Best way to start first instar caterpillars: fit a four inch coffee cone around a healthy shoot in your oak mini plantation with bottom sealed with whatever. When eggs begin to hatch (or maybe before), shake them into the cone, which will be in contact with other oak shoots. The caterpillars will distribute themselves according to God's and Reverend Ron Hubbard's perfect plan. You could use more than one cone. I have about 50 shoots in a 14 in, diameter planter one foot deep. Rats got most of my Valley White Oak acorns.
I had the planters outside until the polyphemus started browsing. I moved them inside in a sunny location to avoid yellow jackets, Compsilura cocinnata, and other assassins - and to avoid "sleeving".
Our coast live oaks are alleged to eschew summer watering, but mine are having a second growth flush with bottom watering. The foraging of the caterpillars also seems to stimulate growth of oaks.
Now I want to establish plantations of forage plants for Luna and Cecropia and maybe others. Walnuts are easy to propagate in the same way, but who eats them? Next year in Jerulsalem!
I very much appreciate hearing about the novel approaches that many rearers attempt.
There are some members who like to have live displays of caterpillars for indoor public displays.
Indoor air tends to have a much lower relative humidity than outdoor air, and smaller larvae on cut food in an indoor display may desiccate due to 1) lack of moisture in foliage and 2) dry surrounding air. Getting plants started from seeds in plastic pots/pails so that well watered live foliage can be offered indoors may be a solution.
I am pretty sure that in most cases acorns need to be subjected to a winter freeze in order for them to germinate, but the large acorns will produce a rather sizable seedling in a short time in the spring if they have been planted in the fall in a deep (at least twelve inches) pail. Just bury them about an inch deep, and leave the container exposed to the elements for the winter. Pails or buckets that have drainage holes in the bottom are ideal.
I do not think you will get adequate foliage to rear large numbers this way, but you might be able to get a crop of a dozen hatchlings through to maturity on a sizable number of seedlings. For indoor display purposes, it would also work to have larvae reared outisde in sleeves and then transfer just a couple for display purposes onto the potted plants.
Antheraea polyphemus will eat most oak species; lunas will feed on most nut species: butternut, walnut, pecan, hickory. I think you can also get sweetgum seed balls to germinate just like the acorns. Some plants like privet can be purchased in early spring from nurseries, and could be planted in the large buckets/pails.
Many years ago I started Ailanthus altissimus from seeds in a high school greenhouse. I transplanted the seedling when spring temperatures were warm enough, and by the end of the summer some of the seedlings had reached a height of 39 inches. I suspect I could have reared a few Samia cynthia larvae on them indoors, if I had started the seedlings in large pots. One of the seedlings I transplanted over eight years ago now has a diameter of over six inches and is at least thirty feet tall.
Cherry seeds would probably also produce a similar result. I hope some of you will experiment and share your findings.
I definitely recommend a deep planter as many of the nut species send out a deep tap root. I also found the ailanthus seedlings sent out deep roots.
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