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What kind of caterpillar is this?
Posted on 6/6/24 at 4:50 pm
Posted on 6/6/24 at 4:50 pm
Found about 20 of these on my parsley next to my tomato garden. Have never seen this kind in the garden before.


Posted on 6/6/24 at 4:54 pm to TigerTatorTots
Black Swallowtail caterpillar
ETA: This is the Butterfly

ETA: This is the Butterfly

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This post was edited on 6/6/24 at 5:07 pm
Posted on 6/6/24 at 4:54 pm to TigerTatorTots
Swallowtail butterfly. Don’t kill if you can spare the parsley.
Posted on 6/6/24 at 5:16 pm to JMTIGER85
As long as they don't touch my tomaters I will leave them be
Posted on 6/6/24 at 5:21 pm to TigerTatorTots
They won't bother your tomatoes. Parsley is in their host plant family, tomatoes aren't. If you have kids, you can look up how to bring them in and raise them. It is cool for kids to watch the transformation.
Posted on 6/6/24 at 5:24 pm to LegendInMyMind
My youngest is absolutely obsessed with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" so I already snipped off 5 stalks of parsley and put them in a jar for him to look at. I'm going to look into a small caterpillar cage for them now that I know its a butterfly and not some moth
Posted on 6/6/24 at 9:34 pm to TigerTatorTots
quote:
My youngest is absolutely obsessed with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" so I already snipped off 5 stalks of parsley and put them in a jar for him to look at. I'm going to look into a small caterpillar cage for them now that I know its a butterfly and not some moth
Man, that is pretty cool…he’ll remember that for a long time!
Posted on 6/7/24 at 9:16 am to mdomingue
Damn, now I want to grow some parsley; but I'm pretty sure that's not how this works.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 11:36 am to Weekend Warrior79
quote:
Damn, now I want to grow some parsley; but I'm pretty sure that's not how this works.
That pretty much is how it works. Butterflies and moths are remarkable at finding host plants. Just plant it and they will come. Don't spray any insecticides on the parsley, though, just let it ride and wait.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 12:44 pm to Weekend Warrior79
quote:
Damn, now I want to grow some parsley; but I'm pretty sure that's not how this works.
Depends on where you are living. I've found parsley starts fading when the temperatures are in the 80's and is gone by time it hits the 90's in my garden.
I've had a little luck with it in pots on the porch that only gets morning sun, but still hot as hell during the day. Just have to keep it well watered.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 1:03 pm to gumbo2176
quote:
Depends on where you are living. I've found parsley starts fading when the temperatures are in the 80's and is gone by time it hits the 90's in my garden.
Any plant in that family plays host to swallowtail butterflies. Dill, fennel, carrots, queen Anne's lace, etc. Then, you have the other swallowtails and their host plants, spicebush or sassafras for the spicebush swallowtail, tulip trees and wild cherry for tiger swallowtail, and Virginia snake root or wooly pipevine for the pipevine swallowtail.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 1:18 pm to LegendInMyMind
Another easy thing to grow to attract butterflies in the summer is passionflower vine. They have beautiful flowers as well. Attracts the gulf fritillary. The caterpillars look like they would sting, but don’t.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 1:18 pm to TigerTatorTots
Pretty cool.
I literally just went outside to look at my vegetables and saw this exact caterpiller on my dying dill plant.
Cut off the dill and put him in a bug box so we can watch it transform.
I literally just went outside to look at my vegetables and saw this exact caterpiller on my dying dill plant.
Cut off the dill and put him in a bug box so we can watch it transform.
Posted on 6/7/24 at 1:33 pm to TigerTatorTots
In my experience by the time you do that he'll be on to monster trucks or bull dozers 

Posted on 6/7/24 at 1:50 pm to JMTIGER85
quote:
Another easy thing to grow to attract butterflies in the summer is passionflower vine. They have beautiful flowers as well. Attracts the gulf fritillary. The caterpillars look like they would sting, but don’t.
Yep. I was just talking about swallowtails. There are all sorts of host plants for different species. The Gulf fritilarry is a favorite of mine.
This post was edited on 6/7/24 at 4:14 pm
Posted on 6/7/24 at 2:45 pm to TigerTatorTots
Fast forward a day, I thought I snipped off 5 of these caterpillers to put in the jar but now I am counting 10 of them in there. BUtterfly cage arrives tomorrow. Will post some pics if I get some cocoons and butterflies
Posted on 6/7/24 at 2:50 pm to JMTIGER85
quote:Does this make good privacy foliage on a iron fence? I'm in the market for something to plant along my iron fence that would provide a bit of privacy of the backyard
passionflower vine
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