Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Plant It and They Will Come 4 Monarch Pollinator Life Cycles, 0 by coleup

coleup wrote:
And Catmint, I think you already said that you were going lighter on the mulch. Many insects need bare soil to burrow into for the winter.

Here I have been faithfully monitoring milkweed patches I know about for any signs of Monarch activity. My own plants have been carefully scrutinized for aphids (squish) and other bugs that can harm plants or Monarch eggs or cats. and prompt removal of any not right or diseased leaves so I can have healtyest food source.

After the visits two days in a row by one lingering Monarch I reallywas on the look out for eggs. Couldn't find any but did notice very small holes in several leaves which when turned over held very tiny Monarch cats!!!!! I literally had to use my magnifying glass to see the little grey cats which I collected by bringing each leaf inside to a protective enclosure. By morning they had changed from new hatched grey to their characteristic multi striped selves. Have 10 of them munching away!

On Monday while harvesting fresh leaves for them, I noticed a very small white dot on the underside of one, and again using my magnifying glass saw the classic shape of a Monarch egg and then found three more. Brought them in too. Then we had the heavy rains. Last night I found 24 more!

Pic is borrowed from yikes I lost the cite...will add later.