Comments on: A Menu for Monarchs

By: philsirvid

philsirvid — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:30:27 +0000

Hi Leann,
You can use raw pumpkin rather than cooked.

By: Leann

Leann — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:06:05 +0000

Hi, was reading about the pumpkin, ok probably silly question but does the pumpkin need to be cooked?

By: philsirvid

philsirvid — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 21:49:11 +0000

Dear Magazin and Shay,

Magazin: Is your caterpillar behaving normally? It could simply be a minor colour mutation and nothing to worry about. Even if it was of concern, I’m not sure there’s much anyone could do.

Shay: Try this publication as a guide to caterpillar stage sizes:
http://www.cec.org/Storage/62/5479_Monarch-caterpillar-guide_en.pdf
I would think 5th instar larvae (that term will make sense once you’ve read the guide) would be best. I’m sure other readers will let you know if they’ve had any luck with younger caterpillars.

By: Shay Bloomfield

Shay Bloomfield — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:52:39 +0000

I know the caterpillars do better on pumpkin when they are big and fat but being my first year having these wee darlings in my garden, what is classed as big and fat. got no leaves left on my one little plant and the plants in the garden shops are tiny, so going to try the pumpkin method but dont want to deform my little guys.

By: Magazin

Magazin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:01:44 +0000

Hi, Im hopeing some could help me with a Caterpillar issue the front of its head is discoloured and very yellow, is this something i should be worrying about?
Thanks..

By: jac tennant

jac tennant — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 06:19:23 +0000

I have grown a couple of large Swan Plants in pots inside, put them outside for a couple of weeks over xmas and now have a healthy crop of caterpillars. I’ve bought the pots back inside and I’m culling the caterpillar population, restricting it to 4 per shrub. If the leaves disapear I’ll be tryng the pumpkin method for sure.

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By: Jacqui

Jacqui — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:38:08 +0000

Hi Warren

The drawback with that method is that depending on the withholding period for the plants, the female Monarch doesn’t know and lays her eggs on a plant which is still affected by pesticide residue. Result can be writhing caterpillars, dying, upset children etc. Our recommendation would be to use a net to cover the plants. Later, when they’re bigger, the Monarch can still lay – either on leaves just inside the net or she can slip her ovipositor through the mesh, and the wasps can’t get at the eggs/small larvae.

Just another idea!

Jacqui

By: Warren Harding

Warren Harding — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:27:50 +0000

While tis method may seem distasteful to some, I’ve tried it and it works well.

While the Swan plant is growing, I spray it with insecticide to keep the caterpillars from destroying the plant in its early stages. Once the plant has developed into a bush, essentially, I stop spraying it and the monarchs do their thing. Giving the plants a head start makes them much more likely to survive. Before I did this, the caterpillars would demolish the plants before they could get to the chrysalis stage. So it was a lose-lose situation.

By: madambutterflynz

madambutterflynz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:39:42 +0000

I presume you’re talking about a Monarch caterpillar? Can I suggest that you go to the forum on the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust website, and I’m sure some of the members will be able to give you good advice.

http://www.monarch.org.nz/forum