What to do when you run out of milkweed for your monarch caterpillars

Two options to give to caterpillars when you run out of milkweed are:
Butternut squash (Did not work for me) &
Organic cucumber, I did see them eating the cucumber. I don’t know of anything better than finding some more milkweed to Feed the caterpillars !

[@smoothwatermarketing9503]

Looks like you may have aphids on your milkweek... those things will eat as much as your caterpillars. You can get rid of aphids by smashing them between your finger and thumb. Also, keep the ants away... I put used coffee grounds around the bottom of the plants to throw the scent the ants were following and it worked like a charm.

[@ellagleaton4616]

Smart 👍

[@festive101]

Aphids suck the sap they don't eat leaves.

[@dioselindarogers2321]

I have 4 cages to protect them,,,I have right know over 400 chrysalis..

[@anakinskywalker6347]

@BigmouthFish I have about 1

[@skylady64ish93]

Wow that’s amazing! Are you still raising butterflies?

[@AKippin1]

I think they meant butternut squash plants and cucumber plants!

[@Dobviews]

Thank you!!! My milkweed is almost gone and I still have 5 of them!!!

[@3ddan24]

my caterpillars love cucumbers Thank you.

[@bruceb3786]

Monarchs also LOVE PARSLEY, will strip it just like milkweed. Parsley does not attract aphids at all, nor assassin bugs.

[@BluuAgar]

I’m confused, how do they eat parsley? I think u might be mistaking those for the black swallowtail butterfly, a species of which’s larvae look pretty similar to the monarch larvae.

[@bruceb3786]

@@BluuAgar , my apologies, I made a serious mistake there. It had been 6 or 7 years since I had "farmed" butterflies, and I forgot that the Giant Black Swallowtail looks a lot like the Monarchs. I discovered my goofup when the caterpillars started the chrysalis stage, by fastening themselves to the stem via two strands connected to their "chest" area, instead of the "hanging by the tail" method. And imagine my confusion when I did not see the telltale jade green chrysalis with the gold ring around it. I thought the butterfly world had gone out of whack. THEN I remembered that the Giant Black Swallowtail eats parsley, and fastens itself using the two threads. UH oooooh.....On checking for photos of monarchs, I then discovered the close similarities of the coloring. I tried to find my incorrect post to edit it, but I could not find it. YOU just now found it for me. BUT, the rest of the story is that after buying every healthy pot of parsley from the Big Blue Box Store garden center (their parsley also had some caterpillars on them, which the checkout associate pointed out, and I said, "Yeah ain't that great?!", to her dismay)..... anyway I successfully launched 85 Giant Black Swallowtails. So, my APOLOGIES to the Butterfly Community for my incorrect statement. Thank You Bluu.

[@BluuAgar]

@@bruceb3786 Oh lol, your welcome 😃

[@misheannarnstein4017]

I raise them too and sometimes I worry.

[@MissisChannel]

ive read they like sweet potatoe and pumpkin too

[@festive101]

Theyll only eat milkweed leaves. 😕

[@brightidea1]

Thanks for the tips. They ate all my milkweed leaves also, but it is now the end of the season anyway. Will the empty stems regrow next Spring? Or should I replant my garden with all new milkweed plants?

[@lepidlover0557]

The plants stems and leaves will die in the winter and regrow from the roots in spring

[@avalanche._.]

Hello, so um I found one of these in my yard that was pretty big but there was no milkweed around, at all. So I just put some of the leaves that it was on. But I don’t know what to do.

[@avalanche._.]

Update: it is eating the leaves I put in there so I’m happy.

[@gwendolynbeecroft512]

Never seen milk weed in NZ like that. We have swan plants that they eat till nothing left. I am trying cucumber now. They don't seem to like it. They seem to be eating the skin of cucumber.

[@Ash-fd8ww]

they seem to like the skin of some members of the gourd family including pumpkin skin

[@karolquiroga8053]

Courgettes

[@epicstuff6812]

Pp

[@Val-jn9cd]

All that talking just to say that organic cucumbers might work. 🙄