Butterflies & Carrots

Hi there,
I have a black swallowtail butterfly that has been on my carrot leaves for 24 hours. I read that these butterflies are attracted to carrots to lay eggs, which hatch & become caterpillars that eat the carrot leaves. I want to save my carrots and the future caterpillars. Is there anything I can do? Can I pick them off and move them to another plant nearby? Or are my carrots toast?

Thank you!

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1 Comment To "Butterflies & Carrots"

#1 Comment By MichiganDot On 06/14/2018 @ 4:25 pm

I just had a monarch caterpillar devour a small swamp milkweed plant. It is now curled up inside the top leaves which it had cut down. There are a variety of plants that service black swallowtails. Be sure to plant some extra dill, for instance, and move caterpillars over there. Here is an article on host plants for these butterflies. There are very few that they are able to digest for food but they aren’t as restricted as the monarch which must have milkweed. http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/what-did-black-swallowtails-eat-before-we-brought-in-parsley-dill-and-queen-annes-lace.html ^[1]

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