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Butterfly Garden

Monarch Jackpot

9 years ago

Collected two more Monarch larvae and 5 eggs at Church, and three more cats in a restored prairie down the street, plus six more eggs. Grand total: 8 Monarch larvae 2-3 instars and 12 eggs. # 4th instar BST cats. I think it's going to be a stronger year for butterflies. I also have AL cats on every sprig of PT/Everlasting in the garden :)
Happy Happy
Joy, Joy

John

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Comments (8)

MissSherry
9 years ago
I'm so happy to hear about big caterpillar activity in Wisconsin! I'm jealous of your monarchs and black swallowtails - I haven't seen any adults in ages, much less gotten any eggs or cats.

My last AL just made its chrysalis, and yet another spicebush swallowtail has purged, turned yellow and is making the jog. I have 14 of these! Pretty soon I'll have nothing in the cages but chrysalides!

Have you gotten any red admiral cats yet, John?

Sherry
Leafhead
Original Author
9 years ago
Funny you should mention RAs, Sherry,
My friend LeRoy and I were just garden touring and I discovered 10 or so RA nests of various sizes! I'd bring some in, but I'm maxed out with Monarch cats at the moment. I think enough will survive to adulthood. I also saw what may have been an adult RA out of the corner of my eye.
The season has finally hit Madison, WI and I couldn't be happier :-)

John
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Spanish Needle? What's that? I'm just a bit north and west of you (Clermont, Florida) and the Cape Honeysuckle does well here also, but mostly in the early spring. There are some flowers now, but only a few left on the vines. I have one growing up and around a large Crepe Myrtle. I say "one" but it now seems to be a group or a large bush that has runners all over. I planted two more of these right next to another Crepe Myrtle. They are starting to grow up it now. I have found this plant to be a favorite for hummingbirds in the early spring. At this time there are many other plants that they use more--primarily because there are so few flowers on it at this time.
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Angie, So sorry to hear about your tiny cats disappearing. I guess there are more spiders and other creatures out there than we even realize, but we learn from experience. Not to worry, I'm sure we all go through that. I've had it happen. So far (knock on wood) I've never had problems with anything getting the Giant Swallowtail cats out on the gas plants. I've been letting them out on the plants until they get a little bigger. I guess you've read about the problems that I had with trying to raise them from eggs and little cats. A lot of them end up dying because of that wandering off the plants thing that they do. I guess only a couple of us have had those problems though. I'd try putting mesh bags around the stems outside, but I'd be afraid that I'd forget to move them and they'd run out of food. Yes, that would be like me even though I'd know that I had cats. I hop around between lots of projects and get sidetracked. If I have cats in containers here on our back porch, though, where they're there "in my face", I know that I won't forget to feed them. I have figured out that for me (I mean for the GST cats' sakes), I should leave them out on the gas plants until they're past that real tiny stage, and then I gather them up and they'll be alright. It's strange that it happens like that, but it does. Now, I haven't tried raising them inside on wafer ash from tiny on up yet. I had only tried raising them inside on the rue. Come to think of it, I don't know if I tried raising them on Dictamnus from the beginning either, but I don't think so. About your question, Angie, I'd just let them go if they wander off of the plants. I've come to a conclusion (I guess my own personal belief, really) is that by continually trying to put them back on the rue, I'm probably causing them more stress than if I'd just leave them alone. It was just hard to watch them die and feel helpless about it. I guess I've somewhat figured it out, though...now, if the predators will just cooperate and stay away from the eggs and cats until I bring them in to raise! I might just bring a few in and try to raise them on the wafer ash and see what happens. I'll have to cross my fingers and hope that I have better luck than I had with raising them on the rue. Of course, since I think she probably laid the majority of her eggs on the gas plants, I might as well bring mama GST's eggs in on that and raise them on that too (in addition to trying the wafer ash). I'm glad that your paw paws are doing so great. Out of the dozen that I planted in our back yard that year, 11 of them have survived (I planted a wafer ash in the dead one's place), but I have yet to see a Zebra Swallowtail. If nothing else, I guess we might be eating a lot of paw paws eventually. My trees are much smaller than yours, ranging from 2-4 feet. They must love Georgia! And you, of course. :) Cathy This post was edited by caterwallin on Mon,...
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Check the tips of your milkweed. If the mama Monarchs have a choice, they will lay their eggs on the most tender growth. When the eggs hatch, the cats are so tiny they are difficult to see. For the first few days, tender leaf or bloom growth makes it easier for them to feed. The eggs are usually laid one to a leaf and usually on the underside. Sometimes the mama Monarch doesn't have a choice and if few plants are available, she will return and lay more eggs on the same leaf. It's almost as if she knows there must be so much food available per egg for her babies to survive. Here is my poor example of what the Monarch egg looks like. Other forum members will have better photos and perhaps they will post, too. It is difficult to really tell the size, since you don't know the size of the leaf, but that is a younger leaf from 'tropical milkweed', maybe about an inch and a half long. Once you find and see an egg on your milkweed, it will be easy to spot them in future. Mary
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Spring Me a Surprise - Received...
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I received a surprise today from Chris (grolikecrazy)! Thank you. :) The plain letter envelope had holes in it- looks like it was damaged in transit. There was no bubble wrap or other padding inside of it to cushion the seeds. Seeds sent to me with no bubbles almost always do get destroyed like this, because the PO runs mail through some hard metal rollers unless it's in a bubble mailer marked FRAGILE in big red letters. :( The Dianthus barbatus seeds were about 75% destroyed and the Red Noodle Yard Long Bean seeds were completely dust. Thank you grolikecrazy, for kindly sending to me. I can still sow the few Dianthus seeds that made it, and hopefully get some plants! Excited about that. :) I'm sorry this happened, Chris. You were so kind to send seeds to me. I'm very glad you were thinking of me, and some of the Dianthus seeds do appear to be usable. It made my day to receive this, even if it is just a few seeds. : ) Thanks, Grovespirit Wondering why the surprises I mailed out haven't shown up here yet. I do hope they didn't get lost in the mail.
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runmede
9 years ago
I've collected over 100 Monarchs here in Northern VA. I think it is going to be a great year. Get ready they will be there soon and they are hungry. I'm up to my elbows in frass. But, I would love to see more RLs and other species. Also, raising lots of PSTs.

Last night I was up until midnight. The Monarchs are eating bowls of milkweed. This a new way to keep it fresh. I take a grocery bag out to the field, trim the tops (it will create new growth for later in the summer), in the bottom of the plastic grocery bag (I'm using one from Trader Joe's) I placed a plastic bowel with wet paper towels. Then, when I get home I recut the bottoms and place those into a bowel of water. I'm using some wet paper towel to help keep the stems upright. I'm not washing this new spring growth, but will wash in the summer to help prevent OE. I do inspect the leaves for spiders and other predators. In the field, I saw a tiny assassin bug sucking the life out of a second instar caterpillar. And, spiders, OMG, so many spider. I use plastic gloves that I buy by the hundreds at Costco to cover my hands to avoid getting bitten.

{{gwi:486454}}
Leafhead
Original Author
9 years ago
WOW! I am extremely encouraged by the number of Monarchs people on this forum are raising :-) Never underestimate the power of insects-esp when they get a little help from wonderful people like you.
I'm having similar results c American Ladies. (I guess you could call me a real ladies' man hehehe). I have at least 50 cats around the property, with an ELF a week on average.
I think it's going to be a fun year, despite a cold and miserable Spring...

John
bandjzmom
9 years ago
Always happy to hear of new Monarch eclosures! John, your success is encouraging. I am always amazed by how much species variation there is in my yard from year to year. So far, I have released 3 Monarchs that came to me as eggs on some Swamp MW plants I purchased this spring. I released 12 Spicebush Swallowtails that had overwintered in my garage, and I have released a grand total of 75 Black Swallowtail adults so far this year. 40 of them overwintered in the garage, and the rest I pulled from my Fennel this spring. And of course, I now have the Giant cats! It really is shaping up to be a great butterfly season. :)
Debra Vessels
9 years ago
Great stories everyone, congrats on your great success so far. I have a few tiny BST cats and over 50 eggs.
I haven't seen a Monarch, I have five milkweed, three Liatris and two orange butterfly weed, so I hope I see some on their return from the North.
docmom_gw
9 years ago
What great news from all of you. I'm too busy still getting plants in the ground and keeping up with the rest of my life to spend much time searching for eggs and cats. If I have any, they'll need to fend for themselves for now. I continue to expand my host and nectar plants, though. I got two wild black cherry saplings that My brother dug up for me. I haven't gotten them in the ground yet, but I've seen lots of Tiger Swallowtails around who can take advantage of them some day. Happy gardening.

Martha
october17
9 years ago
I just found five monarch cats! I'm so happy because last year I didn't find any. These were on the giant milkweed.

I have almost 50 BST cats too. I'm afraid I may run out of food for them! (I never get to eat my dill or parsley anymore, but I don't care.

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?what to do with this little guy?

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