I was shocked (but pleased!) when I went to move my potted parsley, and discovered it covered in Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars! My concern though is that this is the only plant I have, and I dont have any other host plants for them Im going to see if I can buy more parsley at the store tomorrow when I go. Ill have to buy it from the produce section though, since the few garden centers we have around here are all done except for mums and pumpkins
Jen,.. you sure do have a great amount of them,..yes shame you don't have much Parsley left,..you might know someone who has Fennel growing,..there would be a bigger mass of Fennel about,..good luck with what ever you manage to get
Fennel is what they love in my garden, earlier this summer I counted 16 on the plants out front. Most garden centers should have Fennel plants for fall planting, it is a cool/cold weather plant hopefully you will be able to find some. And both Lowe's and Home Depot around here have their fall herbs in stock now check them out.
All we have here is 2 Walmarts, a Menards and a Lowes. Menards and Lowes would be my best bets probably. Im sure I could also try asking neighbors if they have any plants. Eta: I just checked my Walmart, and all they have is mums, kale and a handful of clearance plants :/
So, question. If I were to attempt to raise these guys indoors, would they emerge from their pupas as butterflies while its cold? Or would they wait until spring to emerge? Or should I just let them do their thing naturally? And they would still survive, yes?
It is always best to let them do their thing naturally, afterall the process has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years and they instinctively know what to do. Human intervention is very seldom a good thing.
On this, I have to agree with toni. Nature gave them the ability to winter over, and emerge when the time is right. The ones who are not strong enough will not survive, as it should be.
All stages of the caterpillar will hibernate in many different ways. Here is what I would do. Get parsley, even organic from a grocery store and place it near your plant. Just lay it around or put it in a glass of water covered with plastic and holes in it so you can put each stem through the holes. That way they won't get into the glass and drown. Then I would get lots of small and large leaves and put them down on the ground and in the pot. Each stage of cat does different things. In the end they will chose the size and place they want to hibernate. They will roll up into the leaf and sleep all winter.
This has been really interesting to me. I've planted for bees, hummingbirds, and our finches so next year I'll be adding more for butterflies also. First to do is research the ones that are in, or visit my area. Then start researching what I can plant for them. My yard is not very big so I'll have to figure out how much room I have for the extra plants. I'm getting excited now!
2ofus, be sure to check out http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ for photos of those butterflies, info about their range and what plants the caterpillars require.
