Northeast Gardening: Daily Musings, Page Two, 1 by creeping_jenny

creeping_jenny wrote:
Hi,
THought I would post some more info about monarch raising, as a few folks have expressed interest.

I keep an eye out, and once I see monarchs flying about (early July around here), I start scouting my milkweed plants. Sometimes you can even catch the eggs being laid--and once you have seen one, they are a little easier to spot. The cream-colored oval eggs are usually laid one to a leaf on the underside, and are about 1 mm long. The butterflies seem to prefer laying on younger leaves, so look at the top of the plant first. Once I have found an egg, I cut off the section of the plant it is on and put the cutting with the egg still attached into a small cup of water, and put the whole thing into a terrarium (covered). The milkweed cutting stays fresh while the egg is ripening. Two things: 1. Make sure you are not bringing in other bugs or spiders with the egg--they'll eat it! 2. Keep out of direct sun--you'll cook the plant and possibly the caterpiller.

Unless the egg is a dud (sometimes it is) in a few days, a tiny caterpiller will emerge. Its amazing how much the little critters can eat. As they get larger, I have to bring in a daily supply of fresh milkweed cuttings. About 2 weeks from hatching, the caterpiller will become inactive and shed its skin to become a crysallis. About 7-10 days later you will have a butterfly to set free. This is really a great project for kids, too. Attached is a photo of 10-day old caterpiller--though I think it's the back end (-:

I am still seeing monarchs coming through at this time, though our hummingbirds seemed to have left early--about two weeks since I have seen one. Also saw a variety of migrating warblers in our garden last weekend, mostly pine warblers. We brought in our orchids last weekend too--they aren't too fond of temps below 45. Its downright chilly today--hopefully this doesn't mean an early frost this year. You can never tell around here, as frost can come as early as late September or late as mid-November.