milkweed bugs?

>>Asclepias on the way, all indigenous to IL. Do you have any of them?

Since there is state property behind my house, there are plenty of weeds -- there is some milkweed, jsut the common one I believe. But since i've gotten more into trading seeds... i'm getting more of other varieties.

I'm trying to plant more plants to attract butterflies and hummers.... but its a slow process.

Yes - the marathon was tragic. I too read they ran out of water. You'd think with the heat we've been having, they would have been more prepared.

I grow scarlet milkweed and yes it does spread by the floating seeds in the Fall and Winter here, but ..... I also have a LOT of milkweed bugs that have killed over 20 of my plants. So here in Florida ..... even if it "might" seem invasive, I don't consider it to be. And since we have those HORRIBLE Brazilian Pepper trees .... I'd take Milkweed being invasive over those nasty trees. I don't know what the trees attract .... but I'd much rather have a field of Milkweed with tons of Monarchs and Queens on them! Just my two cents worth. And yes, this tropical milkweed does die off with a freeze which is probably why it produces a lot of seeds. :-) Plus they are very easy to pull up in the places you don't want it growing.

**waves**

Hi Becky!! I have a gazzillion seeds now.... they are everywhere! LOL
but i also have my neighbor coming over to collect... she's a seed junkie.

Hi ya Terese!!!!

Save some for the Round Robin seed trade here! :-) :-) We're going to do the seed trade next month!

I will only say that being one who clears invasive plants, it's not fun. It isn't about how easy they are to pull. Remember, invasive means they take over our natural flora by outcompeting our indigenous species. Invasive species don't apply to just your own yard. The term doesn't mean that.

Much of what we grow in Florida IS invasive because we have a long growing season (which is pretty much year round). EVERYTHING grows and spreads regardless of what plant it is. Fortunately, most of the flowering plants are loved by all the different butterflies that live here or migrate here. Up North where there is freezing winters, most plants are not as invasive because the cold kills them off unless they are perennials and have a deep rooting system. We do have droughts though that can wipe out many plants species in a single year.

But ..... the MOST dangerous and invasive growth that I know of ..... is progress and development by humans. My county has lost thousands of acres of pristine wetlands and natural habitat land to shopping centers & commercial properties, new housing developments, parking lots, and constant road development and expansions. When I moved to my neighborhood 16 years ago this area was simply amazing with miles and miles of natural woodlands and wetlands. Much of that is now gone ...... forever. Tons and tons of concrete and asphalt are now in it's place. I can think of nothing else more invasive than that!!!! Even the Brazilian Pepper trees can't compete with that! It's really sad to see. :'-(

The Small Milkweed Bug usually has two little white dots and a somewhat different pattern from the Large Milkweed Bug. I think the photo of a Milkweed Bug at the link shared by beckygardener depicts a Small Milkweed Bug which would be Lygaeus kalmia not Oncopeltus fasciatus. Both bugs are different and both are deemed friends as they keep milkweeds in check and milkweeds can be a little weedy. There are basically two aphids that love to chow down on milkweed. Aphis lutescens and Aphis nerii. They both look pretty similar. (sigh) Those aphids are allegedly friends too. Since aphids are farmed by ants, some people have better results setting out a bunch of ant traps first (ants farm aphids for their honeydew) then they start knocking the aphids off their milkweed plants with a decent stream of water. With the ants under control, it’s pretty difficult for the aphids to get back on the plant without the help of their friendly ant caretakers.

Oh how I would love to comment on the Monarch/Mexico controversy but best for me to bite my tongue so hard it bleeds lest this turn political. Put these words in a search engine and see what pops up for you- illegal + logging + monarch + biosphere + reserve.
Please put to rest that Americans are solely responsible for Monarch decline- http://pewagbiotech.org/resources/issuebriefs/monarch.pdf
There’s much more research where that came from regarding Monarch cats and genetically modified corn.

Fly_girl- I see you here. You going to set me up next year with a cat cage? I’ve never done this before but would like to try. I’m totally serious on this one. I received a gift of a monarch butterfly kit a few years ago and loved it. Now I’d like to try something a little bit more elaborate.

tcs1366- I see you here too. Yup, they documented EAB in DuPage County but it was conclusively documented as having made its way into Cook County last year with an unofficial sighting the previous year. That was years ahead of when they originally projected that the little bugger would hit out state. It’s in my county too. EAB, coming to a theater near each and every one of us real soon. If only we could turn back the hands of time on that one and force other countries (ahhh choo ahhh China) to prove they’re fumigating all shipments of wood and wood by products before it leaves their ports. Check this out- http://www.entm.purdue.edu/eab/eabpdf/NE_Illinois.pdf

terryr, there are DED resistant Elms out there now that have a good… no great… track record. I’ve got quite a few and they’re planted in close proximity to American Elms that went down to DED. As far as EAB, that’s a borer and I said years ago that no matter what we did we weren’t going to be able to do much other than to slow down its spread. We can thank some unnamed country (cough choke gag sneeze) for sending that exotic to us. We’re going to get wiped out of Ash from sea to shining sea and this is going to be far worse than Chestnut Blight and Dutch Elm Disease which were also exotic hitch hikers. I started companion planting other native species within a few feet of every Ash I have on this property. I can’t say it enough, it’s over for our Ash trees unless those insect parasitoids can provide relief.

Asclepias curassavica is an exotic species and has naturalized in 5 states. Might be better choices out there in the milkweed department particularly if one gardens down south where they have become a problem displacing native species. We know so much more now than we did even ten years ago. Now, I haven’t been able to find Asclepias exaltata available for sale in three years. Will one of you butterfly geeks please help me locate that plant for myself please? Come on now, I know you guys know all the good nurseries that carry butterfly weed and this is one I need. I have three other native species of Butterfly Weed here and I’ve been getting quite a few butterflies lately. Want more, need more, must have more so I need that exaltata.

Man, I gotta come over here more often. Do you all do anything for moths? I started a moon garden for moths a few years ago. I plug away at my moon garden little by little but the information isn’t out there for moths as it is for butterflies. I do like to sit on my front stoop on warm summer nights watching the moths flit around my plants in the glow of my little solar lights. Way cool. Bet you all would like moths if you like butterflies.

Regarding development, it's sad that it's come to this but even more important than ever that we think globally while acting locally.

Hey EQ and Terry!!!

I finally tore apart my home-made bf cage, it was crax....I made it meself and no, you cannot see a pic of it. heehee
The boards warped and I had to stick paper towels in between the door to keep crawlies out.
So, I broke down and bought an open air reptile cage, it's fantastic, no wood to warp and it has a floor that is easy to wipe down. My on;y complaint is I wish it was bigger.

I looked up that Poke Milkweed and you're right...can't find it anywhere. It is pretty but doesn't look like it grows here.

I love moths!!! There are 10X more moths than butterflies! I like to go out at night with my camera and look for moths in the garden. I'm sure I look like a 'peeper with a camera' out there....I always have to explain to peeps that walk by. LOL

Hey there fly_girl! How be you! Do you have anything like a FreeServe out your way? There are people who swear by this FreeServe. Long and short is that supposedly you can get just about anything you want from FreeServe. I have a girlfriend who is furnishing her entire house by being a member of this group. Seems as if everything from her dinette set to her family room couches and the curtains for her windows are from being a member of that group and what she is getting is anything but junk. I kid you not, we're talking gently used furniture and seemingly everything under the sun is available. I mention this because she picked up a great parrot cage (I saw it and it's one of those big bucks cages)recently for free and she picked up another Wardian case for me for free so why not a reptile cage? I know what those open air reptile cages cost because we had a small one once for a science project and now I'm kicking myself in the rear for passing it on to somebody else's kid to use instead of hanging on to it myself. Maybe you could find out if there's a FreeServe in your area because you might be able to pick up an open air reptile cage for free? For what you're doing, you could easily have 3 or 4 smaller open air reptile cages as opposed to one jumbo one right?

Yes, the A. exaltata is a bummer to find. I was sort of hoping that you butterfly folk might know who is selling it. It sure doesn't seem to be available mail order these days and the first three plants I bought are gone because they were evidently a bambi or thumper delicacy and were eaten down to stubs not once, but twice. Not good for a plant that's trying to establish itself to be eaten down to the ground within a few weeks of being transplanted. Next time I find that plant, I'll put chicken wire around it for the first year to give it a fighting chance around here. The exaltata is native out here but it would be exotic by you which may be why you haven't run across it before. Seems as if the natural range of that plant extends from the east coast and sort of stops abruptly at the Mississippi River. That's about as far west as it goes. Like I said, I was sort of hoping somebody who butterfly gardens might have stumbled across it for sale at a nursery. I want it real bad.

I haven't a clue whether or not my camera would take pictures at night or not. Sheesh, I barely know how to use the camera I have as it is and the thought of trying to find the little icons in the dark is not exactly thrilling me. I can hardly see those things in the daylight they are so small. I've not noticed any night time photos of moths being posted. This is a huge site, am I missing moth photos somewhere? Yup, I love moths too. I seem to have an impressive size assortment of them here. Haven't any idea what they all look like because about all I can make out from the glow of those little solar lights is that they are light colored and come in an assortment of sizes. I can tell you I have a lot of them around here. Sometimes during the day when I am weeding I flush them up. Then I can see them pretty good. Have no idea what they all are though.

I haven't been feeling too hot so I'm going to try to go back to sleep. It's sort of nice being up in the middle of the night when everything is so peaceful and there aren't any kids tugging at my sleeve.

Hi fly-girl, how ya doing? Dumb question, but why did the wood warp?

I have moths too. Unfortunately, they're drawn to lights, so they usually end up in my kitchen. If I can get to them, I take them back outside and give them a good talking too. We have a lot of moths here too. They range from really small to under the size of a butterfly. What I know as a moth anyway. And that sure ain't much ☺

Asclepias exaltata seed can be found here

http://www.prairiemoon.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=179&=d675d444310336a43733786574c33c68

Equil, yes, I know there's DED resistant Elms. In the woods though, I like that they start, I know that they die, but since my parents don't like snags, even in the woods, it's a good place to start.

I messed around with my camera. It takes nightfall landscape photos, but it has to still be more light outside than dark.

And yes to what Equil said about development. Everything starts in your own backyard. You can't control the world, but you can control what happens in your own backyard. I have quite a few Aster divaricatus. Imagine my surprise and my delight when I saw that the seed blew over to my neighbors house and now she has 2 of them mixed in with her ditch lilies, Hemerocallis fulva. I'd much rather see a native plant take up residence than an iinvasive plant......like the Berberis thunbergii that just suddenly showed up here.

I can find seed, I want mature plants. No time this year to mess around with starting from seed. I'd like to be able to go the seed route but literally am at capacity.

Funny you should mention Barberry, I've got oodles of that plant popping up everywhere since they became so darn popular. Those plants hurt when you try to pull them out. I have to use rose gloves.

What about buying the seed and direct sowing it next year? I'm not set up to do any seeds under lights, can't get into WS, so I do the direct sowing thing. I've also started the seed in a pot, in the very late winter, putting out in the day, bringing in at night, and have been very successful in growing plants that way. Just a thought.

You know, when I found that barberry, I had to stop and think who had them. I have to go a block north of me to find them. And yes, I used suede lined gloves, the kind I use in the woods ripping out the honeysuckle, the multi-flora rose etc etc.

The Barberry would be a lot easier to spot to pull out of the ground if it would stop reverting to type when seeding into other areas. At least if it stayed all those nice bright cultivar colors of raspberry, lime sherbert, and orange marmalade etc., they'd be easier to find.

Can't direct sow much of anything. The birds pick the seed clean from the ground even if I go out and broadcast while it's snowing. This year I really can't afford the space or the time to start from seed.

That's amazing what she got from FreeServe and we're talking 'free' here? I'll check into it.

Eq, are you feeling better? I got my flu shot last week and the nurse told me the flu is already raising it's ugly head down here. Hope you're feeling better.

Terry, that's sad about the Elms, I remember as a kid, DED was killing them, even way back then.

I do the night camera activity trying to catch the elusive Spinx moths, I just think they are the coolest!

So you want plants not seeds? What's that saying.....'wish in one hand and something in the other' lol
I have a hard time direct sowing seeds too, but I can't blame it on the birds...squirrels maybe. So, I bought a small plastic greenhouse/hothouse deal and it works well. I can start them early in the spring before it gets warm. I was surprised how easy they took off in that thing.

Hey! That's an idea Equil. You need a greenhouse!

The streets here in town used to be lined in Elm's. And they went to great expense to try and save the trees. My parents had 1 at the edge of the timber out at their house that my dad tried to save for a few years, but it didn't work.

Flu shots are starting here pretty soon. I'm waiting to hear if my husbands job is offering them to family members again. No cost, I like that...lol.

Nope, still feel like crap. Posted here then layed down and fell asleep and now I am up again.

How on earth do you focus in the dark? Never could figure out how to do that. My camera has auto focus.

I have got to get the exact name of this organization that she belongs to. Everything is free for pick up. It's nothing but a bunch of people listing things they want to unload for what ever reason and you list what you are offering and then it's sort of first come first serve. I thought the name of it was FreeServe but I did a quickie search and am coming up empty handed. I'm not a person who does garage sales. I don't have the time and don't want the traffic here. I can see where it would be nice to be a member and be able to list what I wanted to get rid of. So far, I've been able to get away with dragging it out to the curb and putting up a sign that says "Free" on it. Sad commentary on human nature but I wanted to get rid of some work benches. They sat out on the curb to the front of the subdivision for a few days. We hauled them back. I stuck them back out on the curb and put some sort of a sign that said $20 a piece and they were gone within hours. Yes, you do need to check this place out because recently she got a bakers rack. This thing was darn near in the box new. It had a butcher block top and was in forest green metal. I've seen these things before go for hundreds of dollars. I guess she said the people bought it then changed their mind and wanted a white bakers rack in their kitchen and couldn't exchange the green one so she picked it up for free. It absolutely blows my mind the types of things she is picking up for free.

I have a greenhouse. I have a big new greenhouse smarty pants. It's time and space that are an issue. I've got 100 trays of seedlings going in there already and I am at capacity what with all the other plants in there plus I've got friends literally driving over plants that they want over wintered in my greenhouse and then there are these honker plumerias in huge pots that take up floor space. I was thinking of swapping out some of these-
http://greenhousestuff.com/benches/larrysbench.htm
for some 12' lengths of some of these-
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BN%2DFB3020
to try to ram more in the greenhouse.

Yes, streets were lined with many Elms. Most are gone. We had a few here and tried to save them at a cost of a couple thousand a piece. Came to the conclusion a long time ago that to do so was staving off the inevitable. I could no longer condone dolling out that kind of money to the service we had hired so I simply quit treating the trees in favor of purchasing DED resistant elms. They called to schedule a site visit to start up our treatment regime again and I told them I had purchased 'Valley Forge', 'Frontier', 'Patriot', and 'New Harmony'. Dead silence on the other end of the phone. This is where I buy most of my DED Elms from- http://www.knockoutroses.com/catalog/elm/valleyforge.htm

FreeCycle NOT FreeServe- oops, big oops. I was close but no bananas.

http://www.freecycle.org/

You may want to check them out. For me, I'm in an elimination phase of my life not an acquisition phase and so far offering up what I don't want to friends and family eliminates about 25% of what I want to get rid of. Anything that can be picked up by a library, day care center, nursing home, or by GoodWill/Salvation Army is set aside and that gets rid of another 50% with the remaining getting dragged out to the curb on the night before garbage day for people who go driving around specifically looking for goodies. I've really done a bang up job lightening the load around here and am proud to announce that my attic has been reduced to insulation (set out a bunch of aquariums that weren't leakers from old science fair projects that were snapped up from the curb). We have nothing stored up in the attic any longer. I also ditched "stuff" stored from the basement (Don't ask, too embarrassing but we'll just say that the kids are getting older and had no need for high chairs and ride-on toys). You can walk down there these days without having to bulldoze your way through boxes and stacks of who-knows-whats. Seriously, there are a lot of people out there like me who are unloading left and right and many of them use that FreeCycle. Why don't you see if you can pick up more open air reptile cages. Think of the parents who have to unload from completed science fair projects. I bet they're going to appear on FreeCycle and then you can raise even more cats!

Equil, I've heard about the type of new furniture and clothing one can get up in the Chicago area just by dumpster diving. I have a feeling that's what's going on here. The people have way too much money and change their minds frequently and so they put the stuff up on FreeCycle.

What?? You HAVE a greenhouse? I don't, but send the seed to me, I'll start them for you.

You summed up exactly why my girlfriend got brand new couches- the couple changed their mind on the color scheme for their family room.

I got one of these for one of our foster kids because a girlfriend of mine spotted it out by the curb. She walked up to the door and asked if they were getting rid of it and the people said yes because the grandchildren never used it. The man even helped her hoist it up into her pick up truck. It was out of the box new with only a few cob webs that needed to be cleaned out-
http://www.buyoutdoortoys.co.uk/buy-outdoor-toys-uk/tikes/real%20estate/log%20cabin.jpg
I have now passed it on to my girlfriend for her grand daughter.

I picked up home made (very sturdy and well built) work benches from an alley in an industrial area. Had to stake my claim while I frantically called my girlfriend to come get them for me with her pick up truck because other people out trolling the area were trying to snatch them from me. I lost one of the four I had tried to set aside for myself but that still left me with three. I used those benches for years. They even had double shelves to accommodate tools for potting plants and such.

(shhhhh....) I dumpster dive when I can much to my husband's chagrin.

Back to cat cages. This morning while shopping I ran into something that looks very interesting. What about using those fine mesh laudry bags that come on a pop up frame and are collapsable? The frame seems to be about 18" x 18" x 2' and from the image on the packaging it appears there is a zipper which would mean easy access to the interior. Price was under $10. It sort of looked like this only it was a single and black with a zipper-
http://www.organizes-it.com/images/mesh3ham.jpg

I also couldn't help but notice that ant baits were on clearance for anyone trying to control milkweed aphids.

I feel guilt now that terryr is offering to grow out my exaltata. I'll try to remember to order some seed. I can winter sow them easy enough.

Not to change the subject ;P I have been hit by a monarch! I never saw it but am thrilled, I've found 3 large cats on my gazillion bloodflower seedlings, nothing on any of my natives :(

I love photographs, particularly good ones that aren't all fuzzy. Nice photo.

Thankyou! I have to admit a lot of my photos come out fuzzy, but I remember checking my settings before taking that pic :)

I'm trying right now to find a picture I took from earlier this summer that was clear. No fuzzies at all. I can't find the darn thing. I rarely get a good picture without having to take 20 of the same thing that I was very happy I got a good "fuzziless" pic on the first click. Glad you reminded me with your photo. Let me go back and search for that monarch cat pic. I was really proud of it. Be back.

No wonder why I can't find it. It's on the old computer. Ugh. Lost forever probably.

Oh, that's terrible! I always try to have photos in more than one place. Right now we're using a server so space is no problem thankfully....you know, for those times I have to take 20 pics :)

I had this new custom computer that was kick-butt but one of the brand new hard drives went down after a couple weeks and that corrupted the RAID which corrupted the brand new mother boards and the rest is history. I had that computer for all of a few weeks and it was working great. Had all of my data successfully transferred to it from my old computer- concept behind it was that my data would be "safe" with two hard drives and an external hard drive backing up all the data. Ha, not so. Now I have another new non-RAID Dell Precision computer that backs up to an external site- www.carbonite.com so hopefully I will never have to worry about hardware failure again. What the heck are the odds of a brand new hard drive going bad on a custom computer anyway? I must admit I am close to tears over my photos every time I think about it. Not much you can do. They replaced the hard drive that failed because it was under warranty but it was too late by then and all I wanted was my money back for the whole system. I'd pretty much lost everything. I have saved the other hard drive that didn't fail, they let me have it. Am hoping some day to send it off to one of those data recovery places to see what I can get off of it. Problem is they want a couple thousand dollars based on the hardware failures and there's no guarantee.

Oh, that's just the worst of luck! Sure sounded like a great idea :(

Yup, I sure thought I had all my bases covered... but for one little slip up. One of the hard drives was bum. Oh well. I've discovered carbonite. Never again.

So post some more photos for me. I'm deprived as of late. Those rotund little cat pics are the best. I've sat and watched them for hours while reading a book and I swear I've noticed them get larger before my very eyes from gorging. I used to think it was my imagination until a friend said she has sat down and watched herself and could have sworn the one she was watching got bigger too.

Too funny, about them getting fatter as she watched. They are cute, iwatched them forever today! Was so excited I could hardly get anything done, how silly is that? No better pics though, sigh. I know there are plenty others on here tkaing great pics though :)

The big question is did you think yours got fatter as you watched or are both me and my girlfriend suffering from wishful thinking?

HA! Good going on getting the Monarch cat!! Never say never....lol......

Thanks Terry! You could've knocked me over with a feather when I found them!

I think they did get fatter ;P And it had nothing to do with the cooler I was drinking either!

Good, it's not just me and my girlfriend. If they aren't getting fatter before our very eyes... they you are delusional too!

azreno, good things come to those who wait. And for what it's worth, I know Equil and I know for a fact that she is indeed delusional. I don't think you are though ☺

I am not delusional! I know those cats were getting fatter as they munched ;) They were this short of turning into little Veroquas from that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie who blew up and had to be rolled to the dejuciing plant.

Now now, the first step to getting help is admitting that you are.......♥

You guys are cracking me up!!

arzeno! Don't be taking her side... we're in this together right now being as how you thought they were getting fatter too.

Quick fast! Diversionary tactics!

Here little terryr here girl here girl... look at the pretty woolly cat photo hot off the press from this afternoon. I saved it from being roasted. Poor lil thing was on a buckthorn branch on its way to the buckthorn inferno and I moved it to a nice big oak tree. The ingrate let loose and pooped green poops on my sleeve.

Oh, the horrors lol

Yes, I was rather horrified by the little green poops that were about half the size of a rain drop. I think Spray-n-Wash should be able to get the stains out though. Hopefully I'm not so traumatized by the rescue that I have nightmares of me having to go out in public wearing a shirt with cat poop spots.

Oh, did you mean horrors that he almost ended up in the burn pile ;)