Any one else noticed lack of monarch butter flies our plants are about 5ft tall full of leaves and yet not one butter fly around to lay eggs. this time last year they had plenty of caterpillars as the grand kids were quite taken by them.
letitia,
Dec 28, 10:45am
I haven't seen any yet either. Maybe it isn't warm enough here in ChCh for them yet.
survivalkiwi,
Dec 28, 11:38am
Almost non existant here in marlborough now. My son has had one lay eggs on his swan plant and now has a caterpillar. I have seen only one monarch this season. 6 years ago I was breeding about 100 caterpillars a year. Up here it is the asian paper wasp. It eats the caterpillars.
unknowndisorder,
Dec 28, 11:57am
We have lots to admire :) See both old and new ones, but not many caterpillars on our plants.
patsprat,
Dec 28, 12:09pm
Wasps are getting our caterpillars, thinking of covering the plants with fine netting, but then they've been pretty much eaten out by the caterpillars anyway
kaddiew,
Dec 28, 1:58pm
Am seeing a reasonable number here in Kapiti, including today.
gabbysnana,
Dec 28, 4:50pm
Plenty flying around here in town and rural.
paora-tm,
Dec 28, 5:59pm
Seen as many (maybe more) as usual here in Auckland. Lots of bumblebees.
andyb2,
Dec 28, 6:30pm
We just got them here in Timaru.
cantabman1,
Dec 28, 6:34pm
Had over a hundred eggs layed today, but didn't see the butterflies. Culled a few eggs as i'm selling the plants [over 700 in stock.
sophie98,
Dec 29, 5:05pm
Could be because someone decided to get them counted a year or so ago and asked people to put stickers on the wings so off course a lot would have died after that. Especially if children were doing it. We had a lot less in our garden last year and only seen two this year.
linda61,
Dec 29, 6:30pm
Have lots of plants, one huge one, a number of flutterbys, but we have a wasp problem. Will be getting some netting to cover the large plant.
starseeker,
Dec 29, 7:21pm
In Hamilton, hardly any butterflies, then today there were several & quite a few eggs laid on our large plants. Perhaps the cool snap we had pre-Christmas held them back for a bit.
golfdiver,
Dec 29, 7:57pm
I planted one this season, but no sign of any. We do have a lot of bees here , are they a predator or just wasps?
trade4us2,
Dec 29, 9:44pm
I have half a dozen large plants and lots of butterflies but have not seen a caterpillar yet. Maybe the wasps are doing something.
cantabman1,
Dec 30, 5:29am
Last winter was very cold, with lots of severe frosts. I took my grand daughter to Woodem Park where thousands roost over the winter in the conifirs. The day we arrived was after a very strong frost, and their were hundreds dead on the ground from cold. They will come to one and all again this Summer, but I expect that most will be about from mid January onwards.
lythande1,
Dec 30, 6:01am
Seen some flying around our place.
figjamto,
Dec 30, 7:54am
Have seen quite a few flying around.
r.d.a,
Jun 27, 3:05am
Only Wasps.
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