Plant It and They Will Come #7 Eggs and Cats Oh My

Saw a newborn BST (1st instar) and another one--maybe 2nd instar on my Parsley.
Boy! They sure are propagating late in the season.

Glad i have enough parsley for them. LOTS!!! Plenty for a long time.

G.

yay Gita! I think when you see one or two, there are about six more hiding, that show up when they get bigger.

tell you what, the big monarch cats love eating the unripe seed pods of tropical MW. And there is a lot of mass there, they last a long time. I've already saved a lot of ripe seed, and it's not a type asked for my monarchwatch.
I've started doing my cuttings.

that's good to know about the cats liking the seeds, Sally

Happy Happy Birthday Catmint!
How many instars are you now?
Hope this year is a truly amazing one full of wonder and emergence
and the shedding of the outgrown old.
Ah, what adventures lie ahead!

Thanks so much, Coleup!! :-)
Maybe I'm up to 7th instar now. Still hoping for that transformation!

Happy birthday, catmint!!!

Thanks, SSG! :-)

Meowww--Meowww---Meoww...Purrrrrrrrrr....
in Cat-talk means Have a wonderful Birthday!

Hope you are enjoying the day. Gita



Pic from Longwood gardens--Yellow Clivia. 2008.

thanks, Gita! :-)

Monarch #2 eclosed this morning. I got a photo of the chrysalis right before she emerged--was trying to show how her wings were visible. She eclosed within an hour after this photo. Released now. But it looks like another one may emerge in the next day or two!

Took DD to a volleyball game, which was near one of my favorite nurseries-- and they were having a 20% off perennials sale!! Nice birthday present! :-)

One of my new dozen chrysalises is weird- looks like the last skin got stuck around it's 'waist'

I had one where the skin got stuck around the top--never fell. This seemed to interfere with the tie to the top, and it fell down after a few days. Then it turned black. :-(
Hopefully around the 'waist' won't interfere with anything...

Happy Birthday, CatMint! How nice to have a Monarch emerge on your birthday morning!
Did you treat yourself to plants?

The Swallowtail egg has been changing every day and was completely dark this morning, so I hope the caterpillar will emerge soon. I read that Black Swallowtail eggs take 4-9 days to "hatch", if that's the right term.

Saw a Monarch Butterfly hovering over my NE Aster today. First I have actually
watched fly around.
I was hoping it would come to the tropical MW, which is starting to bloom,
but it did not.
I was standing quite still to see if it would land so i could get a picture--
but.....NO! Plenty of time left. Got a good picture last year. i forget the date....

All this rain we have had--I no longer see the 1st instar cat. So tiny--may have gotten
washed away.
I think the whole "Whoopla" is almost over.....Yes? no?
G.

No Whoopla is not over. I've found five eggs this weekend, and a couple new little cats.

thanks, Muddy--I discovered that one of my favorite nurseries was having a 20% off perennials sale, so I did pick up few! :-)

I found a little cat on my milkweed yesterday, too.

The caterpillar emerged, and I gave it a nice fresh sprig of dill as well as one of parsley. It doesn't seem to be eating yet, though.

yay!!

Yea hatchling! Muddy, the Monarch hatchlings rest after hatching, especially if they have eaten their shell. Within a day or two they become Ist instars and they really don't eat much...2 - 3 pinheads worth. Good indicator of eating is frass!

I know what you mean by predators just waiting , Several weeks ago I was out looking for eggs and sitting up top on a branch of Swamp Milkweed was a tree frog!

Egg laying hiatis here. Last year I found eggs all through Sept.!

I found a little cat on a milkweed leaf the other day so brought it in.
9 monarchs have eclosed now, 7 in past couple days.
More chrysalises darkening!

Catmint do you release them in your yard?

Yes!
At first they usually just sit on whatever blossom I place them on, but then eventually they take off.

How many butterflies can you find in the solidago?

I see them fluttering around my yard from time to time, so at least some of them are still in the area...

Normal chrysalises vs malformed. I think that's a goner.

:-(

10 or 11

That's a lot of Monarchs, CatMint!

My little caterpillar started eating today and looks bigger already.

These are bad photos of a moth (?) nectaring on a butterfly bush after sunset tonight, but since I took them I figured I might as well post 'em! I was doing some quick dead-heading and was surprised to see anything out there. OMG I just remembered I'm watering that area...have been for awhile...better go turn off the sprinkler!

Sally a deformed and/or discolored chrysalisis a sign of disease (OE or the Black Death) or parisitism by the tachnid fly.

"http://www.learnaboutmonarchs.com/learnabouthtachinidfly.html

Recommendation from the Editor:

If you find your Monarch pupa has been parasitized by a Tachinid Fly, destroy it immediately by placing the chrysalis and anything else that comes out into a plastic baggy and freezing it. Keep it sealed when disposing the dead Monarch so that if the fly does eclose it won't be able to escape into your garden.

that is an unusual looking moth, Muddy!
Glad your little guy is eating well--they do grow quickly!!

I wish there were 10 or 11 Monarchs in the solidago! But only 4...
I know, some of those crunchy leaves look deceiving...

those nasty flies- wish they would stick to nasty caterpillars

Sally, that's too bad : - (

I found 3 more caterpillars tonight while I was getting fresh dill for the one that hatched; they're all the same size and look alike, so I think they might be sibs. I'm hoping to spot more tomorrow!

I'm thinking of digging up a small (1') young dill to put into the tent with them. Does anyone have experience with transplanting dill? If it's just going to wilt and die then I won't bother. I'm going to dig up a little Zizia aurea for their tent, though. I hope they decide that native plants are okay to munch on to supplement their dill/parsley diet : - )

I love the idea of putting a pot of dill or parsley or whatever into the habitat so they can climb all over it and munch away. Not sure how the plant would do...

Got a visit today from this lovely lady. Found an egg where she'd been hovering over my fennel, and brought it in. Also found three tiny BST instars on the fennel, which I brought in.

Guess the predators are dying down now, giving the eggs and tiny cats a chance to survive!!

Today--there were at least 5-6 Monarchs swarming over my NE Aster bush.
They really seemed to love it--and it is not even in full bloom yet!

The group of Monarch BF's all looked the same size--I was wondering if, maybe,
there was a group of them that hatched all at the same tine????

I got as close as i could--but they were all in motion, so I only got a couple
good shots. It was very weird....I had not seen any Monarchs--and now there
was a group of them all over the aster.....
G.

Nice photos! Is the last one on Tropical Milkweed?

Nice, Gita!

Gita, it seems that way! A bunch of siblings. Yay for you!

I'm putting up a new Part #8 thread where I will share why I feel Gita's sighting of a group of 5-6 Monarchs in her garden yesterday is most likely part of the Monarch Migration beginning to move through Maryland and the Mid Atlantic now

Please join me over here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1405575/