Buterfly larval food recipe

[Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer]

Try blenderizing the plants and mixing them with agar to gell them. Enough
water would have to be added to the liquified plants to fit the agar recipe,
the plant slurry would need to be brought to a boil, mix in the agar, and
pour into a pan to cool. In theory you should end up with "brownies" that
you can cut up and feed to the caterpillars. I have not tried it, but in
theory it should work.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: James Allen <james.allen at umb.edu>
To: LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu <LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu>
Date: July 7, 1999 2:32 PM
Subject: Buterfly larval food recipe
 
 
>Hi everyone!
>
>This summer researchers are raising an extended family of "Painted Lady"
>
>(Vanessa carduii) butterflies in one of our greenhouses. In a small
>netted
>cage enclosure the butterflies lay there eggs all over hollyhock plants.
>If they are not
>picked off in time, they hatch and start munching away. Needless to say,
>
>thay have gone through quite a few hollyhock plants.
>
>I have also tried putting some other plants in the cage: Helichrysum,
>Centauria, and Burdock
>which they seem to like too. As I mentioned the eggs are picked off and
>reared on
>an artificial diet which is purchased form a lab supply company, and is
>somewhat
>costly. - this leads to my query. Since they like burdock plants, and
>there are a lot
>of them around, is there a recipe that anyone knows of to make that
>artificial diet?
> I was thinking of putting leaves in a blender - but I imagine that the
>result would be
>quite full of liquid.
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>BTW. we also raise Manduca or tobacco horn worm on a similar diet that
>must
>contain Nicotiana.
>
>
>
>--
>*******************************************
>James R. Allen (everybody calls me "Jim")
>Horticulturist
>Biology Department
>University of Massachusetts Boston
>100 Morrissey Boulevard
>Boston, MA 02125-3393
>
>Tel: (617) 287-6580
>Fax: (617) 287-6650
>Web Page: http://Greenhouse.bio.umb.edu
>
>James.Allen at umb.edu
>******************************************
>
>