WOW! This is most interesting as down here, the Anise Swallowtails are just starting up. :) Thanks for sharing!

Having found my first black swt eggs of the year yesterday, I'm already wondering how I'll keep them all fed. All my beautiful dill and fennel has succumbed to the heat. Thank goodness for rue. And I have some parsley which has done pretty well but is now in full flower which makes me think it does not have much longer.
So recently I read about this mock bishopweed stuff. And now I think I've spotted some! I took some pics but the plants blend in with all the other greenery too well to be discerned. Anyway I guess once I have cats I can put some of the stuff in with them and if they eat it, I'll know.
Maybe next time I'll find eggs on the mock bishop weed, which would be nice too.
Anyway sooo happy to have them again, one of my favorites!
kelly

Neither my friend or I have seen the first Eastern Black butterfly or cat this season. Usually they show up in the Spring and I have them throughout the summer if I can keep the host plants in the shade. I still have some parsley, dill and fennel growing and Rue but nothing to eat them.

Now have about a dozen Spicebush in chrysalis and cat stages. Saw another female laying so guess there will be more.

Last night while watering, I found many many baby Polydamas on my Pipevine and a few of other sizes. I already moved the larger ones to a vine that is growing on my chain link fence and onto my neighbors wooden fence in hopes they will eat it down and I won't have to just cut it off his fence. However at this rate, there won't be enough of it to feed all I have. I do have lots of other but if last season is any indication, I might be removing eggs this year.

Lots of Monarchs flying around, tons of Gulf Frits. Sulpurs are showing up. Now for the Zebra Longwings, please.

Hey Mary, I keep wondering why the BSTs wait until middle of summer to show up, AFTER all the dill is dead. Last year it was mid-July when I found my first ones. I chalked that up to it being the first year I'd put plants out for them and maybe I had just not seen them previously. (didn't know exactly what I was looking for!) But after July they were constant, a real struggle to keep 'em all fed. Now I see the first one in late June. Seems odd.
Had not seen a ZLW in awhile, but finally had one come around and leave a bunch of eggs which are now hatching. Love those guys!!
I'm in the same boat with regard to pipevine. WAY more cats than vine. I cringe every time I see one looking for a place to lay eggs. Which is every few minutes. ARRGH. Grow faster vines!!!
Happy gardening
Kelly

Kelly,

BSTs got along fine before Europeans brought dill over here. The trick is to put in the BST hostplants which are native to your area so you know they can handle Zone 10. These are what I found for you:

Eryngium cuneifolium
Oxypolis filiformis
Ptilimnium capillaceum - Mock Bishop that Sherry is using
Spermolepis divaricata
Zizia trifoliata - one I would recommend but I could not find a place that sells it

Magnolia virginiana - on the list but news to me that BSTs will use it as a host plant

Cicuta maculata - may not be your first choice since I've read it is the USA's most toxic plant

KC

I'm up to seven black swallowtail cats, and the oldest one is pupating on the side of the cage - YAY!
Sherry

I've raised 7 BST cats so far this year and the last one pupated yesterday. I've released 2 of them so far. Last year I only raised 3 because that was all of the eggs that I found. I have lots of rue, fennel, dill, and parsley, so I hope that another female will stop by here sometime.
Cathy

Kelly, I have limited experience with Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders) since this is my first year growing it. It is listed as a host plant for black swallowtails and is available from Prairie Moon Nurseries.

Bob

I've officially lost count!! Many eggs and teeny babies from the last few days. Love it!!
kelly

Oh and thanks for the host plant suggestions everyone. Always looking for something that can actually LIVE around here. The unidentified plant I found recently (may be mock bishop weed or one of the others listed above - I went back and it is ALL dead. Maybe from the heat, but looked like it had been very wet around there, so maybe drowned. I pulled some seeds from it though, so will see if they are viable. Always something!

Mock bishop's weed is listed in my Florida wildflowers (and weeds) book as growing throughout the state, Kelly.
It looks like dill or fennel, and, of course, is in that same family. The book says it grows in Florida on wet ground near ponds or ditches - I always find it growing in areas of medium/average moisture, not in real wet areas or on high and dry ground, either.
I found another cat this morning - they sure can hide!
Sherry

I was going to ask if it grew in wet areas, because this was around a pond area and now the water has come up to where the plants are (were) and maybe too much water. And it does resemble dill. But that makes me think it is the same thing. I pulled a few up for the seeds, also one plant had some green still so I potted it up to see if it makes it. Learn something new every day! Thank you!
I'm finding more babies on my one tall parsley, now that the eggs are starting to hatch. The cats are MUCH easier to see on the parsley flowers than the eggs.
kelly

Bob,

I'm having good luck with my Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders). Put 4 plants in last year. Three came back this year and have gotten huge. The one BST cat I have is doing very well on it and the cuttings hold up great in water. It is exactly what I wanted for BST's: lots of decent size leaves, cuttings that stay fresh for a while and a plant that lasts all season.

BUT...it only goes south to Zone 8. Kelly's problem is plants are not holding up in Zone 10 heat. Since I have had success with one Zizia, that is why I recommended the Zizia trifoliata, a Zizia which is native to her area.

KC

I'm just about out of mock-bishop's weed, so I put rue in a container, and I'm trying to get the cats to eat it. They don't seem to like it, so I've since gone out and gotten the last of what grows in my garden, and I'm mixing that in with the rue - surely at least a few of them will eat the rue! I had a real early instar cat, and I put that one in a water pick with rue, and it's eating it, but the rest of the cats are in their late instars.
Is there something about mock-bishop's weed that makes for dark black swallowtail cats? Only one is the regular color -
{{gwi:491336}}

I don't keep my cats in such crowded conditions - after I made the picture, I fixed another container of food for them. I just wanted them close so you could see how many dark ones there are.

Sherry

I've never had a BST cat that looked that dark (and I've never used mock bishop).

I've always had success moving BST cats to parsley so a trip to Food Lion may be needed. :D Or maybe you have a garden center selling parsley plants for 75% off (July is the time for vegetable plant sales, at least it is in Ohio).

Hope everything turns out OK,
KC

I'm afraid to use food from the grocery store - don't some grocery store vegetables have Bt in them or on them or whatever? So, if they won't eat the rue, I guess I'll have to get in the car and find them some food on the side of the road.
I've found cats on rue several times before, and raised them successfully on it, so it's definitely something they can eat. Oh well, we'll see.....
Sherry

I have lots of bronze fennel right now Sherry. Email me if you'd like me to mail you some. Bronze fennel doesn't die back for me here. Dill does though.

I've been checking my fennel and rue almost daily for cats and hadn't seen any until Wednesday and suddenly there were five big ones. I know they weren't there all along. I think they must've crawled in from the field or something. I put them in an old aquarium with some fennel and one has made a J already.

Fortunately, the big ones have started eating the rue, but thanks for the offer of fennel, Christie. Fennel doesn't live through the summer here, it dies back like dill and parsley.
Two of them look like they're about to empty their bowels and pupate - I sure hope so!
Sherry

Ok Sherry - Glad to hear they started using the rue. They might've gotten hungry waiting for mail.

Bronze fennel does well here and I get too many seedlings. It's hard to keep deadheaded.
I have three more Js now. I didn't have to feed mine very long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bronze Fennel and Florence Fennel

Oh, to have ANY swallowtails...our weather has been so odd this year. Normally, we have what we call 'June Gloom' or the morning is overcast with the marine layer (fog) and then the sun comes out by mid-morning. This year? Ha! Here it is, the beginning of July, and we STILL have the gloomy weather and some days, the sun doesn't even peek out. The poor lepidoptera are confused as are the plants. I've only seen one swallowtail thus far and have had that one Monarch flutter by. Quite pathetic.

*sigh*

At least the Hummingbirds are happy!

Hi- newby here but not to the swallowtail cats. I raised several last summer, overwintered a few that eclosed this spring... now I have 28 chrysallises and three are still eating.

I had several dark cats this year as well - eating parsley, fennel and dill - didn't notice any difference regarding *what* they ate, so it is a curiosity as to why there were so many dark ones. No clue.

Just the other day I happened to be outside snapping pics of cats on my dill when along came a predatory wasp - and CHOMP - one bite and the poor cat was nothing but a green gooey slimey mess. :-( At the same time, along came another female butterfly and laid NUMEROUS eggs all over everything. Not sure I have enough food for all the babies, but they've now since hatched and I guess nature will take it's course.

I'm going to let the batch I have caged emerge and release before I take any more eggs/first instars in. IT WAS A LOT OF WORK feeding and cleaning up after 30+ caterpillars! LOL

Anyway, hope to get to know everyone better and hopefully post some pics of my "babies."

~Laura

Welcome, Laura. I live between Broken Arrow and Bixby. I have quite a few BSTs also. There are lots of parasites out there this year attacking the caterpillars. I even see them scouring the plants for the eggs. Like you, I have a bunch I am raising, and I won't take on more until this group has pupated.

So far it is a great BF year for me. Hope you are having a wonderful one also.

Sandy

Welcome to the forum, Laura! There are quite a few forum members in Oklahoma, with Sandy being in the Tulsa area.
You did indeed raise a lot of caterpillars! I only have four cats left, three of whom are last instar cats - it's weird how so many in this batch were dark!
Please continue to post, especially pictures!
Sherry

Don't let the fennel or dill or parsley bloom. The blooms bring in the wasp. I just cut my 5 ft. tall fennel back to about 2 ft. It will regrow again.

KC;
Glad to here the golden alexander is doing well for you. I have a huge bag of seed I need to start. It grows well in all conditions. I have seen it in shade and full sun. Nice plant.

Kelly;
Black swallowtails do use water hemlock, which grows in wet areas. So, make sure that is not what you have. Many of the plants that black swallowtails use (hemlock and wild parsnips) can be toxic either through ingestion (hemlocks) or can give you a phototoxic reaction (rue and wild parsnip). So it pays to know what plant you are working with in the wild.

-Elisabeth

I have two BST cats left, a regularly colored one and a dark one. The dark one absolutely refused to eat rue, so I hunted down some mock-bishop's weed in my garden, which it immediately ate. The other one has been eating rue since it was a hatchling, when I switched it to rue. Assuming that the green color of the normally colored cat indicates it's in its last instar, I can't believe the difference in size! This picture doesn't accurately capture how much bigger the dark dude is than the other one -
{{gwi:491338}}
No doubt, the MBW, or probably any other member of the carrot family, is better for the cats.
Sherry

I'm not having much luck with the BST's this year. Last year was my first year for them and at the end of summer I had 12 at one time, all did great and turned into beautiful butterflies. So far this year I found 4 1st instar ones. Everything seemed to be doing okay until they were 5th instar. One of them was lying on the bottom of the tank and his head was sort of black in color. He didn't seem to be doing too good, so I euthanized him. Then the 1st one to pupate couldn't seem to pick a good spot and ended up stuck on the bottom of the tank with his "webbing." I tried to carefully help him on to a stick, but something didn't go right when turning to a chrysalis and he was "leaking" something, so that was the end of him as well :( The last 2 are now Chrysalis and all appears well with them. Whew! These guys are giving me a run for the money this year. I hope I get another batch and all goes better with them. Sherry, last year I had one that was a lot darker, but he wasn't eating or doing too much. I finally figured out he was so dark because his old skin was stuck! I gave it a bit of a nudge, and that did the trick for him.