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Post by annclaire on Jun 21, 2012 11:22:54 GMT -5
Well. last week I watched a Black Swallowtail butterfly lay her eggs on my dill that I just planted this year. I thought, well, not all the dozen eggs I saw her lay will hatch. I was right, only 10 of them hatched. I thought, well, I'll see how many get eaten by predators. They are over an inch long and there are only 8 now. Then, yesterday, I saw another Black Swallowtail lay more eggs. Now what? The dill was just started this year and is only about 12" tall and I don't think it can survive a bigger herd of the caterpillers, but they are such a pretty butterfly that I would like to let some mature and become adults! What to do, what to do, what to do?
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Post by w8n4dave on Jun 21, 2012 12:31:40 GMT -5
hmmmmm have no clue, go get more dill??? sounds wonderful to be able to set out and watch all that
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Post by LinFL on Jun 21, 2012 14:09:10 GMT -5
I'd plant more dill, too.
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Post by marielouise on Jun 22, 2012 4:38:33 GMT -5
they wont hurt it!!!! Its their host plant. It will grow back.
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Post by kay on Jun 22, 2012 7:13:26 GMT -5
So jealous! I planted a huge patch just for the swallowtails. Haven;'t seen any sign of them here!
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Post by annclaire on Jun 22, 2012 22:26:25 GMT -5
Marie, I would agree, but there were 10 of them on the young dill If I had a mature stand of it, I wouldn't worry about it, but then another swallowtail laid MORE eggs, and these current ones had the top of the dill eaten down from 12" to 8" LOL I will look at the dollar store for more dill seed ... evidently I won't get any off this stand yet ... those puppies noshed the flower head! LOL
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Post by annclaire on Jun 22, 2012 22:27:06 GMT -5
Kay, they will come ... just have to give them time to find your patch! LOL
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Post by annclaire on Jun 22, 2012 22:36:32 GMT -5
Yah, Wendy, I do have to sit down and slurp down some gatorade from time to time in this heat LOL Thursday is supposed to be my mowing day, but yesterday, I had an appointment in the afternoon that interferred, so today I mowed ... and I like to mow! I still need to cut more edging around the lawn ... and get the electric edger out to clean up the ones I got done already And I haven't even broken out the weed eater to clean up the fencelines when I mow like I used to LOL But, I did get the BAMBOO that some fool (me) planted on the north side of my porch LOL I had cut it back as far as I could last fall, laid some old shingles down to block the light, and dumped grass clippings on it from the first mowing this year (8" tall grass) Well, today I dug the crowns out and cleared the shingles and grass clippings off. Hopefully, I got most of the roots too!
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