So far as I'm concerned the butterfly gardeners can have the things, they're a nuisance in my books.

I don't know why but they seem to prefer my Seville orange and Sunburst tangerine more than anything else as I'll find more of the ugly little things on those two trees than all of the others combined.

.....Alan.

The swollowtail butterfly relies solely on the Seville orange for its food. The only way to rid yourself of the caterpillars is to use an insecticide or pick them off by hand. Beware though, if you squish on accidently you will be rewarded by a smell that stinks to high heavens.
Good luck
Andi

I don't do pesticides if I can possibly help it. I spend a little time giving the orange and tangerine trees a going over and picking them off with a twig or some such then squashing them.

Once the trees are mature I'll probably ignore them like most folks do, but on young trees they can do a lot of damage.

.....Alan.

Not to be picky, but the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) larva feeds on far more than Seville oranges (although it may prefer them). It feeds on all citrus species, Poncirus, Murraya, Severinia, Zanthoxylum (on which it is native), and most other members of Rutaceae, given the chance.

Malcolm

One of the avantages of growing citrus in Colorado is that there are NO citrus diseeases, NO citrus vectors, NO citrus bugs (scale and mealy excepted), NO citrus viruses. NO citrus funguses, NO citrus anything. The worst enemy to citrus in Colorado is cold. - MIllet

I took 8 of them (OD eggs) off of my tree today alone, and it has been 2 days since I last checked. I removed 2 of them the last time. I'm beginning to think that my other 2 trees (Ponkan & Cara Cara) will have to be indoor trees for quite some time. My Valencia (the only other tree I have) keeps having new pest developments.

May be time for another cycle. I didn't see any on my trees today as I was putting the manure down, but I'll start keeping an eye out for the next few days. Probably about time for the next cycle of hornworms on the tomatoes too.

.....Alan.