I've been watching the caterpillars I discovered Sunday on my Butterfly weed. Slowly they are disappearing and I have so far found two dead ones. We do not use chemical pesticides/herbicides and only GreenBug (cedar oil) had been used on the cabbage well away from the BFweed.
I had a rather large one yesterday that is no longer on the plant it was feeding, so I am hoping it is pupating somewhere out of sight, but the others were small to medium size.
These BFweed were from the local nursery this spring, but the owner did them special for me. I asked him to use no chemicals whatsoever on them. He obliged and after a slow start they are growing beautifully and some even flowering.
Does anyone have any ideas? Parasite perhaps? As far as I know, the seeds were not treated. He lost the first batch from a fungus.
Thank you for any input.
