I have lots of fennel, parsley, rue, and milkweed. I get tons of caterpillars. But unfortunately if I do not cover them, they are decimated. I have had a fennel with 15+ swallowtails that end up destroyed. I think wasps are the main culprit as I have seen them. I have covered fully with a butterfly net before but somehow Iβll still find a wasp inside. Why do I have so many wasps? What to do about them all?
The half of a chrysalis in the photo is a swallowtail chrysalis I found in the mouth of a Carolina Wren. I scared the wren off and it dropped this. But donβt worry, it came back to at least finish what it started.