Yoshino cherries. (Thanks autocorrect.)

Hmmm, I'm wondering if your caterpillar is a Red-Spotted Purple. Viceroys feed on a variety of willows. Red-spotted purples can be found on different trees, including, poplars, crab-apples, purple plums, wild cherries, etc. The two caterpillars are hard to differentiate. I would try the cherry, or just continue to provide a few leaves from the apple tree and raise the caterpillar in a container. Check out the FAQs on this forum for more information. One caterpillar shouldn't devastate your tree.

Ditto to the above - the cherry tree leaves will be okay, and, like Sandy, I'm pretty sure it's a red-spotted purple. Viceroys never use anything but willows around here.

Congrats on your caterpillar! They make beautiful butterflies - I found an egg on a wild black cherry tree the other day, so I'll be raising at least one very soon.

Sherry

Saw my first butterfly here in Madison, WI. I believe it was a Morning Cloak, but it was flying too fast for a positive ID.

It is not in her book (The Life Cycles of Butterflies) but last week Judy wrote me that she is raising viceroys on wild black cherry. Another + for Prunus serotina.

It's listed as a host for viceroys in some books, but I've never heard of anybody who actually found a viceroy on it, KC. It's good to hear that Judy's using it successfully, though.

Sherry