Rhus typhina
My father is still using sweetgum and willow trees, transpanted or grown from seeds over forty years ago, as food for Saturniidae larvae. It's never too late to start a "Saturniidae Garden".
A very easy tree to transpant is Rhus typhina or Staghorn sumac.
I don't have Stephen Stone's handbook, Foodplants of Worldwide Saturniidae, nearby at the moment, but I have reared Saturnia walterorum and Citheronia splendens sinaloensis on this low growing tree. My father has used it successfully for Citheronia regalis.
The trees I transpanted several years ago were two to four feet high. I used a sharp spade to cut a circle about one foot deep and one foot away from the trunk. These trees have very shallow root systems.
I lifted the root balls out of their respective holes, prying with the spade, and loaded/lifted a few into my wheelbarrow and rolled them to the back of the station wagon where I set them carefully on some plastic garbage bags.
I had them home in about half an hour and wasted no time setting them in holes I had cut into the ground. I used no additives, just loosened the soil in the bottom of the holes and filled them with water from a garden hose.
The root balls were set, and loose soil was shoveled back into the holes around the edges and tamped. I did no pruning.
The best time to transplant is usually early spring before leaf out, but these small tress suffered no harm during a late spring transplanting.
Rhus typhina likes full sun and becomes a spreading tree, reaching a height of about twenty feet.
I copied the following from an internet article:
"The large dark crimson - or rarely orange to yellow - pinnate leaves of this sumac have 15-31 narrow, ellipti to lanceolate, serrate leaflets that can be up to 15 cm (6") long.
The stems and fruits of Staghorn Sumac are densely hairy, as in the "velvet stage" of a stag's antlers.
These colorful, nonpoisonous shrubs or small trees are rhizomatous. They can reproduce by "suckering" from the roots. New trees develop usually several feet from the "parent" tree.
The large clumps form bright splashes of color along forest margins, road banks, and fencerows and in old fields over much of the Appalachians. Staghorn Sumac is rare or absent at lower elevations in the south.
Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) is a similar and more common Sumac often seen along highways. Poison Sumac (Rhus vernix) is a toxic cousin which usually grows in swamps, bogs, and low moist areas, often in the shade of taller trees. It is not as common as Poison Ivy, but the oil is stronger and produces a more painful irritation."
I received a very pleasant surprise just a few years after transplanting. I have only observed this phenomenum once. One tree had several large "green" seedstalks on it and white admiral butterflies were "nectaring" around 10:00 am., or perhaps just drinking water from the spaces between the seed clusters.
I captured some female admirals and obtained eggs from them by sleeving them over a poplar branch.
I was delighted that efforts to obtain a useful Saturniidae food provided an added benefit.
It is never too late to start a "Saturniidae Garden".
Use your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page.