:(
Chris
SUM
Here is a picture of one of our Painted Ladies before release
That is strange. Any ideas why they didn't live? Were you feeding them the correct host plant? Did they just suddenly all die? They could have had a virus.
I think the Painted Lady caterpillars eat Hollyhocks, Thistles, and Mallow plants. Maybe beans?
Look what we found this morning:
