I caught this pretty Polydamas Swallowtail ovipositing on my little pipevine. The problem is the vine is Aristolochia elegans. I know this is not a good host plant for the young Pipevine STs, but what about these?
Does anyone know?
Pipevine problem?
Crap, I thought elegans was a good one :(
az, one of my books says the 'elegans' is only good for the last instar Pipevine STs, the young cats will not survive on it. I don't know if it's true and I don't know how it affects the Polydamas STs.
Maybe the Polys will be okay, it's the only Pipevine I have right now.
Ah, so if I have elegans going I can use that to back up my native pipvine so it doesn't get decimated?
According to this book.....only move the little ones to the native and then move the last instars back. It would be great to hear how that works. I hope you don't have to sacrifice cats to find out.
It also said the last instars won't like it much.
The book is 'Butterfly Gardening For The South, by Geyata Ajilvsgi. It says she has done a lot of research and has firsthand experience.
Which pipevine do you have?
Wow, I don't have any blies yet so I don't have to worry about cats lol I have watsonii (our native) and fimbriata and elegans. They're all small and new, though, so hopefully they have some time to grow.
Aristolochia elegans is the larval host for the Polydamas butterfly!!! Lucky you!!!
I had one Polydamas nectaring on my duranta last year so I traded for an aristolochia elegans. It is huge now...am just waiting for the Polydamas to find my yard again. I'm ready!!!
The Pipevine Swallowtails out here use aristolochia erecta and I also raised some on aristolochia fimbriata...they loved the a. fimbriata!!!
Must say I had some Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars last year I 'tried' to raise on a. elegans...they had completely eaten the aristolochia erecta to the ground so I tried that vine...but only the last instars ate it. The one 3rd instar caterpillar I had died. I wouldn't recommend it for anything but the last instar Pipevine Swallowtail cats.
~ Cat
This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 9:39 PM
azreno - Well, ya know once the butterflies find it .... there won't be anything left after you see cats on it! :-) Hopefully your vines will get a LOT more growth on them!!! :-)
Rox - That is so weird about the different Pipevines. But that can also be said of the Passion Vines. I have 2 different kinds of PV and the cats prefer one over the other. Such picky eaters!!!! lol
So, the cats at all stages will be okay?
What about the Pipevine SWTs? Do you have those on it?
The Polys are weird...with no tail, but, they're still so pretty.
The Polydamas is not common down here. I will be excited if one finds my a. elegans and lays eggs on it! Geez...you're so lucky!!! Have been wanting to raise those buggers! The cats are awesome from all the photos I've seen. You'll have to start a thread showing the ongoing life cycle for us.
Am sure this will be the year they'll find my yard too :o)
~ Cat
Here's another problem, maybe.
My passie is 'Lavender Lady' which is P. amethysthina X P. caerulea.
I hope this cross isn't poisonous :(
Maybe from now on, I stick with natives lol
I will keep you posted.
One of my bf books says the Polys are in much of peninsula Florida, and to a lesser degree in southern Texas and rarely stray northward.
So, maybe you'll see some Cat!
Becky, are you seeing any?
Boy am I learning a lot!
I had tons of cats eating up my lavender lady last year, tons of chrysalis', too. Didn't pay any attention to whether or not they were successful or not (I have so many GF's!) but I gave some eggs on a baby constance elliot to a friend (she has a house full of boys :o) they loved it) with some cuttings from LL and I do know they turned out fine.
Oh good, thanks az, that's a relief!
Oh no, thank you!
Lynn,.......... waiting VERY patiantly for Pipevine ST's because her plants are babies :)
....forgot to add...I've never tried growing aristolochia elegans from seeds but I have gobs of seed pods I harvested.
If anyone wants to try growing it D-Mail me or look up my address in the exchange.
I can send you a pod for a SASBE. Each pod has about 400 seeds in it.
Here's a photo of the seed pods when they were still green...just to show how many were in one small area. The vine was covered in blooms...and then pods :o) It's also blooming again now. Lots!!! That means I'll have more pods again too.
~ Cat
This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 10:14 PM
...and the dried pod...showing some seeds.
~ Cat
Roxanne! How great is that? Polydamas!! When I read the first few posts here this morning, I was thinking.."Yeah!! A. elegans IS the host for Polydamas!! Won't Rox be glad!!" Then Cat confirmed.... Lucky you girl!
I have that plant too...and will be surprised to see any action on it~ But I am pretty lucky, we shall see.
Deb
Cat - Do you happen to have a photo of the blooms? If so, please post it here. Pretty please? :-)
Thanks for sending me a pod several weeks ago!!! I have a panel of my backyard fence for the vine to crawl along. Though I have heard they have very LONG vines. I am trying to grow some Morning Glories too, along that back fence. ;-) Do you think they would do fine growing in with the A. elegans? It gets really hot here and maybe the larger vine would provide a little shade for the MG vines? What do you think?
I wish that I could figure out a way to use your livestock fencing trellises. But with the hurricane force winds we get here, I'm afraid it would become a flying projectile or get totally mangled up by gusting winds. That would certainly be the best solution!
I have Wooly Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa) coming up in the bogless bed as well! Yay! I thought they needed cold stratification but apparently not true as they are sprouting!!!
Edited to add:
This is really interesting info on the floridata website:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/a/aris_ele.cfm
Seems the name is being changed for this cultivar of pipevine. And it is also considered a catergory II on the invasive list in Florida. Uh oh! I won't tell anyone! LOL
This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 10:46 AM
Thanks for the link Becky, I wonder why they changed the species name.
Cat, thanks for the pipevine pics, I haven't seen seed pods on mine yet, but they are pretty.
I think the Mgs would look good with the pipevine. Can you wire the cattle fencing to the privacy fence, but you probably don't want to drill holes in it.
Happy Birthday Fly girl!! :)
Susan
Thank you so much Susan!
Here's an update. The cats are getting big, they seem to be flourishing on the A. elegans. It's so exciting to raise another kind of butterfly!
They're adorable :)
Oh my goodness Roxanne!! How sweet! I saw a PDST fly through today...he didn't stay.. But I hope whoever he's looking for comes back to lay her eggs.
It certainly is exciting having a new species generating from our gardens. I have set myself up for a lot of excitment for one year I think!
:-D
Great looking caterpillars!!! I keep checking my aristolochia elegans vines each day in the hopes of finding eggs...none yet...sigh...
Here's a photo of some blooms. The vine is a prolific bloomer and seeder! There are gobs of flowers on it but because the foliage is quite dense it's hard to see them.
~ Cat
This message was edited May 3, 2007 7:58 AM
Photo of aristolochia elegans bloom up close.
~ Cat
This message was edited May 3, 2007 7:59 AM
What a good looking PV that is Cat!! I hope mine will take off and grow like that!
Deb
Cat, that is a huge Pipevine! Which one is it? I love the flowers!
Yesterday I had a visit from a very large Pipevine ST. She sailed through the yard and found the A. elegans and began ovipositing. She laid about a dozen eggs or so in little rows, shaking profusly as she went..
here is what the eggies look like>
I have A. macrophylla, but she didn't seem to notice it. The trilobata and tomentosa are still seedlings. Yikes! I sure hope I can keep ahead of them! I am going to build another cage today. When they hatch I will see if they will eat the A. macrophylla.
That's unusual Deb....the young Pipevine Swallowtail instars end up dying when they eat a. elegans. The older instars can survive but I've read several posts about the 1st-3rd instars not making it. I brought back some PVS cats from the ranch a few months ago and ran out of aristolochia erecta so I tried aristolochia elegans. The 3rd instar cat died but the latter instars survived. I was able to get aristolochia fimbriata in trade and put that in the cage and they really chowed down on it. Never saw a pipevine cat eat so fast :o)
I have that huge aristolochia elegans photographed above in my back yard and I get Pipevine Swallowtails but they won't use it. They really do love the aristolochia fimbriata and I've been able to trade for more. The plants are doing quite well now.
Back at the ranch the PVS use aristolochia erecta (Texas Swanflower) - a very small low growing pipevine that amazes me at how it can support caterpillar life! Considering that PVS explosion back at the ranch you'd think the stuff was growing everywhere but I had a very hard time finding any plants...and when I did...there were have a dozen caterpillars feeding on one tiny plant.
This is a photo of the native aristolochia erecta (swanflower) - it truly is a tiny plant and blends in so well with the grass and weeds.
~ Cat
Roxanne-
Yeah for you! I love the little Poly's!
~Adrienne
Deb, do you think she knows the difference? I hope they make it....you could move them.
I moved some of the Poly cats to the A. gigantea because it's bigger, and have some in the reptarian.
I love those Polys too.....this is my first year with them. She really liked my LB Petunia!
I just realized that one is a Pipevine ST.....yay!
LOL roxanne... I was gonna say.......that is a PVST, hahaha. I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that...Thanks!!
Deb
Ahh Cat, you've inspired me! I got too busy and gave up trying to get the pipevine seeds started but I've got to have one of those now! love it!
...now if the rain would just stop I could finish planting the remaining 20 plants (of about 60) that I started in Jan and finish restaining my fence...
Way to go Paige!! Almost there!!:-D I put the PW etc. in baggies today. Fun fun!
Cat~ I sent my SASBE out today, save me a pod por favor!! I will share what I don't end up using.
Deb