Can you have too many butterflies? No, probably not. But you CAN have too many caterpillars. This is one of the many challenges you will face in your butterfly garden. Each gardener will eventually be faced with the dilemma of choosing your butterflies or your host plants. As you can see in this photo these giant swallowtail caterpillars are more than this young tree could handle.
A few weeks ago I began watching 10 tiny giant swallowtail caterpillars begin their journey into becoming butterflies. Each day they quickly grew until they were soon the size of my thumb. Sadly, part of me began to hope a bird would pick a few off as I painfully watched the foliage on my plant shrink more and more. In hindsight I should have removed some of them myself and made an offering to the lovely birds in my yard so everyone would benefit.
I am happy to say that this was two weeks ago and since then the tree is beginning to recover. Each day more new growth is emerging and I am hopeful it will recover. Now part of my daily routine includes removing tiny little orange butterfly eggs by hand. For now..
Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars on Florida Native Wild Lime Host Plant