So if Virgina Snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria) is tough to locate and to grow .What should us Floridians grow to attract Pipevine Swallowtails to lay their eggs on? Is it true that not all pipevine is their favorite and in fact might not be good,or is that just idle chatter? BTW how many of you have seen Pipevine Swallowtails this year? I know you Texians have gobs of them and just wondering how many find their way this far east. The two books I've read on them has them listed as occasional visitors here. Don
What are your Pipevine Swallowtails laying their eggs on?
I - rarely - if ever have seen any here in Sebastian.
My swallowtails lay eggs on A. fimbriata. The cats eat it to the ground and it grows back. They also love A. trilobata and A. tomentosa and do equally well on both. The PSTs laid eggs on A. elegans and I didn't notice a problem, but they only used it as last resort.
Hi Don!
This is something.. The PVSTs like to oviposit on the A. elegans here. One crawled off the fimbriata in order to get to it. I haven't seen a female for some time now, however I have one that eclosed here and he visits every day patrolling for a female. I will see plenty soon enough though.
:-Deb
New PVST's just finding each other.. One of them is the male that keeps coming here. humm.. She flew off like a rocket and I haven't seen her since. :-.
That photo is really cool. I tried planting some A. seeds of several types. I think they take a very long time to germinate, but we shall see. The seeds were given to me or sent to me from friends here at Dave's Garden!
Don,
I've yet to see a Pipevine Swallowtail. I get Polydamus like crazy though! They lay eggs on the elegant.... I have the native FL pipevine (wooly) I think it's tomentosa but the "Polys" really don't like it in my Garden. They're weird!
Adrienne
So the eggs that you got that you thought were Pipevine SWT's....were they Polys? I posted a picture,right? Oh! I got the Zeb's (Zebra) this week....It just took them a few days to come down the road! :)
Adrienne
Adrienne,
yes they were poly's.When I first discovered them it was cloudy and the sun was going down and they looked black to me.The next morning in the light I could see they were poly's.I still haven't gotten a good sighting of the Poly yet.I've got a dozen poly cats in the cage and they are growing like gangbusters.
Yes the Longwings are still here and laying eggs.They have just started hatching and I've got 7 cats in the cage eatting away on p.suberosa.Those little white cats are sure interesting looking.Wish I had a good camera to take a picture with.I'll have to wait until they get larger than I'll try and snap one. I'm glad to hear they have made it down to your neighbor hood.Just keep a close watch on those suberosa tennacles for eggs.That's so far the only plant I've seen them interested in laying eggs on. Let me knew when your's start giving you cats. Don
Don,
here's a pic to hold you over.... :)
Adrienne - Oh! My heart be still! What a GREAT photo! I got chills just looking at it! Boy, do I want to see ZLWs again! How truly exciting!!!
Don,
I only have A. Elegans and A. gigantea but I have lots of PVST every year, so many I don't bother bringing them in. Hmm, how can I get some of mine to you?
Maggie
Maggie - (Waving hand here!!!) Me! Me! Just kidding .... I have NO pipevine for them. LOL You could send Don some chrysalises!
I planted seeds for A. Elegans, A. gigantea, A. fimbriata, and A. tomentosa. Only the tomentosa sprouted. (See photo.) Very, very slow growing so far. I am confused about what butterfly/cat might use the tomentosa. Anyone care to clarify that for me or share their experience with this plant?
Becky,
Pipevine Swallowtails will lay their eggs on A. tomentosa not on the elegant pipevine, though. I have Elegant as well as Gigantic...hee,hee. I do have the wooly as well but no one in my yard like it.
Adrienne
Adrienne - Let me get this straight ..... they will lay their eggs on the tomentosa (wooly) but won't eat it as a host plant? You're kidding right? (sigh)
So far I've only seen eggs laid on the native A. erecta, Swan Flower and the A. fimbriata, the nonnative White-Veined Dutchman's Pipevine. Whatever they use, the cats just seem to need too much foliage and many aristolochias that they thrive on don't have much. I have another Texas native, A. coryi, which I have not yet found eggs on, but have fed it to cats and they do very well with it. Then I have the A. serpentaria...still small. When I only had A. gigantea foliage left last year, I had a cat die using it, so I got rid of that one. I figure better safe than sorry. Oh, and with the cats eating the plants, they don't have much chance to make seeds. But I'll probably have some A. fimbriata seeds if the cats don't come back soon.
I think I have a pod or two on one A. fimbriata that the cats didn't strip down to the stems. They were still green, but nice size.
Linda - That's interesting that one of your cats died eating the A. gigantea foliage. I have tried germinating the others with no luck. (Except for the A. tomentosa.) Maybe I'll try again. I wonder how long the seeds stay good?
Becky,the one thing I've noticed about aristolochia seed is the fresh ones gerninate alot quicker than the old seed.Don't give up on the old seed though ,it may take 3 or 4 months for it to germinate.Last year I started some aristolochia and it didn't sprout and it didn't sprout so I gave up on it and I needed to start some milkweed and I just planted the milkweed seed over the top of the pipevine and the milkweed sprouted and was getting started real well then about a month later I noticed I had about 10 small pipevine seedlings right along with the milkweed,so wonders never cease. Don
Thanks, Don! I was wondering how long I could hold out hope that a. seeds might still come up!
Becky,
You know the map for Indian River County doesn't have PVST even listed. How far is the closest county to list them, I wonder? oO~Looks~oO.... I see Brevard County seems to get them..Polydamas is the only ST listed for St. Lucie County. (The lists on the F&M NA must be shy on several of the counties.) I bet you will get PVST if you keep growing the A. tomentosa.. The blooms might get them to come, if not, maybe the Polydamas. Have you seen Polydamas in your yard yet?
LOL Adrienne, I'm confussed... What is the 'wooly' you have if it isn't A. tomentosa? It's the only one I have heard called that anyway. Do you have a pic of it?
Heres something nutty... Yours truely potted several different pipevines in one big pot... All of them 'are supposed' to be good hosts. I have stationed several kinds all around the yard. We'll see what happens when more female pvst's get here. Since the last batch of eggs, I'm just getting the males.
Y'all know how when Cassias bloom it attracts ovipositing females? Maybe Pipevines, with their strongly detectable scent, are the same way. The reason I say this is bc the A elegans is the only pv in my yard that has ever bloomed, and it is the only one that's had any eggs layed on it here. I think the blooming is very significant with many of the host plants.
Yep Don, I've sown seed over seed b4 and the older seed would come up, lol.. Your right to tell people to wait a little longer. :-). .. Sue, just give em a little more time.
:-Deb
Don - Thanks for telling me about the pipevines possibly taking months to germinate. Maybe I will still get some to germinate later this year. I hope so. I was going to try planting more seeds .... but maybe I should wait, huh? LOL!
Deb - Yes! I did have one Polydamas Swallowtails last year. It hung out in my yard for a number of weeks until it finally died. Just that one though. It was constantly nectaring on my Lantana and Porterweed. My Florida Butterfly book mentions the pipevines are it's host, but does not mention A. tomentosa specifically. It mentions A. elegans, A. gigantea, and A. trilobata. There is no pipevine around my neighborhood that I am aware of. So not sure where he came from, but there is a lot of wooded area near me. So something was probably growing wild there. Probably snake root.
I also think that you are on to something with the scent of the flowers attracting the butterflies. Makes sense to me! :-)
I do think that I get quite a few if not all of the Swallowtails listed for Florida. They probably have just not been reported for my county yet.