Butterfly Gardening | How to raise caterpillars to black swallowtail butterflies

[@PattymacMakes]

Have you tried butterfly gardening?

[@aprilsatterfield1307]

Yes i love it!

[@PattymacMakes]

@Karl M Thanks Karl. Gosh I love my pollinators so much.

[@KRD2001]

Just found 5 on my dill plants after harvesting them I looked them up and found out they are beautiful and NATIVE so I am trying to to make sure that all 5 are able to make it to adulthood

[@KRD2001]

@@PattymacMakes I also love in upstate New York is this getting late in the year to see them for my location?

[@carolineletellierdest-just8623]

Butterflies are like flying jewelry to me! Just breath taking!

[@PattymacMakes]

They are my favorite too!! I think they are amazing

[@ravendennin8019]

A black swallowtail just laid an egg today, I’m also in VB, so glad I found your page!

[@PattymacMakes]

That's AWESOME Raven! Andersons has THE BEST parsley in the green house right now. I will probably head back for a few more plants before they all sell out. London Bridge nursery also has it and they will carry it later in the season for those of us who love to plant for our butterflies.

[@thomass.johnson8324]

Patty, Thank you for posting this. For the past 8 yrs I've done nothing ,but Monarchs. Doing it individually to date I've raised, tested for OE & tagged 116. This past fall while releasing a Monarch at work I had a Black Swallowtail at my feet desperately looking for places to place her eggs. Well she found 3 plants. I said, to myself w/ winter coming on their outlook looked grim. So I took 3, 2 have died & 1 is doing well !

[@PattymacMakes]

That is amazing you've had so many Monarchs! I had maybe 8 of them the year I worked with them, but by and large I get Black Swallowtail. I had caterpillars for both this year in the garden, but I did not have the energy to do the habitat and keep up with them. Hopefully I feel more up to it next year. They did not arrive until very late this year, and I don't know if any of them made it to the Chrysalis. It's such a rewarding hobby! Thank you for sharing your story!

[@LisaR_aquagal]

I love your videos! I have only watched 2 so far, but they are very informative. I am a Master Gardener from SE Michigan. I volunteer at a flower farm that is a Monarch Waystation. Last summer I raised monarchs on my back porch, and tagged the last generation before they headed down south.

[@PattymacMakes]

Thank you Lisa! I do my best to provide something educational and entertaining. How exciting to be a part of a Monarch project like that!

[@kellydanek702]

I am brand new at this hobby, so I found this video incredibly informational and inspiring! (Great music, too!) Looking forward to receiving my enclosure from Amazon later today (my husband is probably gonna flip, but oh well...).

[@PattymacMakes]

Oh it's such a fun hobby!! But it's kind of late in the season now. Don't be disappointed if you don't get much participation this year. I find they are most active July to mid September, but it also depends on your garden zone and if the butterfly is native or migratory. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! I love my butterflies and look forward to seeing them every year!

[@kellydanek702]

@@PattymacMakes Thank you for that advice. I live in San Diego, so not sure how things will play out. I received my habitat 30 minutes ago and have already got everybody (3 "teenage" caterpillars at this time) set up. Such a relief, as I think predators may have snatched the four big ones I had last weekend (unless they took off to form their chrysalises elsewhere).

[@PattymacMakes]

@@kellydanek702 Oh you might have a really long season there! And you gets TONS of Monarchs there. yeah, I had a monarch chrysallis that just disappeared so somebody got him. I have little salamanders everywhere so I suspect one of them is probably to blame.

[@kellydanek702]

@@PattymacMakes yes, we have been seeing numerous Monarchs near my home. (From looking at pictures), their caterpillars look very similar to the Swallowtail's. Guess I'll have to wait and see what emerges later.

[@gardengoddess1283]

No reason to explain why you're doing this, because what you are doing is helping the Butterfly population excel and that is awesome! Our Butterfly population went down so low that we might have lost them, but were starting to go up hill now! Keep up the good work!! It would be a sad day or life without Butterflies in them!!

[@PattymacMakes]

Ellen Spencer thank you Ellen!! It really is my favorite summer hobby! I visited with a neighbor around the corner yesterday who remarked that he noticed more butterflies this in more years than he could remember. I would like to think my efforts are helping that. I had 7 Monarchs this year! My first ever. I’m up to about 50 black swallowtail butterflies this year. My most ever. The hurricane that blew through over the weekend tore up my pollinators garden out front, so that’s disappointing. I hope you will watch my other butterfly videos and my pollinator gardens. Thank you so much for your kind comments!! 🦋🦋

[@PattymacMakes]

Here's this year's video in case you are interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHakpqqFlJuWibM

[@Muffinadventures123]

I live in Norfolk! My 6 yo daughter and I found 4 black swallowtail caterpillars yesterday so we made a shelter for them but I feel like it's too small. So here we are watching your video and we'll be getting a bigger home for them and some parsley! Thank you! Subscribed :)

[@PattymacMakes]

Oh fun Svetlana!! I love to connect with locals! Butterflies are so fun to work with in the garden. It is getting late in the season, so don't be surprised if you get the chrysalis in the enclosure and they don't emerge. Put them in the enclosure in a shed or cool spot in a garage for the winter. They will hibernate all winter that way. In the spring, they will emerge. It's absolutely miraculous to witness! Welcome to my channel. I'm primarily doing quilting and sewing videos at this point, so I don't know if that is interesting to you or not.

[@Muffinadventures123]

@@PattymacMakes oh I had no idea about that! One already turned into a chrysalis so I will make sure to put them in the shed if that happens :) I got a mesh laundry basket from walmart and pinned a cloth over the too to secure it and got plenty of parsley. I am interested in sewing too. Thank you so much!

[@deborahroberts9508]

Wow! What a delightful video. I'm actually in Richmond va and just started trying to take care of the butterflies.

[@PattymacMakes]

Thank you Deborah! It is a fun and rewarding summer hobby.

[@becdowd9921]

today I stopped at nursery and bought 4 trays (10 each) parsley plants to plant in-between my ugly milkweed. I've got 50 milkweed in ground along a fence and keep 20 potted milkweed to bring in to the habitat for feeding. Starting parsley now but haven't seen the black swallowtail in weeks tho. South FL here.

[@PattymacMakes]

Your set up sounds amazing! In my climate, we are at the end of the season so it starts dropping off this time of year. I have two remaining black swallowtail caterpillars and all my monarchs are in the chrysalis now. I've been releasing two almost every day so that's been fun!

[@jonesbluesandjam]

So Cool!! Wonderful. Thanks for Sharing💙👍

[@PattymacMakes]

Thank you so much sweet lady! ❤️

[@shannonlee939]

I’m in zone 8a as well. I just found three Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my curly parsley today. They look like they are second or third instar (according to Google). Watching to get some tips. ❤️

[@PattymacMakes]

It's so exciting when they start showing up! I've had hardly any this year, so it's been a strange summer.

[@Lilliancooks]

Thank you so much for this helpful video...so much great info. I just started raising swallowtail caterpillars this year, so your video was just what I needed. Next year I will be better equipped thanks to your video. I never thought to buy more parsley plants after they ate the 2 that I gave them. And I will need to buy the butterfly habitat that you had instead of the pop up hamper that I used. I covered the top of the hamper with mesh, but your habitat is much easier to get into from the side. Thanks again😀

[@PattymacMakes]

We all start with a clothes hamper! LOL!!! Please watch my updated version! I didn't do any of this for this summer but I've seen some caterpillars here and there. I let the birds have them this year. It's actually good for the bird population to have healthy caterpillars.

[@Lilliancooks]

@@PattymacMakes thank you...I will have to look for your other videos.

[@4chappels]

I just put a mesh hamper over my parsley yesterday. We found the caterpillars on Saturday. The large ones were gone yesterday. 😥 Is there something else you can recommend I use to cover my parsley that is growing in my garden?

[@PattymacMakes]

@@4chappels There's really no way to isolate them completely in the garden. To be honest, this year I didn't do anything at all and let the birds and the lizards have the caterpillars. I attended a webinar about how important the caterpillars are for bird populations so I decided to let nature take its course this year. The large ones probably went off to make their cocoon so don't worry!

[@jbojm9]

Good information. Great video.

[@PattymacMakes]

Thank you so much! This is my favorite part of summer. They work me pretty hard for a couple of months, but it's worth it!

[@coagulatedsalts4711]

i live in a desert region but we have yellow swallowtails and i've been thinking about catching a few and breeding them for a couple of generations before releasing them. we also have an aphid issue but ladybugs also live here, yet i never really see them so i'm planning on breeding ladybugs for future aphid infestations

[@PattymacMakes]

Helping ladybugs along is a great idea! Aphids can be so utterly destructive. I haven't done the butterfly gardens in a couple of years now, but I did enjoy it. I'm sure I will do them again at some point. I hope you are successful with your efforts and thanks for sharing your plans.

[@EzExtendoz]

About how long of a process for them to transform?🥰Great video btw

[@PattymacMakes]

Thank you Ebony!! It's pretty fast, maybe 2 weeks once they go into the Chrysalis. I've had some that don't emerge so I leave them in place and they hatch the following spring! It's pretty amazing.

[@Emiliapocalypse]

When you said you put the butterfly weed in the wrong place the prior year, what were the conditions you moved them into? Just wondering, as I bought some butterfly weed seeds online, my yard isn’t very big, and I want to make sure I put them in the best place! Thanks :) 🦋

[@PattymacMakes]

Emiliapocalypse yes!! I placed them where I wanted them and not where they needed to be. 🤦🏻‍♀️ they need full sun! Also I just read about milkweed, and butterfly weed is in that family, and it needs a chill time before it grows. So plant in fall and cover with mulch. It will do better being out for winter ❄️. I’m going to pull my scrubby garden which has suffered in the heat this year, and put out my seeds I’ve harvested from this years growth and then cover in mulch. I hope that helps!

[@aprilsatterfield1307]

Please tell me where you got the big enclosure I'm having the same problems and I want to save my second batch of Black Swallowtail caterpillars

[@PattymacMakes]

Hi April! I can't link to amazon as that will read as spam, but I can link you to my updated video on how I took care of my butterflies this year. AND that has the link to larger habitat I used. Definitely check out the updated video, too, because I include new tips and tricks. I think it works even better! I hope this helps!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHakpqqFlJuWibM&t

[@HopeChestJewelry]

Thank you for your video. This is my 2nd time back. I have a question: I have a few black swallowtail caterpillars, but the last couple of days they fell off the dill branches onto the soil. The first time I noticed this happen, I tried using a watercolor brush so they can attach onto the brush and then I would put them back on the dill. They still fall off. It seems like they can't get back on the dill again? Last night, I had another one fall onto the soil. I decided to leave it alone and figured it will find its way back to the dill. It was laying next to the base of the dill plant. This morning, It still looks like it's dying. I am puzzled. How do you successfully help them get back on the dill again? Thank you.

[@PattymacMakes]

You kind of have to let them do their own thing. And I understand that can be difficult to do. You want to interfere with them as little as possible. I definitely would not be using something to try and put them back onto a plant. They might be unhealthy caterpillars or the shock of moving them might have been too much for them. It's hard to say. You might want to leave them alone in the garden if they are showing up, and see if they do better on their own. Sometimes we are over zealous in our desire to help, and it can be too much for them. Nature is a delicate balance. They will totally take care of themselves, and sometimes they don't make it. I have started using live plants in the butter fly house so I interact with them very little. This year, I'm skipping the process of butterfly gardening altogether to let the bird population have the caterpillars. I attended a class on how important the caterpillar population is for native birds, so I'm adjusting my approach this year. I hope that helps!! Try to enjoy them from afar in the garden if you can.

[@LisaR_aquagal]

I haven't raised swallowtails yet, but with monarchs I have a bunch of different types of milkweed leaves (swamp, tropical, or common) stuffed into a bottle. They sometimes fall off, but it is amazing how fast they climb back up to the food. One did drop into the water when it was full grown, but I scooped it out and blew on it for a while. I left it in the cage on a paper towel. She made a beautiful butterfly!

[@PattymacMakes]

@@LisaR_aquagal Thanks for sharing Lisa!! I have not had any butterflies to raise this year, and I've only seen one Black Swallowtail. It's very strange here and I don't know what's going on. I hope it is back to normal next year. In so many ways. lol

[@HopeChestJewelry]

@@LisaR_aquagal I had about over 20 or 30 Black Swallowtail caterpillars over the last few weeks of summer on my dill plants in different areas of my garden. I protected them with mosquito netting. They grew to be very big like over an inch. But once they fell to the ground. They can't seem to climb back on. I have tried to save them by carefully moving them back on dill plants or simply put the dill plants next to them. All of them die because they fell and the can't climb back on again. I have searched online everywhere hoping to find a search as to why they will just die after they fall off the dill plants? No one has posted an answer to this. So this is why Black Swallowtail butterflies are harder to see because of the survival chances? I noticed they have a "silk" like string that they attach themselves to the dill plants. Perhaps they needed that to climb back on? Anyways, I am sad about it.

[@triciabyrne7761]

I saw a caterpillar leave my parsley plants (which I covered with netting) on his way to find an acceptible place to transition. To my horror on his journey he fell almost two feet. I thought he might be dead, but I left him alone and after several minutes he seemed fine and went on his merry way.

[@deborahroberts9508]

I have a Joe Pye Weed but not much success so far. Is Swampy milkweed the same as butterfly weed? What other plants are useful?

[@PattymacMakes]

Hi Deborah! It kind of depends on what you are trying to do. Butterflies need two plants. A nectar source and a host plant to lay eggs so the caterpillars have a food source when they hatch. Different butterflies need specific host plants, but they are can share nectar sources. So Milk weed and butterfly weed provide flowers which are a nectar source for all butterflies but a host plant specific to a Monarch butterfly. I get a few of those, but mostly I have Black Swallowtails. I also see Yellow swallowtails who come in to nectar on the flowers, but use the tulip tree as their host plant. And Zebra Swalllowtails who nectar but only use the Pa Pa tree as a host. So research what butterflies are common where your are and then put out both flowers....coneflowers, zinnias, cosmos etc for nectar and the right kind of host plants so you get caterpillars. I hope that helps.

[@Pedro-tf9xz]

What type of flower or plant is the first one tht the swallowtail is feeding on

[@PattymacMakes]

Pedro hi Pedro! That is called Butterfly Weed. It looks a lot like milkweed but is easier for me to find here. The Monarchs will lay eggs on it but all the butterflies 🦋 will nectar on it. It grows easy from seed and comes back every spring! 😌

[@Pedro-tf9xz]

Pattymac Makes ty so much , I’ve recently started doing what your doing, I found a lot of caterpillars in my rue and when they started to grow bigger they started to disappear ,and sadly there was only 1 left and I decided to take it in and take care of it. Eventually I found 3 more caterpillars and now all of them are in their cocoon and one emerged this morning. I didn’t want to let the butterfly go because it’s raining where I am , and I was trying to see what type of flowers swallowtails feed on. Thank you so much.

[@PattymacMakes]

Pedro that is absolutely wonderful!!!! Butterflies need two kinds of plants. One is what they Nectar or feed on and the other we call a host plant. The host plant is what the species will lay eggs on. It is different for all butterflies! They will generally all nectar on flowers like zinnias and sunflowers and butterfly weed and butterfly bush. These Black Swallowtails lay eggs on parsley and fennel. So I keep a lot of parsley for them. I changed up my setup a little this year and need to film it for the channel. I highly recommend that mesh habitat. It was not expensive on Amazon and it works really well! Google the butterflies for your area and see what host plants they need. It’s super fun and so addictive. I love my caterpillars! 🐛

[@Pedro-tf9xz]

Pattymac Makes ty so much

[@PattymacMakes]

Pedro you’re so welcome Pedro!!

[@karihiltner7407]

Hi there, I am new at raising Caterpillars to butterflies. I just started at the beginning of August of this year. I started out with Monarchs and so far have raised and released 25 Monarch Butterflies. I then started collecting Black Swallowtail caterpillars. I have two that formed into their Chrysalis back in late August and hoping they emerge pretty soon. I need some advice, since Fall is only a couple weeks away. I have 10 Black Swallowtail Caterpillars that are basically just now going into their Chrysalis. They started forming their Chrysalis On September first. Do you think they’ll emerge into a butterfly before October, or am I gonna need to overwinter them? I honestly don’t want to stress with over wintering them. I’m not interested in overwintering them this year at least. Yet I do not want to kill them either? What should I do? I have 3 remaining Black Swallowtail Caterpillars left . Should I take them back outside and just wish them luck? I don’t know what to do? Any kind of advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[@PattymacMakes]

I think you should put them outside and let nature do its thing. They are very resilient and even if the caterpillar doesn't make it, they will be a good meal for a bird. I actually have not done any of the habitat work this year. I have put the plants out and let them come and go on their own. I heard a webinar this summer that the caterpillars are very important to bird populations so I decided to let my birds have them this year. If the butterflies make it, that's great, but for this year at least, I was completely hands off with them. This should be a fun hobby, and if it's stressing you out, you should not do it. That's my opinion anyway. They have places to nectar and lay eggs and so I have provided them habitat. The rest is up to them.

[@AndroiDia-]

Thank you very much for this useful video. I have four caterpillars on my plant and this is the first time I try to grow caterpillars so I don't know what exactly to do, so I have some questions, is there a specific kind of branches to the cocoon stage that I should put? Do these branches have to be in a specific angle or it doesn't matter? And thanks in advance for the reply

[@PattymacMakes]

They will find their own place to put up their chrysalis. So they decide what they like. It doesn't really matter what you put in or how it's angled. They pick their spot. The main thing for them is plenty of fresh food. Other than that, I don't do anything special with them, and they actually do much better. The less you intervene, the better. I hope that helps!

[@AndroiDia-]

@@PattymacMakes yes, it does. Thanks a lot

[@PattymacMakes]

@@AndroiDia- I'm so glad! Good luck!

[@86mrboyd]

I have two containers of Italian flat leaf parsley out in my apartment patio but I haven’t had any black swallowtails visiting my plants, do swallowtails prefer a certain kind of parsley like curly parsley or it doesn’t matter?

[@PattymacMakes]

They are not picky about it, though if they have a choice they seem to prefer curly. To be honest, I've only had maybe 3 caterpillars this year. It's very unusual. I seen the smaller butterflies nectaring on flowers but none of the larger ones this year. And my bee population is way down. It's very noticeable. I don't know what's going on, but it's not good. They were down last year as well, but I think this year is worse. It's kind of upsetting actually.

[@86mrboyd]

@@PattymacMakes same I have only seen a few swallowtails around the area my apartment complex is located but no other butterfly species. There’s usually one that shows up a few times a week I guess to nectar from the plants within the complex.

[@PattymacMakes]

@@86mrboyd Well keep trying with your parsley plants. Eventually they will find them!

[@gaylemartin3094]

Hi Patty! I need help! I just had a swallowtail butterfly form it’s chrysalis. Just as it wiggled the last part off, IT FELL! What do I do! It’s just lying there. I don’t see any damage. Only that it’s fallen away from the silk that is still attached to the parsley stem. It’s lying on the bottom of a container lined in paper towel.

[@gaylemartin3094]

It’s the first out of 20 to form its chrysalis. Now this. Found them all on my parsley and bronze fennel plants. All at different stages of instar . I’ve never raised swallowtail. This is My first time.

[@PattymacMakes]

@@gaylemartin3094 Gayle, you kind of have to let them do what they are going to do. They need to find their way. They really do much better if we handle them as little as possible. I would leave it alone and let things unfold as they will. I know it's hard, but it is the way it is in nature. If it doesn't make it, I'm sure many others will!

[@gaylemartin3094]

Thanks for replying

[@triciabyrne7761]

But what happens next? They eat and have had enough and are ready to go into their next stage -- how do you "let them go" and help them transition? (Get video. More please.) 😁

[@PattymacMakes]

Hi Tricia! Here's my updated video as linked in the description on this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHakpqqFlJuWibM This might answer your question! Hope it helps!! Honestly, as little intervention and handling as you can do, the better. This year, I haven't done anything. I've put the plants out and just let it go. The birds have been getting them, but I was on a webinar that discussed about health of bird populations and how important caterpillars are for them, so I decided this year to let things go their own way.

[@triciabyrne7761]

You point up to a link but it is not there.

[@sharonleonard-dundon9515]

How do you identify the male from thr female on black swallowtails?

[@PattymacMakes]

From Google: "The male black swallowtail has more noticeable yellow and less blue on the wings. The female black swallowtail has more blue and less yellow on the wings. red eyespot (red circle with a black bulls-eye) near the margin of each hind wing." I hope that helps!

[@JeremyB8419]

I have one, and it just sat on the wall for several days. The next day, it was a chrysalis, but only 2/3 chrysalis, with its butt sticking out. It’s been like that for 4 days. Is it a dud?

[@PattymacMakes]

Gosh, maybe. I would leave it be. A bird or something will come along and have it as a meal. These things happen frequently in nature. It's hard to believe anything actually makes it, but they do.

[@JeremyB8419]

Pattymac Makes okay thank you

[@PattymacMakes]

@@JeremyB8419 You're welcome.

[@doubleooh7337]

that second one was a hawk moth caterpillar

[@PattymacMakes]

Thanks for the info!

[@natalieamberger2432]

What is the name of that big enclosure

[@PattymacMakes]

Natalie, you can search for large butterfly enclosures and they come up everywhere including Amazon. Though they are twice as much money this year.

[@natalieamberger2432]

@@PattymacMakes Yeah I purchased one yesterday, I'm in quite the pickle do you have any idea of how I could get more parsley That does not have pesticides specifically for butterflies? I have 25 swallow tails on my Herb plant At the moment, I wasn't trying to breed them, I just noticed them there yesterday. We had some last year also that was the 1st year We had learned anything about butterflies. We were ill prepared and only 2 me to survived. They have almost eaten all of the parsley I have And this is only going on day 2 😬😬 We live in mobile, Alabama

[@PattymacMakes]

@@natalieamberger2432 I get mine in a local plant nursery. It would not have pesticide on it because it's sold for consumption, so I wouldn't worry about that. You could also grow some from seeds in a planter. I wind up having several pots of it and then switch the pots in and out of the enclosure as they consume everything. They are eating machines! And they will work you, so be ready. LOL But it's a fun hobby. If you go buy some plants try to buy from a local nursery and not just home depot as the plant quality is SO much better. Some of the plants will revive themselves over winter and come back the following year but not all of them. Good luck and have fun!

[@OLDBEAR123456]

Same species.

[@thisishowwego907]

its a boy...