Who’s Been Eating My Seedlings?

I currently have an abundance of Milkweed in my atrium and, as you know, lots of seedlings that I and my friend MC are growing to add to my Milkweed garden.  You’d think the seedlings would go unnoticed they are so small. Why bother to lay an egg on one when there are big beautiful Milkweed plants nearby?

So a few nights ago I’m watering the seedlings and I notice holes in the tiny leaves and I’m thinking, “Who’s been eating my seedlings? Darn it, do I have bugs?” But the holes look suspiciously like the ones left by recently hatched caterpillars. So I pick up the pot and look under the leaves and there’s not one, but four tiny little caterpillars!!

These seedlings don’t stand a chance. See the green stub in the pot in this second photo, the one at the base of the stick?  That’s what remains of this seedling and it still has 2 caterpillars on it! I’m not sure the seedling will recover. And I have smaller seedlings in the same boat. All our hard work may be for naught. Or … I could be surprised as I often am by this process. There is always something new to learn and this month it’ll be about how resilient Milkweed seedlings are (or are not).

So you may be wondering what the stick is for, the one propped up in the pot above. I’m worried that the tiny caterpillars won’t be able to get out of the pot once they’ve finished eating the Milkweed seedling to the left. So I’ve placed the pot next to a full plant and I’m hoping the caterpillars will crawl up the stick and onto the leaf it’s propped against.

Caterpillar, caterpillar, crawl, crawl, crawl;
Don’t fall off the garden wall.
Caterpillar, caterpillar, eat, eat, eat;
Grow so fat on your furry feet.
Caterpillar, caterpillar, rest, rest, rest;
Soon you’ll change to be the best.
Caterpillar, caterpillar, try, try, try;
One day you’ll be the best butterfly.
~ C Richard Miles