hello
dose the cat have stripes, if you pet him dose he stick out little yellow "horns" at you?
if yes it is prob. a black swallow tail, cilantro should be fine, also parsley, fennel and dill.
sorry I can't post picks, but I have raised lots of these this year, we releced 3 today.
michelle

Hmmm...green cat on cilantro...probably a moth of some sort.

Swallowtails don't use coriander...least that I know of...could be wrong...but most stick to the rutaceae and apiacea family - eventhough coriander is in that family of plants I just cannot recall any butterfly using it as a larval host.

~ Cat

I have had BST larva on my cilantro plants in the past. If I run out of parsley, they will move over to the cilantro leaves.

Sandy

Interesting!

I grew a whole big patch of cilantro one year - not for the cats but because I wanted to use it to make salsa. I had not one single BST lay eggs on it. Maybe it's a regional thing???? Or, maybe it's like the Monarchs that will eat cynanchum laeve if they have nothing else to eat in the way of asclepias. They don't lay eggs on CL either.

Susan

It's definitely not a preferred food. I did some research online and cilantro is listed as a host plant for BSTs. I don't think I currently have any eggs on my cilantro, I haven't checked. But, in the spring, my BSTs prefer the green fennel, not the bronze, and don't even lay eggs on the parsley. Later in the season (now) I am finding them on dill, fennel, both green and bronze, and parsley. They even have their preference as to which kind of parsley! So I plant to their discretion.

Usually in the fall, I find the most on parsley. It's amazing to me how picky they are when they have a wide choice of plants! As they strip all the plants, and they do, they will resort to laying eggs on the cilantro, or even move from the parsley over to the cilantro. All the BST host plant are growing in the same bed, my herb garden, and are in close proximity to each other.

BTW, I have been growing BSTs for 20+ years.

I think many cats, if given no other choice, would eat a plant not within the official host plant group. A study was done about this very subject by Lincoln Brower in the 60's; he fed monarch larvae cabbage instead of milkweed. Over at MonarchWatch forums others desperate for milkweed (because for whatever reason their resources were depleted) have had "success" with cucumber, pumpkin, squash... which of course leads to more questions about lessened toxicity in the larvae/butterflies and predation, but that's another post for another time. :)

Sandy

hi
in june I had a BST come through the yard and deposited eggs on green fennel, bronze, fennel, parsley, and a blade of grass near the cilantro(I don't know if she was aiming for the cilantro or not) these plants were scattered around the back yard and front yard and some pots on the porch. but she matilculisly found every BST host plant I had.
I think it just depends on the personality of the mommafly.
michelle

how little? If it's less than one quarter or even one half of an inch, but still green, it wouldn't be a BST,as they are black with a white saddle at first.

Very interesting!!!! I've had GST cats on citrus trees and rue but they prefer the citrus...and BST cats on rue, fennel and parsley...the BSTs prefer rue over everything else.

The back yard at the ranch is full of cilantro (yes, we use it for salsa and cooking too) but have never seen them flitting around it nor have ever seen a cat. Numerous unknown moth cats on though. Perhaps because we also have a couple dozen citrus trees around the house and the back pastures are full of colima (prickly lime ash) they'll never run out of those larval hosts and have no reason to venture to cilantro???

Since cilantro is in the apiacea would figure some would use it...just never saw it in all my years either. Who knows just what goes through a butterfly's mind...perhaps it's a regional thing. Just glad they use the larval host we plant for them :o)

Would like to see photos of the cats for a positive ID though.

~ Cat

I am in California and have never spotted a Swallowtail cat on Cilantro. Parsley, yes. Cilantro, no. Loads of different moth caterpillars on everything though...(which children and adults have brought to me, with great excitement, as 'butterflies')

It must be a regional preference occurence, too, though. Some people feed their BSTs aegopodium (Bishop's Weed), and it is in the apiaceae family. I wouldn't think it is a preference, but BSTs will eat it, too.

Sandy, I saw that study and found it very interesting that the Monarch cats would eat something in the brassica family instead of the aslepiadaceae family. I mean, that's like a total turn-around. You would expect them to eat something in the dogbane group before brassica, wouldn't you?

Susan

Cilantro IS in the carrot family, but i guess they dont like it. More for me...

Susan - yes, very strange about the monarchs eating something so far from anything resembling milkweed! I'm sure Brower wanted to stay away from toxic plants for his research purposes - but how others came to the conclusion that cucurbits were the best offering for the cats is beyond me. Maybe because they had a ton of zucchini in their gardens. LOL!

Had no idea Bishop's Weed was in the apiaceae family! Maybe I *won't* rip all that stuff out in back...

Sandy :)

The one thing I have realized from this thread, is that you can't say no way about certain foods for butterflies. It seems that BFs in different areas prefer different hosts, and may shun plants that they go to in other areas. My BSTs generally don't go to rue. And for some of you, that is the preferred food. I grow rue for the GSTs. Right now, I have a hundred or so BST eggs and cats in my yard, on everything from both kinds of fennel, several kinds of parsley, to dill. I don't have any cilantro or "Chinese Parsley," planted this year. But, I do have rue, and there are absolutely no eggs on the plants! Go figure. I guess we need to be careful when we rule out plants as hosts for particular butterflies, and quantify our comments with, "in my area or backyard, butterflies..."

I'm kind of wondering what happened to our person who started this thread! And I'm also wondering about that cat she had. If you are still out there, what is happening to your cat on the cilantro?

Also, to distinguish between the two Sandys, I'm going to just sign my comments--

OK Sandy :)

Sandy, that is strange because the Giants and the BSTs both lay eggs on my Rue. I just plucked 5 GST eggs off my Rue the other day and they've now hatched and are eating the Rue. I planted a hardy lemon tree this spring and I was afraid the GSTs would lay eggs on it. It's not very big yet (only about 1' tall, but with lots of shiny green foliage), so I don't really want any cats to find it yet. LOL! For sure, they will now.

I have had Rue planted in the yard for about 8 years now, and I always get BSTs on it. It's located in my partly shady back yard, but they find it every single year. Since we're both in Oklahoma, that's odd they wouldn't use yours.

Susan

I know Susan, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense!!

It's like the butterfly weed. I find monarch cats on it, and you don't. I raise cats on the leaves.

I read that many people raise VFs on violets, I raise them on passionflower. They don't seem to care for my violets!

I gave up trying to make sense out of it, and just went with it. I try to give the BFs what they want, which requires me to be observant of the plants in my garden and which ones work, which is exactly what you do.

I had lots of elm saplings behind my house, and I never found a QM cat on them. I went across the road, and on the vacant lot in the drainage ditch was an elm sapling with lots of QM cats all over it! I took them home and raised them on leaves from the trees behind me. They all did well and have flown the coop. Not one failed to eclose!

Makes a heck of a lot of sense, doesn't it! LOL

OK Sandy

Sandy, the VFs don't like my violets either - mine are the ones called "Johnny Jump Ups" that have the white flowers, with a bit of blue/yellow? Well, last year I got some viola soraria from Cathy and I had barely planted them in a little box just to get them started when a mama VF came and laid eggs on them!!!! I know, couldn't believe it! They apparently do not like the white violets I have, but do like the V. soraria, which has a bluish/purplish flower on it.

My passion vine is P. incarnata 'Incense' and I never get VFs on it. I think they only like the species. But, now that I have the violets, they'll work.

Here is seems they prefer Elm over Hops. I planted several Hops this year and found 4 on them in early spring. Since then, none. They have all laid eggs on the elm saplings around my yard. Now that I know what to look for, I have found dozens and dozens of eggs. I have about 40 eggs in a container right now waiting to hatch. I also have lots of hackberry trees, too. QMs supposedly use that as well, but I haven't found any eggs or cats on the hackberry either. I've had great luck with QMs - no losses on this end either. They are really easy to raise.

Now, I'm a little disturbed by the Gulf Frits. Every year they have laid eggs all over the Passiflora incarnata 'Incense'. This year, almost ALL of the eggs and cats are on the P. ceurulea. They seem to prefer that over Incense. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it is a species vine rather than a cultivar. Hmmmm. Things that make you wanna go ahhhhhhhhhhh. LOL!

Susan

My cute little green caterpillar that eats cilantro stopped eating cilantro a couple of days ago, and overnight it shed its skin. Today, he is in a brown cocoon. So it looks to me like he is doing really well (but keep in mind, I know nothing about caterpillars or butterflies). What will he eat when he comes out? What will he be when he comes out? Should I just release him? And can someone tell me how to upload photos so everyone can see him?

We don't hace "Black Swallowtails" in California except in the desert-southeast.

Our two common caterpillars that easterners mistake for "Black Swallowtails" are out "Western Tiger Swallowtail" and our "Anise Swallowtail".

The WTS is the larger of the two and the caterpillars are green with one or two faint bands and broken spots near the head. It does not feed on any Apiaceae.

The Anise Swallowtail is smaller and has a caterillar that is distinctly banded with green, yellow and black. It feeds on most Apiaceae, especially fennel and parsley and sometimes coriander.

Both have angular pupae (not fuzzy "cocoons").

If the caterpillar was small and entirely green and it morphed into a hairy/fuzzy coccon, it was a moth caterpillar and not something from a Swallowtail.

Joe

Joe is right.

The pupae of the AST (Anise Swallowtail) can be green or brownish but the caterpillar is definitely not a 'little green caterpillar.'

Did your caterpillar look like any of these? These are all different instars of the Anise Swallowtail, our California version of the Black Swallowtail.
{{gwi:505190}}

Slimey 2007,

I hope someone will tell you how to download pics, as I too don't know how to download them. I am curious about your cat and glad you wrote again. As you can see, it has caused quite a deal of discussion on our forum. Your little fella has become quite a star!

Is the cocoon hanging on the side of the container? If so, it is probably a chrysalis. BF cats shed their skin and become a chrysalis. Moths pupate inside cocoons. I am so, so curious as to what this little fella looks like. When he hatches, we'll definitely know what he is!

OK Sandy

My recommendation for getting pictures on the forum is to use imageshack.

Go to
http://imageshack.us

Click on the button that says BROWSE
Find your jpg on your hard drive.
Click on it then click HOST IT.

Now you are onto a new window. Scroll down to the link that is labeled HOTLINK FOR WEBSITES. Copy the link.

Go to the posting within the forum and paste it. That's it!

NOTE: You may have to re-size your picture. I try to keep mine to around 350 or 400 pixels before uploading to imageshack.

Am still watching this post too. Wish you could post a photo. You said cocoon instead of chrysalis...so am thinking perhaps a moth? Is it fuzzy?

Am in agreement...butterflies in different regions seems to prefer different food sources. Go figure!!!

~ Cat

This is my little green caterpillar when he was about an inch and a quarter long
[URL=http://img126.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf0927mx9.jpg][IMG]http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/6734/dscf0927mx9.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

This is him now!!! What should I expect now?
[URL=http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf0945eg2.jpg][IMG]http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2095/dscf0945eg2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[lets try this again....sorry] Remember, he was raised on cilantro.
This is my little green caterpillar when he was about an inch and a quarter long
{{gwi:505192}}

This is him now!!! What should I expect now?

{{gwi:505194}}

Here you go. How big is it now?

{{gwi:505195}}

{{gwi:505197}}

He is now about 3/4 of an inch to an inch long. In the picture, he is laying right next to a cilantro leaf, so that can give you an idea of how big he is. He is laying on the floor of his plastic container next to the skin he shed before he turned into what he is now. However, it's not stuck to the bottom of the container. When my 3 and 4 year old take the container to show him to friends, he rolls around the entire container moving his little tail (or what I think is a tail).
IÂm guessing what he is in now is called a chrysalis, not a cocoon, right?
Anyway, enjoy the pictures, and if you think you know what it is and what he will eat when his out, IÂd like to know. HeÂs been in there since Thursday. How much longer will he be in there? Should I release him?

Looks like a Looper which is a moth.

Well, pretty much all butterflies and moths drink nectar after they emerge. You can also make a nectar substitute.
I have read that BF's like a thinner solution than hummingbirds, and thus have heard anywhere from a 25% solution to a 10% solution. I would probably use:
1-2 Tbsp sugar mixed into 1 cup water OR 1 part sugar to 8 parts water
-Jmcat

The caterpillar is not a looper, though, CalSherry. It looks more like the bud worms I get on flowers, but they will eat foliage, too. In the torticidae family. I've attached an image of a pupae that looks very similar to the one you have, Slimy.

There are so many species in the family, I would not even venture to guess what it might be. I hope you'll share a photo of the adult moth when it emerges.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:505188}}

Could it be in the noctuidae family?

We get lots of things that look quite similar as well and they eat just about anything! I've seen pupae that, when uncovered from the silk, look similar as well.

There's two on my plant, eating away at the seeds...