Hey Vicki,
Those were black swallowtail caterpillars and carrots are considered a host plant. I always knew about the dill, fennel, parsley and such, but have never had them on anything else. I will definitely be checking my carrots on a regular basis now. Thanks for the heads up! Learned something new today! Here is a link and look midway down, that was the little guys, they were just a bit younger.
http://www.joyfulbutterfly.com/articles/blackswallowtailindoors.html
Hey, where is the Pocahontas photo? You are too funny!
Denise
3 comments:
Interesting! You learn something every day! Today I've learned I had swallowtail caterpillars and when to harvest brussel sprouts. Who knows what else I'll learn.
What I don't understand is how the adults got on there since I would have thought the birdnetting would have kept a large butterfly from getting very close to the carrot foliage. Good thing I decided to fertilize them yesterday and found the caterpillars when they were very young.
Since the eggs would take some time to hatch, maybe they were there before the netting was in place. I am glad you caught them as they have quite an appetite. Those were probably caviar to the bluebirds. If I find any, I'll probably just do the same for the birdies since it's so late in the season.
Oh, and today I learned a new nickname. Sorry Vicki, but yours is going to be clothespin! :-)
I found another even tinier caterpillar today on my carrots. Guess I'd better check every day until we have steady 40 temps.
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