I'm not exactly sure from your post what your plan is. The butterfly will need flowers to nectar from or she will die. Where are you keeping her?

The host plants are what she will look for in order to lay her eggs, after she has mated with a male giant swallowtail. It is too late now to grow NEW Rue plants that will benefit her reproduction efforts.

If you are in a zone that will allow the Rue to overwinter in the ground, go ahead and get some seedlings started for in ground planting, but in my experience, it will take a season for them to put on growth sufficient to provide food for even a few small cats.

If I've completely misunderstood your question, please let us know exactly what it is that you're planning to do and we'll try to help.

Mary

Hi
I have this big flight house where all the butterflies I catch go in there. Some people might say that's is wrong but I only collect female butterflies then I put them in to lay eggs I usually works I take out or put in the plants certain butterflies like. Right know I have had a female black swallowtail in there for three days and she has laid several eggs. The plant that I have in there are butterfly bush,dill,parsley, rue, lantana and a willow with a viceroy or RSP cat. I do this for the little cats so the predators don't get them and also butterfly populations are way down . So the female more likely to lay eggs on lime or rue? Does hop tree grow here?

Sounds like quite a setup. I envision you running around with a giant butterfly net. Any comments from friends or neighbors?

How big is the enclosure?

Well your right i do run alongmwith a giant net:) not very big, but is big enough to Havana giant tiger and black swallowtails. I have not seen any female tiger swallowtails this year. Why are monarchs so raremthis year?

Well your right i do run alongmwith a giant net:) not very big, but is big enough to Havana giant tiger and black swallowtails. I have not seen any female tiger swallowtails this year. Why are monarchs so raremthis year?

Why not plant a butterfly garden instead of trapping butterflies?

I've raised over 60 monarchs in Minnesota this season and I don't even own a net.

Milkweed diversification + nectar flowers is the key to getting on the monarch radar...good luck!

This post was edited by coolbutterfly on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 22:35

Well i have a butterfly garden I catch them record if its male or females and where and what time some time I keep them but most of the time I release them.