Butterfly "Farming" ... Illustrated! (Plus a Comment on Congressman Weiner)

I’ve had milkweed plants behind my house for a few years and they have always managed to attract Monarch butterflies which lay eggs there which hatch into caterpillars which, in turn, form pupae from which a new Monarch butterfly emerges in about a week.  Their life span is several weeks and they continue to reproduce this way until about October.  (Monarchs from more northern climes migrate to an area in Mexico every winter and return, several generations later, in the Spring.  Florida Monarchs remain in the Sunshine State all winter, although not much is seen of them during those months.) This year, however, I expanded from just the milkweed plants to a more ambitious “butterfly farm.”

Butterfly farming requires:  (1.) an area with a reasonable amount of sunshine, a requirement for the female butterfly to lay eggs, (2) some “larval” or food plants on which the eggs will be laid and whose leaves will provide nourishment for the caterpillars which hatch from those eggs until they leave to form pupae and (3) some “nectar” plants which, while not hosting caterpillars, will attract butterflies to the general area with their aroma.  For the Monarch butterfly, the milkweed fills both of these functions.

“Nectar” plants are easy.  Porterweed, penta, plumbago, thryallis, lantana, firebush and many other plants fill this role.  I have them on my “farm.”  “Larval” plants are another story entirely. Each plant’s particular aroma attracts a specific variety of female butterfly.  If you lack the right plant for a species, there is no chance that the female butterfly will show up (and even if you have it, she might not). Once a female is attracted by the plant’s aroma, a male may follow shortly thereafter and the eggs will follow.

I have been fairly successful with a passion flower vine (passiflora suberosa) which is a “larval” plant for several kinds of butterflies, including Florida’s state butterfly, the Longwing Zebra, and the Gulf Fritillary, a lovely orange creature.  I had purchased containers containing Longwing Zebra pupae at Butterfly World (more about them shortly), which produced butterflies in about a week.  I released them near the passion flower vine, supposedly their larval plant, where they hung out for a while, sniffing a little and then disappeared.  Occasionally they come back but to my knowledge, no eggs have been laid. Similarly, I have also “hatched” a Giant Swallowtail butterfly from a Butterfly World pupa.

Another variety of passion flower vine (passiflora subrotundo) which I purchased wasn’t doing well, but apparently attracted a female Gulf Fritillary which laid eggs on it which produced caterpillars which I transferred to the leafier passiflora suberosa.   Some of these have gone through the pupa stage and the resultant butterflies visit that plant occasionally.  The most prolific producer of butterflies, however, remains the Monarch and its host, the milkweed.

Near the community where I reside in South Florida is Butterfly World, one of the world’s great centers of butterfly research.  Besides their butterfly, bird and plant collections, they give free courses on Saturdays.  Coupons to lower their admission price are always in the newspapers, and their $40 annual pass is a real bargain.  (Parking is free except on weekends.)  Their garden shop sells nectar and larval plants at reasonable prices and their staff is very knowledgeable.

You can turn your home into a butterfly haven by planting just one milkweed plant on your property. (In addition to Butterfly World, Home Depot and Lowes stock them.)  It’s a perennial and doesn’t need much care.  Some pictures of butterfly activity on my “farm” follow.

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar

And this is what this caterpillar turned into, a Gulf Fritillary butterfly

And here’s a Monarch caterpillar

Which turned into this Monarch Butterfly

I had purchased a Giant Swallowtail pupa from Butterfly World (mentioned above) and here it is in my kitchen where it sat for a week or so

Until it dropped to the bottom of the container.  I then placed the container outside and the butterfly started to try to get out

It took him half an hour to reach the rim.

I gently turned the container on its side and the butterfly then climbed out onto the rocks

 

Here is the Giant Swallowtail making friends with a sprinkler head.  Note the underside of the folded wings are a different color than the top of the wings.

The butterfly took off shortly thereafter, and I haven't seen him since.  I hope he returns.

Jack Lippman


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Weinergate and its Implications for All of Us

It is my opinion that the Congressman should resign.  I say this not because he appears to be a fortyish dirty old man but rather because he attempted to lie his way out of the situation into which he put himself.  There is little chance of his district replacing him with a Republican so the Democrats in the House have little to lose and much to gain since they would rid themselves of an embarrassment among them.  The Democrats cannot have someone like this speaking forcefully against Republican positions.  Why should anyone believe him?

And in regard to how he got into this mess, Weiner apparently hit a wrong key on his Blackberry and his Twitter message and the accompanying picture was distributed more widely than he intended it to be.  This is a danger posed by all "social media" to all users of them.  At present, I do not belong to any of them.  After a brief experience with Facebook, I decided that access to my address book was something I wanted to personally control and not put into the hands of outsiders, even with supposed restrictions on their use of it..  So I am no longer part of Facebook.  (I hope.)  I recently commented to a right-wing friend that if the United States Government invaded privacy in the manner that Facebook and similar sites do, even he and his Tea Party buddies would be running to join the American Civil Liberties Union!
JL