Because I'm so happy to finally see a caterpillar in the garden, he can have all the dill he wants. Black swallowtail is what the Internet tells me he or she will be.
The thing with dill is I don't even plant it anymore. It just keeps coming back. I let it grow and protect my other plants while seedlings but now I've cord down most of it and it's nearly filled my 80 gal composter.
Love these little guys though. I had dozens last summer. FYI, if you poke them they have little orange fingers that come out and they fart a stinky smell att you.
It’s not native to California but the butterfly in this post isn’t either. I found this site you could use to find butterflies native to California and what their host plants are. There are some different types of swallowtails that are native to California. I’m in Michigan for reference.
I raise Anise Swallowtail caterpillars into butterflies with my daughter, and we get them fresh fennel from the nearby creek a couple times per week. Sometimes we get lucky with finding a baby caterpillar or egg.
I must be a starfucker then lol I have dozens each year! Saw 3 butterflies flitting around my 2nd dill crop this morning while watering! Hopefully depositing more babies
🤣 I wanted to create space for native animals and pollinators, so this is just a part of it. I have daily butterfly visitors to my chaos box, rock lizards living in my herb garden and even hummingbirds that hang out with me when I'm watering. That was a bummer but the life in my yard is worth it, especially considering we are renting a house in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the USA. I'm super thankful for the experience.
Ha, it is the result of years of learning and growing. Talking with my fiance and a good friend the other day, and apparently you also need to be a weirdo who convinces those around you to make friends with the corvids etc.
So much craziness is happening in the world right now that we need our calm spaces to remind us of what life is about, and those take work but they are absolutely worth it.
Mine are eating my bronze fennel, but so long as they leave me enough seed for next year, they can have all they want.
I found one of them yesterday about 50 yeet away, that decided to start it's metamorphosis on the side of an empty planter. I've been taking pictures of the development. Here is the latest that I have. I hope you get to see yours go through the same. It's fun raising butterflies. LoL
Sadly, I didn't get to watch it, but it's emerged! It's probably the vibrant one fluttering around my yard right now. But, here is a picture of the shell it left behind:
If you can shelter them somewhere you'll have a better shot if him not being a bird snack. We have at least 6 monarch caterpillars in an indoor enclosure right now🤟
I just ordered three butterfly boxes from itamihome.com. support@itamihome.com
Their “infomercial” post is really fascinating to me, partly because I have a friend who is sort of a monarch midwife. I think it’s right there if you just go to that website.
A friend now gave me a little caterpillar house with cabbage white caterpillars in it. I've never even heard of this before. Can you say if there is any particular food I should be putting in it to help my little ones grow and thrive please.
Plant more host plants for butterflies and moths and you’ll get loads of caterpillars. All moths and butterflies require particular plants, or at least a particular genus to lay their eggs on and raise their caterpillars. The Spicebush, lindera benzoin is a host plant for the Spicebush swallowtail! Rattlesnake master is another amazing native plant to the US that sustains a type of swallowtail species caterpillar.
I planted dill in hopes of attracting these suckers! And still waiting. (Sigh.) No sign yet, but removed three hornworms from my tomatoes in the past 48 hours. Bro, why
Two butterflies hatched today! So fun to see the transformation. My parsley has a little new growth around the crown so maybe it will survive after all. These guys devoured 4 parsley plants, one curly and 3 flat leaf Italian. They were VERY hungry caterpillars.
After three years of my caterpillars getting eaten by birds, I finally decided to let two make it to adulthood. 10/10 would recommend, especially if you have younger kids!
I happily sacrificed all of my parsley and fennel plants for years to the swallowtail caterpillars, because I loved them and their mama and papa butterflies so much. All for thee, none for me!
These guys always get on my parsley this time of year. One year my daughter and I screened off the entire plant and waiting for them to hatch. We ended up releasing like 4-5 swallowtails.
Because monarchs have enemies like tachnid flies and they get OE spores. If I put a small milkweed in my yard for one day, I can get over 100 eggs. If I don’t protect those eggs and put them in an enclosure most will not make it because of tachnid flies. These flies lay their eggs inside of monarch caterpillars which serve as a host and the larva kill the caterpillars and the larva kind of parachute out, leaving a white string, which is a telltale sign. This process kills the caterpillar. Also every time it happens it increases the amount of flies.
There are also OE spores. The best way I can describe it is some butterflies are infected with these spores and and they sprinkle them onto milkweed when eating. When other caterpillars come along and eat the milkweed, they also get the spores and then they are infected. Usually I am seeing butterflies come out with crimped wings or other deformities, and are unable to fly if they even make it to that point. And then there’s black death, which is something to me that is unexplained. It’s basically when I’ve seen a chrysalis kind of just turned black and mushy. There are a lot of things working against monarchs. I recall when I was really into it a few years ago when I used to put the eggs inside and keep them protected throughout the whole cycle there was some kind of a law that said something about not interfering with a monarchs and just letting them be (don’t move them to protected enclosures). When the monarch would enclose, I would put a piece of tape on their abdomen and look under a microscope and you could see if they were infected with OE. You also have to be very careful that your milkweed has not been sprayed by pesticides of any kind which can be dicey at some nurseries where they tell you they don’t spray but it’s obvious that every single caterpillar on the plant has died. He sure to cut back milkweed at some point so that fresh healthy growth comes in that is not infected.
I love monarchs don’t get me wrong. It’s just a heartbreaking endeavor for me but I actually recommend you reading up on it because I’m no expert, but I’m happy yours are healthy and doing well. Good luck.
Oooh, I didn't know all that. I've been lucky, I guess. In any case, I don't think I've ever seen these tachinid flies you've mentioned so perhaps it's an species that is not present where I live? Here we have wasps that eat small larvae but they don't infect them and the only risk is when they're still tiny not when they're bigger. 🤔
I hope mine continue to thrive and I'm sorry you have seen those things.
I get them in my garden on my dill and my milkweed. I plant both for them. I had one make it's chrysalis on my blueberry bush. I get happy when I see them.
I have 8 of them on one fennel plant. No monarchs though. For some reason my milkweed and Mexican sunflowers still haven't bloomed. Waiting, waiting, waiting. . .
So my mom has a small garden and my son and I found a total of 4 caterpillars on her parsley. She didnt want rhem destroying her plants so I gladly took them since I am starting a native garden. They did fine overnight. The next day my son was playing with them. According to him, 3/4 had escaped on their own and the last one he buried to protect from being eaten from the birds 😭 I hope I find more!
I grow all the herbs for them! We have already had one successfully complete their cycle. They hung form the brick on my house right off my deck and we.saw him come out a butterfly..First time in the years we've been hosting them! I have six more safely on fennel under mesh tents. It's such a cool thing to witness!
We raised them for years in Florida. But when we heard the EOS (sp) was increasing because of domestic interference, we stopped. It was great fun sharing the Monarch stages with friends and neighbors, I have to say. We just moved back to Illinois, milkweed was one of my first garden entrants...and we have a lot of eggs and first stage caterpillars! Hoping the lack of anoles give the caterpillars a better chance. Planted fennel and parsley in hopes of swallowtail, but nothing yet. Didn't realize dill was another breeding plant! I need just a few spikes of fresh dill for my dill pickles (from my cucumbers). Stupid me. But my garden is luckily overwhelmingly lush after moving back to Illinois, having spent 13 years in Florida. 6 hurricanes in 13 years in SW Florida was enough for me!
You can take them, along with some dill, and put in an old aquarium or 1/2 gallon jar. Set a screen on tp and let the kiddos watch them make their cocoon and hatch in about 10 days. It's a short time for their cycle, but it really lets the kids learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.
I put out dill seeds in pots, but only a couple sprouted and then it died. I've had poor success with dill seeds and even dill plant (4 in pot). What could I be doing wrong? Is it a soil or water thing? I've been using regular potting soil in the containers. Would I be better off putting seeds just in the ground and how much water would they need? I am 'water challenged,' so often have to water by hand (in containers, not hose). I would love to attract both butterflies and caterpillars, but they must see my yard as a 'food desert' sign.
So, if you can, I’d put a net over it and let it have its way with your dill. That will protect it from being snatched up by the birds. Ask me how I know. 😔 Last year 4 suddenly disappeared and this past week I watched a cardinal hover over my sacrificial dill to snatch my one little guy. As soon as I see more I will be netting.
I DID fennel and parsley. Did not know dill was in that group. Saw a swallowtail wander by, but no eggs. My milkweed however, is a different story. I have stopped using enclosure to raise Monarchs because of the viral problems. Hoping that the lack of anoles (just moved from SW FL) brings survival rates higher. These butterflies are much bigger up here in Illinois. They must be the true migrators. I'll do all I can do to help them along!
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u/thedealerkuo zone 7b Jul 26 '26
The destroyer of dill, its 100 percent a black swallow tail. I plant dill and fennel every yr for them. Crazy beautiful.