They are all Eastern Black Swallowtail larvae--just different instars or stages of development. They start out dark with the white saddle and as they approach maturity they lose the saddle and get the black-white-and yellow stripes.

Congrats on your find. Many people on the forum will be jealous!

Sandy

WOW! Lucky you! If you check out my Butterfly Guide, you will see 'our' version of the Black Swallowtail which has a similar lifecycle and 'look.' Just click on Anise Swallowtail on the righthand side. All I get on the Bronze Fennel I have at school is Ladybird Beetles (it is like their own little nursery or something). :)

Here is a link that might be useful: tdogmom's butterfly blog

Thanks - funny I've seen lots of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails flying around but only saw one Black Swallowtail in late Spring nectaring on Lilacs. Obviously one came through the garden and laid a bunch of eggs on the Fennel and I never noticed. Do you think these caterpillars are likely to become butterflies?

I winter-sowed some Dill as well, and had a nice big patch which was beautiful when it bloomed but has now gone to seed and is dying back. Haven't seen any caterpillars on that. Can I sow a 2nd planting of Dill? Do the Black Swallowtails have a preference which host plant they use?

Interesting questions...and so many possible answers.

Dill seems to hate the hot weather and dislikes transplanting somwhat(although I've managed to transplant with some success.)

About 3 weeks ago, I found an old package of dill seeds and threw them in the garden. Despite the heat, they are about 4 inches high and look good.

I've had the BST Moms use dill quite readily in the spring.

One year they loved bronze fennel.

The next they loved parsley more???

In the fall they prefer carrot tops?..

This year I've had no BST caterpillars yet. Although twice this week a beautiful new female spent time in the garden nectaring..so only a matter of time.

Hopefully, your caterpillars have not been parasitized. It happens often with the BST cats so I try to take them in when very young to raise. Even better, when I see the Momma lay eggs I gather them in for raising.

Maryann

I gave my ebs cat's a choice of fennel, flat leaf parsley, or qal and they seemed to like the parsley the best. prolly cus there was less work involved in getting food lol

Will winter sown Bronze Fennel grow enough first year to provide munchies for BSTs earlier in the summer? Don't know their growth rate.

I can get the plant from Lazy'S'S Farm. Don't know that I've seen bronze fennel in local nurseries or farm stands with herb packs so maybe I'll get one so I'm sure it's on its way earlier than regular fennel I find at farm stands.

Gotta plan now for next spring/summer so I have enough things early to attract mamas. Read Eastern Tiger Swallowtails also use fennel and I saw lots of yellow/black males nectaring in the yard last year. Gotta attract the females so we're all happy...LOL.

I can't wait for next year's swallowtails!

Newbie, I winter-sowed the Bronze fennel this past winter, soewd on March 21, sprouted April 18, and I planted it out on May 26th. It did indeed grow enough to provide food for the BSTs (obviously), as the pictures above were taken on August 1st.

The Bronze Fennel was much slower growing than the Dill, and bloomed late in the season vs. the Dill which bloomed early. Both have lovely yellow fragrant flowers, and the foliage is fragrant and tasty. I was pleasantly surprised to read recently that Bronze fennel is perennial to zone 4, so I am thrilled that this will come back next year and I don't have to sow it again!

I don't know what happened to the cats above, they grew to nice fat 5th instar, but whether they successfully pupated and eclosed or not, I don't know. I also found one BST cat on the Dill.

Next year I'm sowing lots of Dill (very easy and was even reseeding this fall already), may spread the Bronze Fennel plants around and plan to collect any BST cats I find and raise them indoors! Now that I've got some experience raising the Monarchs.

Thanks, Terrene.

I sowed Mammoth Dill (Valueseeds) in spring but it didn't do more than a single sprig. I bought a six pack of florence fennel from a farm stand and that's what I raised the BSTs on. Actually, I think the eggs may have been on the fennel when I bought it.

Next spring I know to look at the fennel six packs for eggs and get all those plants particularly since they finished the fennel before it had a chance to mature much. It regrew some but too late for more eggs to be laid.

I raised the BSTs outside in a pop up mesh laundry hamper on my father's deck. Fit 3 florence fennel plants right in there with cats on them. Laid out clean paper towel over plant containers and hamper floor so I could clean out the frass every day. I did have to make sure they were protected from too much direct sun and rain for a few weeks. Since they were all the same size there wasn't any cannibalization problem and there were only 4 of them. I just love the swallowtails and look forward to having more of them next year...BST and hoping for Eastern Tiger cats next year. The Tigers may be overwintering in rolled leaves from the flowering cherry tree in my father's front yard since I saw so many males this summer. May have to get more pop up mesh hampers.

BSTs seemed easier to raise than the Monarchs which I raised inside. I had separate Glad containers for different size cats so the smaller ones wouldn't get eaten. I never saw the mama(s) laying eggs which must have happened more than once since there were so many different size instars by the time I found them on Milkweed. I felt badly raising them indoors in plastic containers without fresh air and sunlight...didn't seem like a natural life for the cats. Everyone thinks I'm nuts for thinking the cats care one bit about where they are as long as they get enough food and they're probably right.

The point was to add to the reproductive Monarch population because they're endangered and that was successful but I'll try to rig up an enclosure for them outside on the deck. A little nursery with different sections for various cat instars.

I figure family who didn't particularly like the cat containers on the kitchen table (to get a little sunlight) should like having them on the deck as opposed to where they eat even though they whine about my taking over the deck with nectar/host plants.

I read somewhere that you can put netting around the Bronze Fennel once you see cats on it so they're protected through pupation. Guess you have to check it daily once some start to pupate to allow for release after eclosure. Also guess you need multiple host plants to provide places for more eggs to be laid.

So much to do before next spring...LOL.

To start my first year at butterfly gardening, I purchased a gallon pot of dill that had lots of BST eggs on it. This was my first butterfly assistance year & my first season to raise monarchs inside. I released 5 male & 5 female.
I also brought in more but had 10 BST cats that pupated. I lost a few before they pupated. A couple turned black & died. Out of the ten that successfully pupated, 4 females have eclosed. The rest are waiting until the spring, I hope!!!
I planted lots of new host plants including 3 kinds of pipevine for the PSTs(I've seen the adults but didn't get eggs or cats this season), lots more & different milkweeds, a hop tree, a spice bush, more bronze fennel & rue, frogfruit, & lots of new nectar flowers.
I tried covering my dill with a laundry netting but had better success with bringing in the smaller cats & raising them in 2 screen covered plastic file boxes.
I appreciate all the info I learned from this site to have a small but successful first year at raising butterflies!
Like you said, MUCH to do before next spring!!!!!

Newbie, I got my Dill seeds from a trade, and they germinated quite prolifically. Maybe you got some bum seeds? I would think you could even buy Dill seeds in the bulk section of a health food store, and they would probably sprout. Even if it weren't a butterfly host plant, I would grow Dill again, because it was lovely in flower, makes a nice "filler" plant, and it's so fragrant the entire garden smelled wonderful.

Next Spring I might try regular green Fennel, since the Bronze is already growing (and assuming it will be perennial). The bonus would be that I could harvest the Fennel bulbs for salads or something. I also grew Parsley this year, but no cats on that. If I'm fortunate enough to attract a BST momma again next year, I want to give her plenty of choices. And the eggs/cats I collect!

Imabirdnut, this was my first year raising Monarchs too, it was an amazing experience. It's kinda addicting! I hope it helps the butterfly populations in some small way.

Bronze fennel and Dill sprouts - pic taken on May 11th - see how teeny those Bronze fennel sprouts were?

Big fat cats on the Bonze Fennel (I'm kicking myself that I didn't collect these babies and raise them, but that was before I had started raising the Monarchs!) -
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