striped caterpillars

I recently added a fennel plant to my vegetable garden and today found it half eaten by a group of striped caterpillars. They were yellow/black/white with horizontal stripes. Does anyone know what they are????

Did it look like this?

http://catcode.com/oly_2000/dec99/dec99_2.html

If it did, You have Monarch Butterfly's!

X

I did some more research, and I think it was parsleyworm, which is the Black Swallowtail butterfly. It likes herbs, including fennel, and somehow found its way into my garden. The Monarch is similar, to my untrained eye! Thanks for the picture.

Yes, food for the swallowtail. I've planted a lot of bronze fennel recently for that very reason. Monarch cats feed on asclepias.

Sherry

I found several black swallowtail cats on my Rue today. Unfortunately, the rue is still quite small, and they will run out of food long before it is time to pupate. And the little plant will run out of leaves long before it can handle that, too. So, off to find some big rue plants tomorrow!!

ceejaytown,
It's like feeding the birds, isn't it? Once I saw that I really was getting alot of monarchs, I worried that they would run out of food...having invited them by supplying their food plant, I needed to make sure that they have enough so I'm planting LOTS. I gave flats of seedlings to various people around town several years ago in the hopes that we'd make it a community for monarchs and at least one person had cats and was afraid she didn't have enough food for them. I ended up by taking her buckets of asclepias in water. Now I need to make sure that my neighbors are growing it, so that if we ever leave,the monarchs will still find it here!! You begin to feel responsible for them...if you plant it, they will come.........I hope you found large rue plants!
Sherry

LOL That reminds me of when I had A butterfly weed. And it was nibbled to the ground. Ran out and bought three more. Repeat that again when those were gone, etc... Those momma monarchs should check out with the other mommas and realize that they can't all lay their eggs on one little plant and expect everything to work out OK. Then they fly off and leave us to fend for their babies! LOL

FROG,
STAY AWAY from it, it poisoness!!!!



No, wait, that is SCUT's copperhead. Nevermind!! heheheh

Best;
bluelytes

You are one wild lady!!! Isn't Scut's copperhead thread a hoot though?! If ya'll haven't seen it, you are missing out on one big party!

This message was edited Jun 5, 2006 12:03 AM

Those cats are picky little fellows too. I just recently found some more bronze fennel for my swallowtail cats. A couple of years ago, I had both bronze fennel and large parsley plants - both of which is supposed to feed them - but they would only eat the bronze fennel. And of course, they wouldn't change either, so they'd eat up all the fennel and leave the parsely untouched - silly caterpillars. And this year, I'll remember to bring them inside when they get big enough - something likes to nab them on me before they can pupate - probably wasps, but I can't be too mad at them, because they patrol my broccoli and tomatoes and nab the bad cats there. The only caterpillars I want in my garden are the bean leaf rollers - I like them, and don't mind sharing the bean foliage with them. They hide from the wasps in their little leaf homes.

Last year we had drought, so few caterpillars came by, but the fritillaries that did would all try to crowd their babies on the little passion vines - usually in inconvenient places - like the lawn where they might get mown over. When I'd try to move them onto the larger vines with plenty of leaves (including new growth), somehow they'd end up on the small ones again with too many on one plant. Again - silly caterpillars.

Yes, those guys get a taste for one plant, and they just won't try any others in their food group.

We have two rue plants, not doing very well - can't figure out why. But the other day, I noticed they were covered with black swallowtail cats. There was no way that there was going to be enough food to sustain them until pupation! So DH made an emergency run - couldn't find any large rue plants, so brought home about 8 little 3" pots - that were bigger than mine that had been in the ground for awhile! Anyway, they're out there now, and I just wish that other mammas would realize there is only so much food to go around! They lay their eggs, and then leave us to fend for their babies!!

Found a big cat on my parsley, and noticed a whole mess of assassin bugs too. Checking around, I found the shriveled up little bodies of several small cats. So I captured the assassin bugs in a jar - one by one - and moved them to other plants - plants that are not larval food plants for butterflies!

One year I counted 37 monarch cats on my butterfly weed. Within a couple of days, there were none. The red wasps had killed them all - like an open buffet. So I don't grow butterfly weed anymore. It's just a death sentence to any cats that show up there. And - and I know you won't approve - I have been known to shoot down a few red wasps, too. I have plenty of other insects that will handle their job without killing the butterfly cats.

This message was edited Jun 8, 2006 10:13 AM

Ah. I figured it was probably the wasps that get the cats. They don't seem to bother the Fritilary cats though. Maybe the "spines" protect them somehow, even though the spines aren't really hard, so maybe it's a physical thing. The wasps perhaps can't reach around the spines to get a grip on the cats.

My wasp population is very low this year. I already miss my yellow jacket nest, but they don't nest in the same spot two years in a row, and I haven't seen a replacement yet. I had a paper wasp near the front door (which we seldom use), and I was watching her, but she vanished one day, leaving her nest behind. I only see one paper wasp that regularly cruises my veggie garden looking for insects this year, so definitely not many wasps this year. The bee population is low too, but fortunately there are enough industrious gals (and a few guys if you count the carpenter bees) to get the pollinating done. I think it's the lack of rain that is to blame - very, very dry this year.

I found this little guy munching on my curly parsley yesterday. There are actually 2 of them but they are on the move in my herb basket because they ate just about all the curly parsley already. The picture shows him a lot more greener than he really is. He/she is a pretty caterpillar with greenish-yellow and black stripes. I don't mind him/her eating at my herb garden as I only planted it for decorative purposes. I wanted something green between my 2 lounge chairs and thought why not try growing some herbs in a basket. Of course, the herbs have just about outgrown the basket and I intend to buy some pots to put them in separately but was just curious about this caterpillar that is munching away. Is this a monarch cat and how much does he/she need to eat? Should I just let them munch away?

Congratulatons! You have a black swallowtail caterpillar....AKA parsley caterpillar.
Let 'em munch away!
CJ
Do you have enough parsley for them? May need to go and buy some more....They also feast on fennel, dill and rue, but once they develop a taste for the one plant, they don't like to transfer over to a different one.

This message was edited Jun 24, 2006 11:17 AM

Unfortunately, when I went back outside after the rain, they both were gone. I truly hope nothing ate them. Last I saw of them, they completely munched away at the curly leaf parsley and had made their way to the flat leaf parsley and were munching. Then the torrential downpours came and I haven't seen them anymore.

Well hopefully if they were large enough, they wandered off to pupate. Caterpillars do wander off when they are gong to pupate. They can sometimes end up a good distance away. My fritilary cats often end up on the house - even hanging from the eaves - when they pupate.

Oh and ceejaytown, my picky fritallary cats were choosing small passionflower vines over larger ones of the same species even. I guess maybe the younger plants taste better - but what a pain to move the cats when Hubby wants to mow. "Oh wait - one more. Just one more minute, promise..."

I hope so........one of them was pretty large already. I would say over an inch long when he/she was stretched out. The other one was a bit smaller but still large. Originally there were 3 but the 3rd one (smallest) has been gone for almost a week. I hope one day soon, I'll see them fluttering by in my garden.

Patty