I'm new to butterfly gardening and have a question.... I had just oodles of black swallowtail caterpillars on my curly parsley. They completely ate it! But now they seem to be gone. Is there anything I can or should do to continue to attract them back or to feed them? I have bronze fennel and even the large flat leaf parsley but they don't seem to be eating either of those. Thanks!
-- Vicky
Now what?
I'd say plant more curly parsley, but tons more of it :)
If they were big enough, they may have crawled off to pupate. But then again, they could have been picked off by predators. A very small percent of caterpillars outdoors survive to become butterflies. If you don't want to raise them inside regular cages, a small screened cage over the plant, maybe? I've also heard of special "sleeves" to put over plants, sold somewhere on butterfly supply sites.
I'm going to plant some more parsley -- I use it in cooking a lot but when I saw the caterpillers I gave it up to them! But what predators would eat the caterpillers? Anything I can do to keep them away?
or lots of dill. It is the first choice at my house, then fennel then parsley
Predators of butterfly caterpillars are things like wasps, spiders, birds, assassin bugs, etc. Caterpillars have always been prey for many things. I put caterpillars (or eggs, in some cases) inside screened cages or closed containers and feed them host plant foliage. Or put a screened shelter of some kind over plants which are planted in the ground. It's a lot of work, I guess. I just like to watch the caterpillars develop and make sure they have a good chance.
I had purple coneflowers and the cats ate it to the ground
What ate coneflowers?! I plant the fennel, dill, rue, parsley, Queen Anne's Lace (that only attracted a cottontail), passionvine, milkweed, 4 o'clocks, etc. for the caterpillars but I want my coneflowers!
vcb1, your parsley was just the first choice for them. It could be something different next time around tho. Mine have always chosen fennel but kept going for the dill this year.
Like Linda, I bring a lot of mine inside. I've still got about 10 BST's, I think 3 Monarch cats and 5-6 more eggs, and 3 Gulf Fritillary eggs that I brought in today. I've got lots more Monarch eggs but I'm trying wait to bring them in until the last minute. The 1st instar cats are so hard to keep in a bowl! I'm going to have to put a lid on them or they just wander off and I'm looking for specs of dirt for hours. lol
Please explain about "1st instar" to me. I have seen that several times but don't know what it means. I am fairly new at butterfly "growing"! I have 7 GSTs on a citrus plant that I moved into my screened deck for safety. They are in their chrysalis now for over a week and I check daily for any changes- nothing yet.
The 'cats' go for the fennel here even though I planted dill, parsley (curly) and fennel.
I have Butterfly Weed (4) and Milkweed. The field next to us have Milkweed, Ironweed, Queen Ann's Lace, Wild Black Eyed Susan and don't remember what else.
Going to plant more Fennel next year and maybe not Dill. Parsley will be planted more too (our 2 bunnies like it too).
Marilyn
Instars are their stages of growth. Most cats will go thru 5 instars, the 1st when they hatch and their 5th the last molt before they pupate. If you keep some inside and watch them you will be able to tell when they go thru one. It's very strange!
Here is a link to a ton of great info from fellow butterfly lovers and gardeners:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/butterfly/2004044550021472.html