Caterpillar on the wall

[Pamela Moresby]

Had one plaintive cry."Help! Caterpillar needs rescuing!" Somehow a monarch caterpillar ended up 30 feet away from the container in the laundry and was climbing up the bedroom wall.
Now back in it's container.
Pam from
NZ

[John Beaulieu]

We are now missing all that fun. We have had our first good frost here in central Ontario (about 55 miles north of Toronto) and had to scrape the car windows this morning. That pretty much brings the butterfly season to an end. The native milkweeds in my garden (common, swamp, and butterfly weed) have all died back. The tropical milkweed seems to have survived the frost and still looks fine, but its days are numbered. It's great to have the tropical milkweed since it does continue growing and flowering long after the native varieties have ended their seasonal cycle. This provides food for any late caterpillars. It has been a week since I saw my last monarch gliding by on its way south. Oh well, the excitement will soon build again, since Brenda has been involved with the Monarch Teacher's Network and a workshop will be held in Orillia, Ontario (Canada) this coming summer. That is just 30 miles from here. I attended (and helped a bit) at a workshop Brenda helped with down in New Jersey (USA) this past summer. It is amazing to see the 50 teachers getting excited (and acting like typical students) as they learn and see all about the amazing life history of the monarchs. This is such a contagous interest and it is so rewarding to spread the information to others.

John - suffering monarch withdrawls

[Pamela Moresby]

I really miss the monarchs when they go too. In winter time in NZ they go somewhere else or die off. The milkweed we feed them survives only if the caterpillars haven't killed the plant.
Pam
from NZ

[John Beaulieu]

Pam

Interesting that you find monarch caterpillars killing milkweed plants... I have always found that even a completely stripped plant will regrow leaves after they have been all eaten by caterpillars. I have added a photo to my monarch/milkweed album at http://photobucket.com/albums/a240/JohnBeaulieu of a potted milkweed (common) that has a new set of leaves starting after being a completely bare stem (if I have done things right, it will appear with this post).
In my experience more new shoots will also appear from the pot or ground, depending how and where it is growing. I am not sure what kind of milkweed you have in NZ, perhaps it is different and not so quick to regrow?

John

[Keith Petrosky]

Yeah you can almost always get milkweed to grow back if it has water, is warm, and has some sunlight. You should name the caterpiallar "Daredevil"

[Pamela Moresby]

Thanks for your reply John. In NZ the milkweed variety is limited and monarch caterpillars have voracious appetites. we have the common Swanplant, which most people know about. There are also others which are scarlet and gold silky varieties. I have all of these.
It is spring here, so am putting out quite a few to be planted in early Dec on the advice of a gardener who is much more knowledgeable than I.
Yes, sometimes all the leaves are stripped and then they can grow again, but sometimes the monarch caterpillars eat all the stalks as well if there is no other food to be found as quite a lot actually starve for lack of milkweed.I have had swan plants that are completely dead, root stalk and all.
To remedy this problem, I feed them kapok weed(it is a pest in Auckland but the flowers actually kill monarch butterflies, but the caterpillars are able to eat it) to conserve my milkweeds,(caterpillars live in a bucket)I really prefer to use swanplant but have to get a lot big enough to feed the caterpillars. Usually end up by rescuing other caterpillars from other people's places who don't have enough to eat or else are being killed off by paper wasps and praying mantis.
Pam
from NZ

[Megathymus ursus]

What is kapok?

[Pamela Moresby]

Kapok is a green notious weed in Auckland NZ, I presume in the past it's interior of it's withered green seed pod was used for stuffing in mattresses, as time went on, it was discovered many were allergic to Kapok and used other things for mattresses.
Kapok is a green vine that has white flowers and white sap that eats into your skin. Most dislike this weed. Yet the monarch caterpillars eat it.
regards
Pam
from NZ

[Megathymus ursus]

Do they pupate on it and produce normal adults?

[Pamela Moresby]

I have just got 2 crysali that formed last night. These ate the Kapok weed but I put a branch in the same bucket and the caterpillars changed into crysali on that.
Pam
from NZ

[Megathymus ursus]

Let us know how those turn out. Sometimes caterpillars that eat substandard plant can pupate, but die as chrysalids.

Brian

[Jim]

Kapok is a green vine that has white flowers and white sap that eats into your skin. Most dislike this weed. Yet the monarch caterpillars eat it.

I'm vaguely familiar with the Kapok TREE (Bombicaceae) whose fruits are similar to milkweed pods, but the vine you are describing sounds like Blue Vine (Sand Vine, Honeyvine) Milkweed:



Is this what your "Kapok" looks like?

[Pamela Moresby]

No it's not. Kapok doesn't look as good. will try to photograph it soon
Pam from NZ

[Jim]

I think we've tracked down what you are referring to as "kapok" - the White Bladderflower (also Moth Plant, Cruel Vine, etc.), Araujia sericifera (Asclepiadaceae):



Chip tells me we have a text somewhere around here on the subject and I'll post something when/if i find it. In the meantime, here are some online references:

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/ ... p?Ne_ID=48

http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/araujiasericifera.htm

This plant's suitability as a monarch host plant is not very well documented so any "real world" observations would be very helpful - let us know how your critters do!

[Pamela Moresby]

Will let you know how the caterpillars do. So far I have 4 crysalis. However, I fear sometimes as kapok is a weed it may occasinally be treated with weedkiller. that wont do the caterpillars any good.
Managed to get several photos of a caterpillar turning into a crysalis and they came out well.
When I know more will let you know thanks for the link.
regards
Pam
from NZ

[Pamela Moresby]

I have raised caterpillars on Kapok Plant for about 3 years now and they develope into crysali sucessfully and monarch butterflies. I wash the Kapok Plant first and then put it into a bucket with caterpillars.

There is one note of caution here, some Kapok Plants are sprayed with Pesticide, as I suspect some commercial "Swan Plants" in garden shops and that will definetly kill caterpillars.

Pamela Moresby
from New Zealand

[Teresa]

Does this plant grow in the US?

[Pamela Moresby]

I am not sure if Kapok lives in the USA, but I would recomend you use some other milkweed. Yes, it feeds the caterpillars and they thrive - but the flowers actually kill the butterflys.

The reason I use it to feed my monarch caterpillars is there is very little to feed them and these caterpillars strip our few plants we have and eventually starve to death. Also, Kapok is a real notious pest and by feeding it to caterpillars I am helping to get rid of a real pest.

Pamela
from NZ

[Teresa]

Thats great info. Thanks

[He. katie]

instead of dying and being devoured by caterpillars, my milkweed is taking over the yard. It just planted itself all over. For a year or two, the plants are small and don't seem to grow that muh. After that, you can't get em to leave...