Butterfly garden
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That's much different than our Butterfly Weed. Maybe i don't have the correct name.
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SS, I think yours is a Marigold. Does it stink? Wifey had more plants in our property for butterflies than I can count. We often have a plethora of them buzzing around with the bees. Ours are mostly Swallowtails, but Monarchs visit, too.
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I'll do a little more research.
BUT
The previous owner of SandburRanch had dug these up from ditches to transplant in the yard perimeter about 45 years ago so being they return each year from the mother plant we can be pretty well assured they are perennial.
EDIT: EDIT:
Thank you for this reminder. One of many things I knew but have since forgotten or at least let slip to that gray area in the back of my mind. Growing up, milkweed was just that, a weed, and it was prevalent, but nowadays, I assume due to farmers as well as an increasing number of homeowners using pesticides and herbicides, it seems seeing it is rare. In fact so rare that when we had a small patch of it come up in one of the flower beds a couple years ago we were a bit shocked and wondered where the heck it had come from. We knew about the monarchs, and it looked healthy and fine, so we left it. And doggoned if those monarchs didn't find it. That was it though, one season, maybe the wife didn't notice or think about it and inadvertently plucked it when she was doing the spring clean up, but now that it's back on my mind I'll make sure to pick up some seeds and get it going again. I have a great spot in mind for it.
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It's a milkweed, though a very colorful one. There's a lot of milkweeds out there. You can tell by the leaves and looking closely at the blossoms.
Marigolds are great for butterflies, too. As are zinnias.
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My - - Picture This App - - clearly identifies the 2 plants found on the net. Milk weed then a pic of our native Butter Fly weed as a Milk Weed cultivar. Thanks
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Milkweed is crucial to them since it is the only thing that the larvae (caterpillars) eat.
We hand-collect caterpillars and sometimes eggs and raise them. We used plastic containers sold as terrariums:
A word of caution: if you have really small caterpillars, you need to use mist netting or they can get through the air slots.
Once the butterfly emerges, they need a few hours to dry and power up. We have a wire conical frame sold to support tomatoes and vines, that is covered in mist netting. They hang out in there for a few hours - or longer if the weather is crap - before being sexed and released.
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Thanks, Lenaitch,
We talked about the essential milkweed to raise Monarchs last July.
here’s the thread , as you know, they lay their eggs on the milkweed and then
eat the milkweed all day long.
https://www.diychatroom.com/f102/monarch-butterflies-662435/
I emailed my son and asked if he had a fish tank for the Monarchs and
he dropped off the perfect container that he had in his basement.
It has holes on all sides, we think
the little capertilllars can escape through the holes, so we’ll have to use
mesh over the holes - or maybe if we spray the inside with silicone they
won’t be able to crawl...
I post a pic of it tomorrow,
and maybe you can give us some ideas.
We talked about the essential milkweed to raise Monarchs last July.
here’s the thread , as you know, they lay their eggs on the milkweed and then
eat the milkweed all day long.
https://www.diychatroom.com/f102/monarch-butterflies-662435/
I emailed my son and asked if he had a fish tank for the Monarchs and
he dropped off the perfect container that he had in his basement.
It has holes on all sides, we think
the little capertilllars can escape through the holes, so we’ll have to use
mesh over the holes - or maybe if we spray the inside with silicone they
won’t be able to crawl...
I post a pic of it tomorrow,
and maybe you can give us some ideas.
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My grandkids got a small habitat and caterpillars from Amazon. Today they emerged as painted lady butterflies. In a couple of days they get freed.
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Nice picture of a lady monarch! :vs_cool:
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Small caterpillars are best; big ones collected in the wild are often parasitized by wasps and parasitic flies. Oh, how well I know!
Baby ones, almost never. And they only take two weeks to mature! Perfect for showing the little ones the magic of metamorphosis!
Baby ones, almost never. And they only take two weeks to mature! Perfect for showing the little ones the magic of metamorphosis!
Too much space to roam with too many little garden areas spread about I guess because I mentioned the milkweed to my wife last night, just happened she was walking up from putting out oranges for the orioles as I was walking toward the shop, so she pointed and said "like those". Yup, that's them, they skipped a year, probably got inadvertently plucked last spring but they're back now, not real tall yet, but coming along fine, so we'll see if the monarchs find them.
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It's amazing, but the monarchs will find them, like radar. You can put cages around them and butterflies will sit on them, wanting to get at that milkweed.
They've found mine, like a few minutes after I brought it home!
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Yes, they’re an invasive plant, ( I love invasive plants) they spread like wildfire...
Soon you’ll be thinning them out. :smile:
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Wow, in the days of Covid barriers, you could sell that for serious coin. :devil3:
Seriously, you can't tape over the holes or the caterpillars will suffocate. Depending on what size caterpillars you gather will determine the type of mesh you need. If you gather really small ones, you will need mist netting, probably available at a wildlife store. Whatever mesh you use, you could probably just tape a large piece over the groups of holes but make sure it is taped all the way around - then will wander if given a chance.
I would keep it out of the sun, otherwise it will get really hot in there and there is little air movement.
Don't worry about their ability to hang on smooth surfaces. If you watch them getting ready to pupate, they find a spot then exude a silk-like substance out of their butt that anchors them. They then hang from their butt, go into what we call a 'J' position then pupate. That can sometimes cover a day or two. If you look really closely, that silk 'anchor' is about an inch in diameter and is well attached. In our little plastic terrarium containers, they pupate on the smooth plastic lids more than anyplace else.
Like Dave says, the larger you get the caterpillars, the shorter you have to feed them (but the more they eat). We often gather them when they are barely visible (and sometimes still eggs but we try to avoid that). They go through several 'instar' stages (molting). When they're small, they don't eat much but obviously you are feeding them longer.
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