Raising Eastern Black Swallowtails inside
Rhonda
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Host Plant Help
Comments (23)Rue thrives best on benign neglect. I rarely water it and never fertilize mine either. Treat it as a typical Mediterranean herb. except that in my zone, it prefers some shade. It should grow just fine in Florida. Maybe it needs more of a shady location, with excellent drainage, as most herbs require. Rue does need to be watered until it is established, and then very little once it is. I consider it a short-lived perennial. After 4 or 5 years, it will probably need to be replaced. Some say it self-sows for them, but for me, it never has. It does, however, root readily in water. I have cut stems to put in my caterpillar containers, and it has rooted, despite the foliage being eaten to the bones. Some people also have problems with contact dermatitis from handling the foliage and exposure to sunlight which then triggers the dermatitis. I am not allergic to it, but use caution just in case you are. I find Rue in the local nurseries that have a large Herb section, for a couple bucks a plant, so it's not expensive. That means it's easy to propagate and grows quickly, contrary to herbs like Bay Laurel that grow so slowly and can be difficult to propagate, hence they are much more expensive plants. Susan...See MoreEastern Tiger Swallowtail Egg picture
Comments (1)Congrats, Sandy! By butterfly bonsai, do you mean you're keeping the tulip tree in a pot? And trimming the roots maybe? The tulip trees on my property are so tall, I rarely ever find a tiger egg or cat on mine - when I do, it's on a lower sprig off the base of the tree. Tigers are really fun to raise. My little tiger is growing in typical, somewhat slow, tiger fashion. If you get a female, it'll undoubtedly be the biggest butterfly you've ever raised yourself! Keep us posted! Sherry...See Moreeastern tiger swallowtails
Comments (7)I forgot about a plant when I gave my other answers - Ptelea trifoliata/wafer ash/hops tree. P. trifoliata is supposed to be native to my area, but it must be very rare, as I've never encountered it anywhere, even though I've taken a lot of hikes through the woods. Still, it's documented to have occurred just a few miles north of here. Anyway, I've planted a lot of it on my property for giant swallowtails. It's in the rutaceae/citrus family, although it looks more like an ash. Tiger swallowtails lay a few eggs on mine every year, and I've raised them successfully on it myself several times. If the local tigers will use it even though most of them have never seen it, then I imagine yours would. I have a friend in northern Ohio, and his has grown and thrived better than mine - he raises giant swallowtails on it from eggs I send him when there are more eggs on my host plants than leaves. My tallest Ptelea trifoliata grew to a whopping 6' tall! For whatever reason, they all die back at or before they reach that height, then come up again from the root, so they're always low growing and bushy. You can order one from a mail-order nursery or plant seeds - I kept some seeds in my closet one winter, then planted them the next spring, and every one germinated, so they're very easy to propagate that way. Sherry...See MoreEastern Black Swallowtail ova/crysalids
Comments (1)Wrong forum...See MoreRhonda
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoRhonda
5 years agojaviwa
5 years agoIris S (SC, Zone 7b)
5 years agojaviwa
5 years agoJay 6a Chicago
5 years agoRhonda
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRhonda
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoRhonda
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoJay 6a Chicago
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoRhonda
5 years agoJay 6a Chicago
5 years agoMars SC Zone 8b Mars
3 years ago
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