I'm so happy to hear about big caterpillar activity in Wisconsin! I'm jealous of your monarchs and black swallowtails - I haven't seen any adults in ages, much less gotten any eggs or cats.

My last AL just made its chrysalis, and yet another spicebush swallowtail has purged, turned yellow and is making the jog. I have 14 of these! Pretty soon I'll have nothing in the cages but chrysalides!

Have you gotten any red admiral cats yet, John?

Sherry

Funny you should mention RAs, Sherry,
My friend LeRoy and I were just garden touring and I discovered 10 or so RA nests of various sizes! I'd bring some in, but I'm maxed out with Monarch cats at the moment. I think enough will survive to adulthood. I also saw what may have been an adult RA out of the corner of my eye.
The season has finally hit Madison, WI and I couldn't be happier :-)

John

I've collected over 100 Monarchs here in Northern VA. I think it is going to be a great year. Get ready they will be there soon and they are hungry. I'm up to my elbows in frass. But, I would love to see more RLs and other species. Also, raising lots of PSTs.

Last night I was up until midnight. The Monarchs are eating bowls of milkweed. This a new way to keep it fresh. I take a grocery bag out to the field, trim the tops (it will create new growth for later in the summer), in the bottom of the plastic grocery bag (I'm using one from Trader Joe's) I placed a plastic bowel with wet paper towels. Then, when I get home I recut the bottoms and place those into a bowel of water. I'm using some wet paper towel to help keep the stems upright. I'm not washing this new spring growth, but will wash in the summer to help prevent OE. I do inspect the leaves for spiders and other predators. In the field, I saw a tiny assassin bug sucking the life out of a second instar caterpillar. And, spiders, OMG, so many spider. I use plastic gloves that I buy by the hundreds at Costco to cover my hands to avoid getting bitten.

{{gwi:486454}}

WOW! I am extremely encouraged by the number of Monarchs people on this forum are raising :-) Never underestimate the power of insects-esp when they get a little help from wonderful people like you.
I'm having similar results c American Ladies. (I guess you could call me a real ladies' man hehehe). I have at least 50 cats around the property, with an ELF a week on average.
I think it's going to be a fun year, despite a cold and miserable Spring...

John

Always happy to hear of new Monarch eclosures! John, your success is encouraging. I am always amazed by how much species variation there is in my yard from year to year. So far, I have released 3 Monarchs that came to me as eggs on some Swamp MW plants I purchased this spring. I released 12 Spicebush Swallowtails that had overwintered in my garage, and I have released a grand total of 75 Black Swallowtail adults so far this year. 40 of them overwintered in the garage, and the rest I pulled from my Fennel this spring. And of course, I now have the Giant cats! It really is shaping up to be a great butterfly season. :)

Great stories everyone, congrats on your great success so far. I have a few tiny BST cats and over 50 eggs.
I haven't seen a Monarch, I have five milkweed, three Liatris and two orange butterfly weed, so I hope I see some on their return from the North.

What great news from all of you. I'm too busy still getting plants in the ground and keeping up with the rest of my life to spend much time searching for eggs and cats. If I have any, they'll need to fend for themselves for now. I continue to expand my host and nectar plants, though. I got two wild black cherry saplings that My brother dug up for me. I haven't gotten them in the ground yet, but I've seen lots of Tiger Swallowtails around who can take advantage of them some day. Happy gardening.

Martha

I just found five monarch cats! I'm so happy because last year I didn't find any. These were on the giant milkweed.

I have almost 50 BST cats too. I'm afraid I may run out of food for them! (I never get to eat my dill or parsley anymore, but I don't care.