Dieing cats

[tonton]

I have 2 huge butterfly bushes infested with aphids. I had cats at various stages on both bushes. I found 3 cats dead on the bush and looked like the life had been sucked out of them. They were at 3-4th instars. I have since found a "stink bug" and a wasp in my bushes. I had about 20 new young cats 2 days ago and now they are all gone. How do I get rid of all of these predators without killing my cats. What am I doing wrong? Last year I had none of these problems and had about 25 beautiful monarchs that I watched through all phases.

[freda]

It seems like a little late to be responding to your July post, but better late than never? The 'simple' (yeah, right) solution to your problem with predation is to bring them indoors. Stink bugs, ants, spiders, grasshoppers, all take their toll on caterpillar numbers. We brought the eggs and very early instars, indoors last summer and while it was a HUGE amount of work, it was very successful and well worth the effort. I wrote many posts about our experience so I won't repeat here...if you're interested, click my profile and then "all posts by this member" and sort through them. As much work as it was, we're gearing up for this summer's 'production.'

Freda

[Mona Miller]

You are right Freda, never too late to respond. I think what happens is that there is a build up of predators over time. I do know that I read in "An Obsession with Butterflies" in the chapter called "Tough Love" that the milkweed plants can call in true bugs when they are attacked. The plants give off some kind of pheromone which tells them of the caterpillar damage.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4979&page=51
The Chemistry of Eavesdropping, Alarm, and Deceit
Page 51-52 talk about plants calling in the true bugs, this is a very interesting article.