Thursday, May 9, 2013

Butterfly House is getting full 5.9.13

I haven’t seen many Monarchs but it only takes a few to load up the plants with eggs.

So far they have eaten 3 Giant Milkweed plants ( the one on the R is mostly stalks now) and over a dozen Tropical Milkweed.  I had to put one of my young Giant Milkweed plants in. It is on the L behind the Tropical with the yellow flowers. It’s not big but it is food.

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Most have gone to the top and pupated. There are about 25 in various stages of growth still eating away.

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When they go into a “J”, I put a sticker on the top of the cage with the date so I can tell when to expect them to emerge as Butterflies. If we are going to be away over night, I put the cage outside, open the door and staple window screen across the front, leaving about 6” open at the top for them to escape.

That’s a lot of caterpillars. It will most likely be at least a week before any emerge, and by then the rest should be up there also. About 10 of them are Queens.

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There isn’t much for them to lay on now….guess they’ll just have to go to Debbie’s. She’s got lots of Milkweed plants.

2 comments:

  1. After they eat the milkweed down to stalks, do the leaves grow back again, or does the plant die?

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    1. If I don't let them get eaten down too bad they will come back. The Giant Milkweed have been in the "butterfly house" several times and may have to go back in a few months. I wont be bringing any more caterpillars inside for awhile. Most of my "Tropical Milkweed" plants were started from seed.

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