Monarch caterpillar eating potato vine...
Casara
9 years ago
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KC Clark - Zone 2012-6a OH
9 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Caterpillar in my Passion flower vine
Comments (86)I adore the Gulf Fritillary butterflies! My neighbors had 2 passion vines on the wood lattice topper on our shared wall. Both ornamental, no fruit. One was the classic purple flower and the other was a red flower that was more bell shaped and produced nectar that meant it was always full of ants. Well we always saw butterflies flitting about but never caterpillars. I think the ants ate them as soon as they hatched. Well the lattice was rotten and new neighbors moved in who sweetly asked if it was OK to remove it. We were more than happy since we wanted to replace wood with steel topper. But then I seriously missed the butterflies. I saw zero for a year. I missed them so much I planted a passion vine on the shared wall of the other neighbors. Just the purple flower that doesn’t have nectar so it won’t attract ants. Well for the first time in a year, I see not only butterflies but larva! I plan to cut it back to the “trunk“ each winter so it doesn’t get out of control this time. This vine is incredibly vigorous and could completely cover a carport if you let it. I don’t care about the flowers which are always there or the look of the vine, which is always green with chew holes, but my heart sings when every day I sit in the patio surrounded by the fluttering of beautiful amber butterflies. Usually 2 or 3 but sometimes 7 or 8 as I also provide nectar flowers for them. For me, the whole point of the vine is the butterflies....See MoreI have monarch caterpillars on climbing hempweed.
Comments (3)Well, I am certainly no expert on the matter, but I did do some research for you. I found that the hempweed is sometimes called "Monarch vine" because the Monarchs love to nectar on it. I believe that the milkweeds are the only actual host plants though. I'm sure that someone else will come along who knows more. You can use the water hose to wash those aphids off the vine if you want....See MoreCaterpillar eating all my dill, what to do?
Comments (10)Thanks for the suggestions guys... I went out to check on the plant/caterpillar again and it's gone. I don't know if it may have burrowed into the pot or if it got eaten by something-- I put a sort of "cage" over the pot because something kept digging up the dill so I think the caterpillar would have been fairly well protected from being eaten, but who knows... The plant isn't doing too well unfortunately either :P I am wary of planting dill in the actual garden because I've heard it spreads like crazy, which is why I went with a pot. Maybe next time I'll just get a whole bunch of pots and that way maybe some dill will survive! I think this is the 3rd or 4th planting I've done in that pot this season-- the first one, something dug the seeds up, and the next time something dug the young plants up...something out there really likes dill! I actually tried to plant a butterfly garden in the back of my yard from a "butterfly garden roll" (a roll that supposedly had seeds for a bunch of plants) but it never sprouted. I tried again with a butterfly garden mix that came in a shaker can, but only a few plants came up......See MoreMonarch caterpillars
Comments (1)If you haven't done so already, perhaps sign up for the NextDoor app (or any other app that connects you to your local area/neighborhood) and post your inquiry there. We recently had a 'neighbor' ~ 2 miles away who posted an SOS for Dutchman's pipe vines for her swallowtails, and she received a number of replies. Good luck!...See MoreCasara
9 years agoKC Clark - Zone 2012-6a OH
9 years agoCasara
9 years agoKC Clark - Zone 2012-6a OH
9 years agoCasara
9 years agolarry_gene
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoMissSherry
9 years agodragonflydee
9 years agoCasara
8 years agoangelimperfect36
8 years agoMissSherry
8 years agoTom
8 years agoCasara
8 years agoMissSherry
8 years agoCasara
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kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)