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Post by timmsyrj on Jun 2, 2016 15:14:59 GMT
Pictured here is the first adult to spread its wings in my new butterfly greenhouse which was set up over the winter and planted this year. So far I have added 22 silver washed fritillary larvae ( pupae have been spotted ) and 10 black hairstreak larvae ( 6 pupae counted ) the first out is here... A male black hairstreak, I have avoided the temptation to set it as the whole purpose of this is to try and establish a small colony in there to enable me to farm a few specimens in future years, hopefully a female will emerge in a few days from the remaining 5 pupae that I've spotted and breeding will commence. The only issue I've had is greenfly, I was very careful and either grew from seed or washed everything off before they went in, but some greenfly must have survived and are now everywhere, man they breed fast in greenhouse conditions. I'm busy collecting any ladybird bug I can find as they love greenfly and their young devour loads of greenfly a day. Rich
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 2, 2016 17:46:08 GMT
Ladybirds can't actually eat greenfly fast enough, they reproduce more quickly than they get eaten.
Try spraying the greenfly with a 5% solution of normal MILK (not the low fat variety). You will be surprised at the results, and it has no effect on butterflies or larvae.
Adam.
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Post by timmsyrj on Jun 3, 2016 7:37:59 GMT
Thanks Adam, I'll give that a try, I did know about washing up liquid for greenfly but wasn't sure about caterpillars if I used that, milk should be fine.
Rich
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 3, 2016 15:17:32 GMT
Washing up liquid is more dangerous to insects in general, if they come into contact with it. It is fine if you spray plants and then wash them well with water, but milk is definitely safer for other insects such as Lepidoptera, even if they only come into contact with it as a residue on the plants.
Most of the aphids should die within a day of being sprayed with milk, although they may still be clinging to the plants.
Adam.
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wolf
Aurelian
Posts: 132
Country: Norway
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Post by wolf on Jun 16, 2016 7:58:39 GMT
Hi Rich
I have some questions regarding the S.pruni. I was fortunate to find a location where they are flying here in Gdansk, Poland, and i caught a female and brought her home alive for ovipositing. I brought with me some twigs of Prunus spinosa and put it in a cup together with the butterfly. 2 days have passed now and not a single egg. I placed the cup in half shadow/ half sun exposed area. Usually when i've used this method the butterflies has started laying eggs as soon as the sun shines. Do you have some suggestions to getting the female to lay eggs? do they need some special conditions? is it best to have twigs of the hostplant with leaves on or without? etc.
Thanks for any advice!
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Post by bobw on Jun 16, 2016 8:27:30 GMT
I've always found that pruni lays quite freely in captivity but I've always sleeved a whole potted tree rather than using cut twigs, although I've used the cut twigs in water method successfully with quercus - for them I remove most of the leaves.
One thing I would mention is that pruni prefers to lay on old, gnarled wood, not the fresh growth that betulae prefers. Certainly the half sun - half shade method is correct as they don't like too much direct sun.
Bob
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2016 10:05:53 GMT
Not a bad start Rich.
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Post by timmsyrj on Jun 17, 2016 6:42:31 GMT
Hi Rich I have some questions regarding the S.pruni. I was fortunate to find a location where they are flying here in Gdansk, Poland, and i caught a female and brought her home alive for ovipositing. I brought with me some twigs of Prunus spinosa and put it in a cup together with the butterfly. 2 days have passed now and not a single egg. I placed the cup in half shadow/ half sun exposed area. Usually when i've used this method the butterflies has started laying eggs as soon as the sun shines. Do you have some suggestions to getting the female to lay eggs? do they need some special conditions? is it best to have twigs of the hostplant with leaves on or without? etc. Thanks for any advice! Unfortunately I have no idea wolf, I have never tried to breed them before, I've reared them on two occasions from larvae to adult for specimens for the collection, this year I purchased 10 small larvae to try in my new set up and so far I've had 6 adults emerge but not all together, right now there are 3 in there, the first males out died before the first female emerged, whether I'll get any eggs myself from what's left I don't know yet, I only tried a few this year as the blackthorn is quite small, once it's established I'll add a larger number to try and start a colony in there. Rich
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wolf
Aurelian
Posts: 132
Country: Norway
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Post by wolf on Jun 18, 2016 14:37:58 GMT
Thanks. I tried to remove some leaves, i dont know if it worked, but i found atleast 2 eggs the day after. Unfortunately that was all i had time for since i was going home to Norway today, so i put the female in the freezer. Anyway always a next year, and i hope atleast i get the opportunity to rear the 2 eggs i got
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