These are the same "worms?" that hang around my asclepsia Curv. But this is my green fennel. Is it bad they should be there? I sure can't spray it because I eat it. Not the worms silly....the fennel.
Am I wrong or are they going to be the Monarch? If so, I can certainly share a bit of the fennel.
What do you think?
Molly
:^)))))
Look like monarch cats to me. Lucky you!
John
Well John, that's good to hear. But will they save some fennel for me?
I am happy they are only on the green fennel, they don't seem to care for the Bronze.
Molly
:^)))
Hmmm, dunno. LOL.
Thos are black swallowtail caterpillars. I promise!
I read that flutterby cats get used to certain plants chemically and will eat the same thing throughout their caterpillar stage. If they were to eat the bronze or some parsley, it could kill them as the chemistry for each plant variety is slightly different.
I would like to kick my neighbor's a** for spraying malathion around. I don't have single caterpillar this year. How you do yell at a nice old man for ruining your flutterby garden? LOL
Oh, and they may not save any fennel leaves for you, but it's the bulb you eat anyway, right? (I can't stand fennel so my cats can have it... if I had any. sniff pout) Think of this as natural pruning; the cats are "cutting back" your fennel for you, so it will come back strong and bushy.
You are right, my bad! http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_black_swallowtail.htm
John
Okey Dokey Diane, now ya got me going. I assume these cats will turn to butterflies...someday. When and what will they look like?
As far as the fennel goes, no, my fennel is not the "eat the bulb" type. Mine is "eat the foliage" type.
However, like I said, they are not in the Bronze Fennel, and I personal prefer to eat the bronze over the green.
And if these aren't the "Monarch" cats, I need to take a closer look and get another picture at the ones on the butterfly weed. Be right back.
Molly
:^)))
Click the link above for photos.
Thanks John, so accordingly, this cat hangs out in some of the same places as the Monarch cat.
This is so cool, more more interesting butterflies to see.
Molly
:^)))
Here are some photos of the monarch cat. http://www.nsis.org/gallery/bfly-mon-cat.html
My pictures were useless, all blurry. Comparing the 2 cats side by side, they are totally different.
One of my clumps of milkweed has been totally chewed up. I was glad to read that it will grow back shortly.
We're gonna have a flock of butterflies here really soon.!!!!!
And now I know what the name of the other b'fly is.
Thanks John & Diane.
Molly
:^))))
Your swallowtail will grow up to look like this: http://www.cirrusimage.com/butterfly_black_swallowtail.htm
And I'd bet my left ovary that the cats on the milkweed are monarchs, since milkweed is the only thing monarch cats will eat! ;>) (Hey, I've got another ovary, I don't need the left one!)
Thanks Diane, you and John have all the cool links.
Love those Butterflies and I'm sure you are right about the cats on the milkweed. I just had to focus and hey, put on my glasses. LOL
Molly
:^)))
So you won't be needing my left ovary then?
:>P
Not me Diane, I wasn't going to touch that one with a ten foot pole, remember, I'm 51, so glad to have mine abandon me.
:^))))
LOL
Definitely BST's, not Monarch's. They know which food they are supposed to eat.
I just released 2 BST's today. They are so eager to get out and GOOOO! Monarchs are so much more relaxed and willing to sit for pictures. I've got several more BST cats on my green fennel that are almost ready to pupate, which means time to put the in the cage. The green fennel grows much better for me than the bronze, and attracts a lot more butterflies.
I managed to get another picture today, man are they busy and getting so FAT!!!!
Yall got me into looking for butterflies. I chased one around the yard for 20 minutes trying to get a picture. It wasn't a monarch and it wasn't a Black Swallowtail. And it wasn't getting tired either. I couldn't catch him in a resting position, so I got no picture.
But here's my family of worm cats.
Konkrete, my green fennel grows much better than the bronze too. The cats can eat the green, I'll eat the bronze.
Aren't they CUTE?! I just LOVE them!!! Have they "stinked" you yet? If you get near them and scare them they will throw out their orange "horns" (lost the official term at the moment...osmeria?) Anyways, it's smells something awful!! blech!
Eww no, I'm afraid to get near catarpillers, never know when one is going to stinG you. We have stinging cats down her ya know.
I'll just let them do their thang...............
:^)))
Cool!
These are harmless. They are so soft and they feel so neat when they crawl on you!! You should hold at least one in your lifetime! I don't pet anything other than the butterfly cats that I know in my garden, like the BST's, Monarchs. I have Giant Swallowtail cats sometimes, but they are so ugly (they look like bird poop) that I don't hold them. LOL
Guess they might stink me while crawling on me too, eh? I'll have to google to see what the stinging cats look like. :-)
They aren't particular about who they "stink". There are some that are actually more "easy going" than others and they won't do it. The ones that I raise indoors rarely do it. I think they get used to me.
Monarchs do this little dance instead when you scare them. If you make a loud noise they will rock back and forth, kind of jerking their heads. LOL What's weird is, how do they hear??
I'll have to try playing with them, which ones stink?
:^)))
Yours will do it. Just walk up real close to them and look for the little orange "horns". If you stay there a few seconds you'll notice the weird smell. lol If you pick one off, they'll almost surely do it. You just have to take them real easy from the front end and let them release their feet by themselves so you don't yank their feet off. To put them back on the plant you just get their front end close so they can see it and grab on and they'll slowly march off.
Hope I get a chance to do that soon. :-)
Ok, Maybe tomorrow, before I take my shower. Just in case they stink me.
I do have some Monarch cats over on my butterfly weed too.
:^)))
LOL....the stink won't get on you. It's just some odor that they throw out. It's not like getting sprayed by a skunk. Lucky you, having Monarchs too!! John and I are verrrrry jealous!
Here's my favorite pic of my babies last year.
Did you get one of those "cones" from HD to cover the milkweed yet?
That is soooo cool. Great shot too. That many cats and there is still a plant left? Amazing!!!!
:^))))
No John, I forgot all about it, again! I'll make myself a note since I might need it soon. Thanks for reminding me!
MMc, these cats are actually on a "field trip" outside. I brought them inside when they were tiny but it's impossible to bring big plants inside, so I took them out and put them on the fresh plants. I covered them up with a cage then switched to a mesh laundry basket. (I can't find that pic tho!)
You can see the eaten milkweed in front of the cage in this pic.
Hey, I recognize that milkweed. I have a whole clump that looks like that, and the cats have 2 more clumps to go before they are finished.
:^)))
I was just outside, inbetween onslaughts of rain showers. I looked at my other 2 clumps of milkweed and there aren't as many cats on them, but they are well on their way to finishing off those snacks.
Sometime today I hope to get out and play with a few. We'll see what happens. Right now I think Tropical Storm Arlene is mostly what's happening.
Molly
:^)))
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I want Monarchs! All I ever get (and I love them) are the Black Swallowtails. I've got common milkweed planted and although I 've had it for a number of years, it still is a single stalk. Are they suppose to multiply or grown larger? I see MOnarchs flying around in the summer but I've never seen and cats. :(
I'm no expert, but that does sound strange for it to just be one stalk. Have you ever seen seed pods? Are you cutting them off? Mine reseeds like crazy and I think every one of them germinate. Maybe it's not a type they are fond of? Do you know what kind it is, besides "common"? We must get you some cats!
Well, the monarch cats have totally desiccated 3 clumps of milkweed. Now they are gone! Where did they go?
After all that will they come back here after they are a butterfly? I sure hope so since I fed them so well.
The Black Swallowtail cats are still working on that fennel and one has moved over to my lavender. hmmmmm Slow eaters evidently.
Molly
:^)))
The milkweed I have has orange little cluster flowers at top. I think it was also called "Butterfly Weed". Is this the same thing? I don't cut them until they die back for the winter. I've also tried growing some from seeds I bought online - Purple Milkweed & Prairie Milkweed with no luck. I wonder if I should go to the local nursery and see if they have a large one. I want it to look wild!
In looking at different pictures, I'm pretty sure I have Butterfly Weed. Here's a picture I found on:
www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide
Gardengirl,
I also bought some different kinds of butterfly weed seeds and they never germinated either. It's funny, the A. curassavica grows and throws seeds off down here in Ft Lauderdale, if you let them, and they germinate and grow, no cold spell or nothing like that. I can't figure out why those bought seeds don't come up.
The milkweed I have, that is now just stems, grew long enough to show me the orange/red flowers on one stem. Prior to that I didn't know what color they would be. It those cats had given them just a little more time to grow, there would have been a whole lot more for them to eat. :^))) Mine were given to me at the Okeechobee Roundup in February as seedlings.
Molly
:^)))
Mine is the Mexican/Tropical Milkweed, A. curassavica. Oddly enough tho, this year I have 2 plants with yellow blooms. I thought that maybe I had thrown out some other seeds, but my mom has one that's yellow too and she definitely has not put out any seeds. It's morphing.
I don't know if they are particular about what types of milkweed, unless maybe somewhere nearby in VA there is a patch of wild native milkweed that they are preferring.
Have you tried putting the milkweed you ordered in the refrig for about 6 weeks? Some of them do require cold stratification. I'll check a seed germination database that I use.
Molly, no telling where your Monarch cats went to pupate. They can sure travel alot for a little creature. The BST that is on your lavendar is trying to find a place to make it's chrysalis also, or it wouldn't be there. Look closely and see if you see one on it.
