Help Monarchs already???????

I just took a garden walk and noticed 6 Monarch Larvae on my milkweed. They are all about an inch long. I thought I saw a Monarch around the garden the last several weeks. Should I cover them with a cloche tonight or a sheet or what? The milkweed you see in the pic was a cutting I rooted in the greenhouse. There will never be enough to sustain them to chrysalis stage, at least I don't think it will. There are other Milkweed planted from last year but no leaves yet.
One of them I found on the Pineapple Mint and moved it to the Milkweed. They won't eat the mint will they?
You know me I can't let nature take its course, I need to intervene. LOL
What do you think I should do?

Peg

I had the exact same problem a few years ago.

I noticed that cats will eat the stalks into the ground after the leaves if they are hungry enough.

If you have a local butterfly garden, I would ask them if they would take the cats.

Or go to a trusted organic nursery and ask for plants that would feed your cats.

I tried washing a milkweed from home depot after they assured me there were no pesticides, and I washed that plant many times, and the cats still died from pesticides. :(

Good luck!

starsplitter, I am the local butterfly garden LOL! The whole garden is planted for butterflies.. I grow the milkweed specifically for the Monarchs, its their host plant. What happened is that I propagated some Milkweed, planted it in addition to the other Milkweed that was already in the ground but not yet leafing out. Basically what I did was interrupt the Monarch cycle by planting the new plants. Keep watching this thread, some of the butterfly people that are experts and in my area of town, they actually raise cats and will be giving me advice in a very short time.

A word of caution, unless you are buying plants from an organic nursery never trust what the big box stores will tell you about horticulture. I was a Nursery Specialist at one of them and also was a merchandiser for a grower that serviced Home Depot, Lowes, etc., I have also visited many a commercial greenhouse and took a course in commercial greenhouse cultivation and will tell you that the plant vendors couldn't afford not to use pesticides, the people at the box stores through no fault of thier own are not trained well or at all and really not sure what is going on. Washing the Milkweed will not work as you found out, the pesticides are in the plant tissues which are what the cats are ingesting. The chemicals they use are commercial strength, they must have a license to use it because it is so lethal to insects. I do appreciate your input...keep watching..............

This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 2:55 PM

Oh my ...well learned something very important today....

Ok, I have made an executve decision. I potted up the plant and put it with the 6 little boogers in my greenhouse. Here is my thinking....the plant will now grow faster because of the greenhouse heat which will help with feeding them, AND the cats are safe from weather and predators. That little mess with Mother Nature caused me to sow more Milkweed seeds TODAY for insurance. Whadda ya think?

This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 2:58 PM

I helped out at our local Butterfly Garden in Tampa (MOSI), so I understand. I am so new to the forum, I don't know everyone yet. I also plant my milkweed just for the Monarchs. Luckily if I run into major problems, Kristen has helped me in the past by taking the cats. I have been raising cats since I was about 7. When I was certified as a Florida Master Naturalist, I did my final project on butterflies, which Kristen helped a lot with. Luckily we have more than one butterfly garden, so if there was a problem in my garden, I have a few places to go to redistribute the caterpillars.

Well I am sure we are all glad you are joining us and hopefully will continue to contribute your expertise to this site. Their are a lot of knowledgeable people here and now we can count you as one of them. I kept entertaining the thought of raising the cats but have too many other things going on and didn't want to take on another project. Guess I have no choice now, do I? LOL

So what do you think of my executive decision on the cats?
Peg

Are they pretty much the same size? The one in the pic looks pretty big, maybe they will all pupate soon. I'd say that was a good decision. Wish we lived closer, Peg. I've got milkweed and no cats on those plants yet!

I had a similar issue just a week or so ago. I had a few cats on my Milkweed and they were just coming back from our cold snaps and lack of rain. I received a few Milkweed plants from a local nursery to help offsite my others while they came back. The nursery informed me they were pesticide free. NOT, my mistake for listening to them on that. Luckily, I introduced the plants slowly and only lost one of the cats. I went online and found a site where you can order free seeds and purchase 45 day old Milkweed plants cheap. Thankfully I received my order in 2 days via Priority mail.

Linda, yes they are all only about an inch long. Well, I look at it this way, I did the best I could for them. I'll post the kids pics as they hopefully mature.

Cuttings, need I say more about those nurseries? Sorry about your loss. Maybe getting the word out will help others.

Peg, can you take them over to Sheila's? LOL Is the milkweed up on the roadsides yet? You could always drive out to the country somewhere and dig some up and bring home to plant it or something like that!

Knowing Sheila she would take them. Guess I am going to get my turn at raising cats whether I want to or not. LOL I am just afraid it will be addictive! Yikes, I really don't need another hobby. I'm sure it will be fun.

I don't know if the Milkweed is up yet, I actually would dig some up if I found it. I just checked them and they are all well. The plant was getting buds on it so I pinched them out so that the plant wouldn't put all its energy into making flowers and hopefully will make leaves instead.

Hey Peg...If you do start running out, give me a dmail and I will take them. I have MW coming up in several places, not too tall, but healthy.

Thanks Sheila, I will take you up on it if I need, which I bet will happen.

I can't find a description in DG about Hawaiian Air Plant I traded with you, I think it was you. Do you know it by another name?
Thanks,
Peg

Some milkweed won't survive if dug up, some will. With the roadside Antelope Horns out here, I just take pieces of branches for emergency cat food, because I doubt it ever would survive, they have deep taproots.

The milkweed is fine the diners left the building! I started with 7 they all started leaving one by one. The biggest one was the only one left. I found him this morning on the ground and picked him up and put him back on the plant. I had to do that with all of them. They all were leaving the plant not dying just leaving. Any thoughts?

Yes, they were crawling off to make their chrysalis I am sure. Sometimes they go 15 or 20 foot away and up high. This one got away from me last year and pupated on the soffit of the house.

Sheila, these were only about an inch long, aren't they too small at this point? I remember them being big fat and about 2" at least before they make chrysalis.
Peg

O I C that puzzles me now. Maybe they were looking to climb up on something to stay dry and change instars. No real sure.

OK, will keep you posted if I see them