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butterfly, caterpillar, caterpillars, feeding, food, larvae, mmilkweed, plants, seed, tropical milkweed
What do caterpillars eat? That depends on the species of caterpillar. Different species like different plants. Plants that caterpillars feed off of are referred to as host plants.
Painted Lady caterpillars, or larvae, like to eat leaves from Common Mallow, Little Mallow, Hollyhock, Common Hollyhock, Yarrow, English Plantain, Common Sunflower, and Mexican sagebrush, to name a few.
You can not go wrong with milkweed, however. Monarch caterpillars like to eat leaves from milkweed plants in particular. These include Tropical Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, Common Milkweed and Butterfly Weed. I would suggest the tropical milkweed, since its leaves are larger. However, other species of Milkweed are perennials and Tropical Milkweed is an annual.
Adult butterflies lay their eggs on the undersides of the leaves of these plants in order to provide easy access for the caterpillars to eat from. She lays them on the underside to protect them from predators and the elements. Butterfly eggs take between five and ten days to hatch. What will emerge is the butterfly larvae. You will be able to tell when there are caterpillars on the underside of your plants-they will be marked with holes from the caterpillars eating frenzy!
In order to save money, I would suggest growing your own host plants from seed. You can buy seeds, plugs or plants online, but the cheapest route is growing from seed. Of course it takes time and energy to grow plants from seed and certain seeds require stratification in order to germinate. Be sure you have a live plant to feed your caterpillars upon arrival.
~Stephanie S.
Imagine Butterflies
LetsImagineButterflies.com