Will this work?

Over the years I've had 4 or 5 milkweed plants in my front of house flowerbed. I'll see lots of cats but have never seen a cacoon.Well, probably have but didn't know what it was. Well, after lurking on this forum a little last week I discovered a rather large cat enjoying the milkweed. So___the patio is getting re-screened, the clothespins have almost been defeated by the clothes dryer and the tomato cage isn't strong enough to do the job. So after following this forum a little I decided to cage on site in my front of the house flower bed. My cat is about 1 1/4 " long and ate about 1/8 of a leaf since yesterday afternoon. About how long will this dude continue to munch? Problems you forsee? Advice? Suggestions? All are welcome. I'm trying to learn.

Will this work? What else do I need to do? Suggestions welcome and like they said the first time I went salmon fishing after landing the fish, I'm not sure who would have own if that fish had all the help in the water that you had on land. Calling on all of you to help me land a 'butterfly'. Jean

Cool! Reminds me of the makeshift cages I did over my spicebush plants last year (my cages were much bigger, however). Those cheap clothespins they sell nowadays aren't real good, are they? I used pieces of welded wire fencing to put around the plant, put screening around the sides, then had removable pieces of screening fastened over the top so I could get to the cats. I envy you the large leaves on your milkweed. What kind of milkweed is that?

Oh my! That looks like a milkweed from Asia and possibly South Africa. I have seen one here that a friend had managed to purchase at a rare plant sell. The leaves ARE huge as is the flowers. Please do tell us what variety of Milkweed bush that is!

Your make-shift cage might work, but I see a lot of gaps there that predators could get in. This link at Monarch Watch sells socks to place over plants and Linda's idea is good, too, if you can weld.
http://www.livemonarch.com/store_enclosures.php

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 11:18 AM

Jam, the cat could get over 2 inches or more.It will eat until it just starts to roam around the cage and will probably just start hanging on the top of the cage and will hang in a J shape for a day or so then it will change into a chrysalis.It appears your doing every thing right.It looks like you have enough plant in there to feed it right through the process.The only word I'd give you is that they are really sneacky guys and will find just the slightess opening to get out when they start their final roaming around. Good Luck Don

I believe the plant is:
Calotropis procera or
Calotropis gigantea
http://www.herbsociety.org/promplant/cprocera.php
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CAPR
Here is a photo of the blooms. I have heard it has a nice fragrance:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ThoraThora1.JPG
From PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/67012/
Boy! Do I want one of those!!! :-)

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 11:13 AM

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 11:20 AM

How does jam over winter the milkweed.
Becky the giant milkweed is rated for zones 10 or 11 ;I don't think it would make it that large in Iowa.

Another PlantFile:
Sodom Apple:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/32070/

Don - I don't know how Jean's got it growing there, but it definitely looks like either Calotropis procera or Calotropis gigantea! I have seen this one of these plants and they are HUGE and the Monarch cats will eat it to the ground and they come right back. They are frost sensitive. We need a source to get them from!!!

Jean - Does yours put out seeds? If so, please same them for us!!!

Becky- I have Giant Milkweed...it's easy to get...Or it used to be. I know they sell it at the Master Gardener plant sale at my County Extension.

Adrienne

Allright, my milkwed is just the wild ditch variety along all country roads in my state. We feed our plants well her so even the milkweed weeds grow pretty large. Variety___ whatever Iowa ditches are known for. It simply seeded itself unwanted into my bed and I've left a few to watch the critters eat. And yes, it makes all kinds of seeds in the fall.

During world war II school kids___me included___ picked the fluff from the pods. It was used in parachute insulation I think. I just burned a bunch I picked a couple of years ago for the pods. Around here the pods are sprayed silver or gold and used in dried arrangements.

jamlover - What color are the flowers?

I just looked up "Wild Milkweed" and see what looks like your milkweed:
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

They apparently get pretty large and the leaves are much larger and wider than what I grow here which is Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica). I received seeds for that plant and could not get them to germinate. Probably too hot here for them. Sorry to get off topic on this. But I am IMPRESSED with the size of your plants! Mine has smaller, narrower leaves and a large cat can go through them pretty quickly. The size of your leaves looks like they could stay pretty fat and sassy eating them! :-) Thanks for clarifying that for me. :-)

Boy did you guys have me nervous. I told hubby I was going to use fishline and stitch that circle to the top. He told me to just cut a big circle and stuff in it. Well, I ended up not getting it stitched so just added clothespins to the tops of the cage edges.

Hunted all over for the little dude___and there he was__on one of the little top-most leaves.

But before I sew him in, can I put 2 or 3 more in there? Or does this one need the whole cage? We've got milkweeds all along the road ditches, and I bet I can pick up a couple more.

I'd say the flower is off white. I often pull the top off to prevent anymore from seeding around my bed. But they come up on underground stolens and do anyway.

Any of the garden variety milkweeds do have much smaller leaves than these. My leaves______ I put a quarter on this one and took the photo___ are pretty large and lots of juice (milk), to the point of downright dripping when you remove one.

Don't know why the cat would need any water eating this thing.????

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 5:11 PM

Well my trip to the ditch netted one more cat which was about the very same size and is now in captavity with it's uncle? aunt?, and a plant top in bloom. Funny how I didn't remember it be a mauve color. Guess 'cause when it goes to seed it flies around all white and fluffy. Here you go.

And having never held a milkweed bloom in hand I didn't realize they are rather fragrant. Hmmm.This one is blooming about 1/3 of the way from the top. It will continue to set more flowers lower down as the season progresses. (I think?) I pinch the top off in the garden and then find I have to remove more and more attempts at seed as the months progress.

Too hot you say. How about 85 to 90 and humidity to match in another month or so. You don't drive a car down a country road around here in the later part of July, Aug. or Sept. and not get "monarch grill" and "monarch windshield." I wonder when folks say so few are flying back and forth anymore. We sure don't seem to have a shortage. I've just never watched one develop so wanted to try.

Here's the official on it. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://secure.flowersociety.org/images/Milkweed-plant.jpg&imgrefurl=https://secure.flowersociety.org/Milkweed-Plant-Study.htm&h=378&w=300&sz=47&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=-JgQb8mHnki8OM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3DIowa%2Bwild%2Bmilkweed%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

This gives a US state map of where it's found. Most should be able to grow it. Don't know why it isn't in Florida. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASSY

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 5:55 PM

Soooooo ....... that's where all the Monarchs have gone!!! And I can see why with the size of your Milkweed plants! LOL! Love the blooms! :-)

Well, I'm glad my spring-raised Monarchs may have had nice big plants to lay eggs on when they headed north.

So how many months will the live cycle usually take?

Jean - That's a really good question from someone raising them in the north. Typically, their life-cycle here in my area is shorter. I think it's something like:
egg - 3-4 days
caterpillar - 14-16 days
chrysalis - 10-14 days
Butterfly - 14-21 days

So roughly about 2 months or less. But .......

Up north they may live longer because of their long flight south in the Fall. I know someone else here may know more details. I am only familiar with their life cycle in Florida. Maybe that's why you have wild milkweed that is so huge ..... getting the cats really healthy and ready to make their flight over thousands of miles to Mexico.

Well I checked my cage and they are both not far from where they were yesterday. I added more clothespins every 3 inches around the top for security. One is considerably longer than at first. Seems like they munch under the leaves, then stretch out on top for a nap,making them easy prey for whomever is interested.

Have another lid idea. Cover it seperately with screen and add a hinge so I could open it and see better. I'd fit it down inside the top an inch or so for a snug fit. I'll be smarter after this experience.

Missed the photo!! Is it AGE!!!

Progress report. One fell off his leaf and is somewhere in the bottom. The other happily crawls under the leaf and munches for a while, then stretches out for a siesta on top of the leaf. Have to digest that meal you know!! So far he's consumed almost a medium sized leaf.

Everytime I go check I figure I won't be able to find him, but there he is yelling "here I am, still filling my tummy". I usually start at the beginning of the alphabet with names so I've dubbed him Archie. Maybe I should wait until he makes a chrysalis to bother with an ID, but he is my first you know!!

If he munches for another week I'm really curious how much of that plant he'll consume? When he's done with the plant I'll probably have to cut it to the ground and wait for a replacement to shoot up.

Jean-
You're not alone! My daughter usually "adopts" a few of my caterpillars every year and they have to move into her room!

Adrienne

Day 3 report= One cat still munching. Other not seen since he fell off his leaf to the bottom of the plant. I thought I'd see him shed his skin as he grows or is that something else?

Does he need water or will enough get through the screen? Our dews can be really heavy but the screen will keep some from getting to him.

jamlover - Well .... one of two things could be going on there in your cage ....

The one that fell off was sick (and possibly died) or it fell off (which is rather rare) and is somewhere else on the plant (and you just can't find it). Monarch cats go through 5 instar phases. When they shed their skin, it's barely noticeable, which they do rather quickly. They get plenty of fluids from the milkweed. I've never seen one drink water/dew. In fact, when it is raining, they usually crawl and hang on the underside of the plant to get away from the rain so as not to drown. I've had very few emerge/eclose from their chrysalis when the weather has been more rainy than dry. I think they get diseased from too much dampness. Sunny, warm, dry climate seems to be where they are the heatlthiest. (Or at least that has been my experience here.) Though morning dew should not harm them.