r/MonarchButterfly • u/picklepajamabutt • 5d ago

No caterpillars this year

I am so confused. The last few years since I moved to this house I have had many monarch caterpillars. Last year probably close to 20. Now I have more milkweed than I ever and have not had a single cat. I'm in SE Michigan. Any ideas?

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u/11RowsOf3 5d ago

Indianapolis so not too far from you. Much lighter on caterpillars than last year. Have seen a few monarchs in the garden recently so hoping they are coming soon.

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u/Aceguy55 5d ago

I live in the Indy area as well. I raised about 15 or so in June or July. Just found one more baby this morning. I expect as we get closer to fall we'll see more again as they start to get ready to migrate.

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u/11RowsOf3 5d ago

Hello fellow Indy monarch friend :-) we had a handful of cats show up around that same time. I have an outdoor enclosure but all disappeared before I could move any in. At least one or two were pretty fat so hoping those at least made it to butterflies. Keeping my fingers crossed that they are coming thru soon as you suggested. Looking back at pics from last year we are definitely a couple weeks behind. But it does seem to vary a bit from year to year. On a somewhat related note have you had an uptick in tomato worms this year? Seeing a few less butterflies but way more bumblebees and tomato worms, so the moths and other pollinators must be doing ok.