Plant It and They Will Come 4 Monarch Pollinator Life Cycles

I'll bring some to the plant swap so folks can fall sow.

Coleup -- I do have one tropical milkweed. I haven't looked closely at it. Most of my neighbors use Mosquito Mist or similar companies, so I haven't seen many butterflies this year at all (but plenty of mosquitos). Anyway, why were you asking about tropical milkweed?

Where did these "Milkweed Aphids" come from?

No one around here has Milkweeds--and I just have this one big
pot of them for the first time ever.

Of course--we are in a marsh area here--(White Marsh Mall) and little
stream (White Marsh run) running through this whole area.

Any construction of homes here--need to have a drainage pond.
These drainage ponds fill with water and get decorated to look very professional
Canada Geese live in/on all these drainage ponds. Lots and lots of them!
You can see them on the medians between roads--walking ON the roads--etc.
I don't believe these geese migrate. Why should they?

I bet there is plenty of Milkweed around here--near the stream--as I do see those fluffy
seeds floating around now and then.

I think I just answered my own question.....Gita

Wow Sally you have eggs and cats!
The ones being laid now will most likely be part of the great Fall Migration south to Mexico, joining with those coming down from Canada and the Northeast. They are the ones that will live for 7 months and need all of the fall blooming nectar rich blooms along the way: the asters and goldenrods.

So. lets Raise the Migration
http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/amazing-raise-monarch-migration-butterflies/

I collect the eggs because they are easier to find and handle than tiny cats . Monarchs are travelers who don't stay put even as newborns. Less than 2% of eggs laid survive to adulthood. That's why I am bringing in all I can to increase the migrating numbers which are at an all time low. And if the migration continues next year, there will be more established milkweed around here to sustain them. And, hand raising isn't hard, especially if one can walk out into one's garden for fresh leaves!

Happy, I mentioned Tropical milkweed because a portion of the eggs (102) passed on to Greenthumb's Loudoun County raisers were laid on Tropical . and others on Swamp or Common and sometimes those started on one don't like to switch particularly as babies . A big plus to Tropical is that it is a milkweed that blooms when Monarchs generally reach our area whereas the others have finished their blooming. It is estimated that a Monarch can smell a milkweed bloom 20 miles away! And it is a great nectar source also. One female I watched would nectar on Tropical and then fly over and deposit eggs on Swamp and Common . In my less than full sun conditions here, Tropical seems way less effected by leaf diseases and even those orange aphids than Swamp and Common.

I hope to be able to do a bit of Show and Tell on Monarchs, Milkweeds and handraising at our Fall swap with live examples!

It is nice for a change to have a relationship with the world of bugs that isn't adversarial ....

Found a good size BST cat on my fennel--looks like he'll build his chrysalis soon. Brought him in with his fennel.

Also found a medium size Monarch cat on my butterfly weed! Brought him in and put him with the others in the butterfly habitat. He looks about the same size, maybe a little smaller. Brought some butterfly weed in for him, too. One of the other cats is sniffing it curiously. :-)

I'm back home after spending some time in Utah with my daughter (and collecting NOID wildflower seeds, of course) and I still have 3 Swamp Milkweed plants in case any caterpillars are in need of a home!

Cats getting really big now--they are on their second stalk of milkweed for the day! :-)

This message was edited Sep 3, 2014 8:24 PM

Sally, enjoyed your article on crickets! :-)

coleup, anytime after 3 pm today (Wednesday) is OK if you want to tour milkweed. (Anybody else too)

My Swamp milkweed has big bunch of aphids. My Common milkweed is pretty aphid free, but has big black ants roaming it. I hope they're just checking for aphids and not harming any caterpillars..

Some ants "herd" aphids and aphids are sometimes called "ant cows". See http://insects.about.com/od/coolandunusualinsects/f/antsandaphids.htm

For those of you growing milkweed, which types have been the most successful from the Monarchs' perspective? And from a garden perspective? My awful front hill might be far enough along next year to try a few.

I've found eggs and one caterpillar on my tropical milkweed, and one cat on my butterfly weed. Those are also the two that have done the best in my garden, for whatever reason. The bloom on the tropical is sure pretty--and long-lasting. The butterfly weed bloom is also pretty but does not last very long.

That's a cool article about aphids and ants, Greenthumb! I never saw ants with the aphids on my milkweed; perhaps the sugar that aphids produce from MW isn't sweet enough.

My Butterfly Weed was larger than usual and bloomed for months this year, probably because I fertilized it with Plant Tone. Is this fertilizer bad for pollinators and caterpillars?

If anyone wants Butterfly Weed seeds, I'll have tons! Ditto with Swamp Milkweed.

happy= monarchs love common milkweed but that would be a huge mess for your hill.

I'm glad you mentioned that, Sally! After seeing how Common Milkweed has spread throughout my neighbors' yard, up to 15 feet away from the MW bed, I'm not inclined to plant it in my own. I don't have enough room to let it roam.

Ditto on the avoidance of Common Milkweed. I grow numerous species of Asclepias, but not this one due to its aggressive nature. Plant Tone, by the way, is a natural, slow-release organic fertilizer, and should not be a threat to any fauna or flora in one's garden.

Thanks for the warning about common milkweed. My awful front hill is so steep that I really can't introduce anything that is a big re-seeder. I know I have asked these same questions before, but I seem to retain info for shorter and shorter periods of time....

I'm still stumbling over my neighbors' use of Insect Mist, http://insectmist.com/ , and the like. I know I had far fewer bees and butterflies this year than last, even though I had more flowering plants. If they are succumbing to the Mist, I'd hate to encourage more pollinators to a likely death. See also http://www2.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/mosquito-misting-systems ("Since pyrethrins and permethrin are toxic to all insects, they may kill beneficial insects such as honeybees, ladybugs, butterflies and other non-target species. In addition, permethrin is very highly toxic to fish.")

One other question -- does tropical milkweed root easily, and if so is it appropriate to root cuttings to overwinter indoors?

Happy--

We are all experiencing a drop in the number of bees,butterflies, and polinators.
I am sure if you have been following in this Thread, you would know how
much this has been talked about and how hard coleup is trying to make sure
the Monarchs have enough food in their tummies to migrate.

I, for one, only have seen TWO Swallowtail caterpillars this whole season.
Last year--I had loads of them, and they ate everything in sight.

I am sure coleup will jump in and give you the facts...

Gita

My 4th BST cat is looking for a place to pupate now. Found a 5th one yesterday.

1 monarch cat now in J position getting ready to pupate.

Gita: I realize this year has been worse. I'm just wondering what the impact of my neighbors' routine use of pesticides is.

Happy, I would also be concerned about the neighbor's misting. However, I know a lot of people in the region have commented on it being a year when we are seeing fewer of a lot of butterfly species. I'm glad for the cats I've found, but overall I have to say I saw a greater variety of butterflies in my yard last summer.

I've seen a *LOT* less butterflies this year, but I've seen a ton of bees. I don't think the bee population in my yard has decreased at all.

Last year, I saw butterflies pretty much every time I went outside. A few days ago, I spotted a beautiful dark-colored butterfly in my yard, and it was such an exciting sighting because butterflies have been so rare! It was either brown or black but I couldn't make out any details.

I have seen quite a few skippers, too.

I think you're all going to love this Washington Post article about improving your garden's ecology. :) It stresses the importance of caterpillar habitat and mentions a lot of the plants we've talked about.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/improving-your-gardens-ecology/2014/09/02/db869944-2d48-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html

There was a med. sized butterfly on some flowers at the HD on Wednesday.
It was mostly black--but had some orange markings on the wings.
When the Butterfly was feeding and had the wings fully open, these orange
markings formed a perfect circle between the 2 wings.

I had never seen this one before---and I get to see all kinds of pollinators
as I water everything...endlessly...

I thought of the Orioles......Haaaa...silly me! Any ID from anyone?
My co-worker took a picture of it--if anyone HAS TO know.

Gita

sounds interesting Gita
I saw a Buckeye here today. They seem to always find the tall Sedums!

Hey, something recently defoliated all my little hot peppers plants and FIsh Pepper, leaving all stems and the one Fish Pepper fruit that I have ripening for seeds. Weird.

coleup gifted me three chrysalisses Chrysali? and found plenty of eggs on my patch of MW. Even though I have seen exactly ONE monarch, they have been here.

I love that WP article! It's inspiring me to dig up some Forsythia to make room for the Spice Bush I recently bought and for the Dogwood volunteers already growing near Forsythia patches.

I'm seeing a lot less bees this year and very few butterflies. In previous years, bumblebees would be buzzing all over my Black and Blue Salvia, but I only see a few there this year.

Gita, perhaps you saw a Red Admiral butterfly. See: https://www.google.com/search?q=red+admiral+butterfly&biw=1600&bih=808&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=K-sKVJ-HE-zisATar4CgCg&sqi=2&ved=0CKABEIke

I have had Asclepias tuberosa in the garden for years, but never noticed any caterpillars on them. Maybe I just wasn't looking close enough? No signs of leaves being eaten though :o(.

The Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' attracts a lot of butterflies and bees. For a few weeks in August, there are several swallowtails in that garden area at any given time. I have loads of this plant that I can share. Let me know if anybody is interested.

Love this article--thanks for sharing, SSG! I'm going to post it on my FB page.

4 of my 5 monarch cats this morning (well, one a chrysalis now).

Donner, I love the Golden Jubilee you gave me last year--it is such a pollinator magnet! :-)

Cat, it will produce quite a lot of baby plants each year. If you keep several in the garden, you will get more butterflies for sure.

Interesting chrysalis pic. I have always wondered where the caterpillars had gone after leaving my parsley pot.




This message was edited Sep 6, 2014 8:04 AM

David--
You are right on correct one more time!

What would be do without you? Thanks for the ID.
I should always have my camera with me at work--I just don't
have room anywhere to put it. My apron pockets are always full.

Thanks! Gita

Great photo, Donner! :-) I have not deadheaded this year the way I did last, so will probably need to do some pulling in the spring when things start emerging.

Happy Trop MW is easy to grow from cuttings in water or potting soil...almost as easy as Coleus! And, yes, it can be over wintered as a 'house plant'. potted and stashed in an unheated garage where it will go semi dormant like other tropicals (colocasia, banana, Mona Lavender or Dragon Wing Begonia) It also occasionally survives in the ground in Zone 7 with some mulch/dried leaves for root protection. Wants good drainage and not to totally dry out.

I agree with your reluctance to plant milkweed and other 'pollinator magnets' only to draw them in to an increased risk of demise by lethal mists. A newly hatched Monarch cat is very much smaller that mosquito wrigglers and it takes 10 - 14 days to become a chrysallis and another two weeks of exposure to fly free. And hungry birds, toads, etc that eat tainted cats bio accumulate the residual toxins up the food chain or downstream as it were.

Greenthumb cautions against Common Milkweed as 'aggressive' and therefore does not grow it in his garden, yet Sallyg has had Common Milkweed in her yard for 20+ years and doesn't comment on its aggressiveness, but rather lives with this 'not the most attractive plant in the border' letting it grow tall along with lilies and obedient plant sedums and others. I have never seen a patch of milkweed that didn't have any number of other plants growing hapilly along with.

It is the nature of Milkweed to begin with a seed, growing into a mother plant that colonizes an area thru underground rhizomes. The mature plants flower and provide nectar to many pollinators and long about now, send up tender new daughter plants for Monarchs to lay their migrating generation on instead of the tough scruffy looking mature leaves. And then the seed pods ripen and are dispersed (Seeds need to be pollinated by a different 'colony' which the Monarchs and others do very well) The larger the patch, the easier for the Monarch to find.

- Nature Institute
www.natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/Milkweed.

Milkweed and Oak are two of the top plants that support far more species than any other! Milkweed is named Asclepias, after the god of medicine and healing. That's a pretty hefty reccomendation for a plant species! Perhaps too many of us in North America bought in to the organized campaign funded and cooked up by Dupont to turn up our noses at this weed which was in direct competition with Dupont's 'kapon' and latex industries (just like was done with that most useful homestead plant, hemp, source of food fiber and oil and easy to grow)

Found this pic the other day of women gathering milkweed fluff for the war effort...circa 1943.

Oh, there are more than 100 varieties of milkweed, each with their own growth habits. It is estimated that 6000 acres of 'Monarch habitat' is lost every day.

Plant it and they will come. Raise the Migration Take a Monarch to lunch: Plant Milkweed

Speaking of different kinds of Milkweed....I planted 3 Asclepias incarnata (purchased from a Girl Scout troop in Spring 2013), and one of them looks so different that I think it might be a different species. The flowers looked the same to me, although I didn't look closely for differences. I think the oddball started forming pods earlier than the others.

These photos didn't load in order. Oh well. #1 shows the size and shape difference; the oddball is to the right of the 2 taller, scrawnier MWs. #4 shows the oddball's leaves, and #5 shows those of the taller plants. I don't think the red color on the leaves is a disease, but I suppose it's possible.

While taking photos of my MW, I noticed this caterpillar; does anyone recognize it? If not, I'll look it up after the sun goes down : - )

This message was edited Sep 6, 2014 12:43 PM

One more photo...bees love this Jewelweed (so do I). I watched as one disappeared into one flower after another.

hi, Muddy. You're right--that one MW does look different from the other 2. Hopefully Coleup or Greenthumb or someone else will be able to enlighten us.

Interesting looking caterpillar! What plant is he on?

Well, I found another BST cat this morning--this one on my parsley! That makes 6 for the season--wohoo! #4 is still in ready to pupate position and #5 has barely moved since I found him on my fennel on Thursday. Fingers crossed for both of them! All my cats have been on the parsley or fennel this year. None on my rue or dill. Last year it was rue and fennel.

Monarch #2 turned into a chrysalis this morning right while I was watching--got most of it on video. Very interesting! I knew #3 was about to do the same by the way he was twitching, but I needed to do some errands and sure enough when I came back he was all done. Monarch #4 is still hanging in J position but looks like he will go soon, too. #5 is still munching on the milkweed, huge as he is!!

It's on a Hamamelis vernalis (Ozark witch hazel) which, by the way, I would pass on in favor of Hamamelis virginiana if anyone decides to buy a witch hazel. H. vernalis blooms while the dead leaves are on it (the leaves don't fall off until the new ones push them off) and the flowers are not noticeable.

A quick look told me that H. vernalis' main value is as an early nectar source, although some sites said caterpillars (NFI) chew on the leaves.

That's exciting about your chrysalises!
I just finished planting my Spice Bush, and see a Spice Bush Swallowtail on my New York Asters so I'll keep my fingers crossed. The Swallowtail is very ragged-looking - missing a good chunk of one wing and very faded.

Plant it and they will come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I reached 300 eggs, I stopped counting. Should have about ten chrysalises a day to release soon. Am looking for some good spots to release them. Ten is more than would normally be in a garden at one time. The males will stake out their territory and chase off other males. Saw two males doing this at last release here and then a Hummingbird appeared and they both chased it away! Fiesty little guys. The male guarding my patch comes to check me out each time I go to collect leaves or smoosh aphids! He is minus a part of a wing so I know it is him.

Muddy, most of the hundred or so Swamp MW plants from North Creek look like your tall two. However, there is great deviation amongst the common mw I also got from there in quantity. So, I would say there is variation in height, leaf shape and color and bloom times, too as MW seems able to sustain genetic diversity within an area.

Donner, I have yet to find an egg on my A tuberosa. It is a preferred plant for nectaring but much less so for egg laying if other types available. Maybe its shorter size and less substantial branches put the developing cat too close to the ground as it gets heavier...? I'd love 6 of your Pineapple agastache, please and thank you. Do you have a wet or moist spot in your yard? Consider Swamp MW there is one 'Ice Ballet' that blooms white! This would give Monarchs a choice beyond A tuberosa. LMK