Please Don't Squish Me !! Monarch Watch 2013

Many of us love butterflies and plant things in our yards and gardens to attract and encourage them, flowers for nectar and host plants for the eggs and cats (catterpillars sp which is why we say cats!).

One of the most loved is the Monarch, whose beauty and amazing migrations astound us and children every where. Last year their overwintering site on the mountain side in Mexico saw an unusual heavy frost and much of that population was wiped out. Couple that with loss of milkweed and milkweed habitat and this natural yearly phenomena may cease to exist.

It is very important that the generation now growing fat on milkweed throughout our area, successfully pupate and hatch and make its way back to Mexico or over winter in situ.

I'm sure that many of you have more info and I will be listing some I have found, too. But I wanted to get some sense of Monarch sightings in our area. I have seen two this summer. Way down. The good news is that in the passed week I have counted 18 cats, 12 on my newspaper route and 6 on some 'restored natural habitat' on the Naval Academy grounds.

I generally don't see any until this time of year.

Moving my discussion over here. Please join in!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1329084/

HELP!

Sally, can your milkweed plants handle a few Monarch cats? Let me know asap and I will bring some up your way and install them tonight or tomorrow.

I lost my place==

Here is RUE in Plantfiles- read the one by WUVIE, its cute
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/312/

I'm enjoying my rue! I picked it up initially because my daughter liked the name (the character from Hunger Games). ;-) I read the part about it being potentially invasive so I put it in my herb garden and kept an eye on it for spread. However, it has really not spread much for me. It is a pretty color and the shape of the leaves is very nice. I have not been bothered by any kind of skin reaction and I loved watching the black swallowtail cats on it! :-)

I didn't know it was a host plant for black and giant swallowtails until I saw the cats and looked it up, and there it was! Anyway, I hope it self-seeds and spreads a little in the spring. I'm also planning to pay more attention to butterfly host plants in the spring, as well as plants that attract other beneficial insects. I love the buzzing and fluttering when I go out into my garden!! And finding the cats was quite a thrill.

DG member Tabasco has researched and written a great encyclopedic reference for butterfly lovers - http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/tabasco/2172/ .

For frugal gardeners, winter sowing can be a relatively inexpensive way to acquire butterfly host & nectar plants, and Critterologist has written some excellent guides to ws - check out her DG or cubits member pages to find her articles. (Also see www.wintersown.org - there are guide-lists by zone of wintersoable plants. Click on WinterSown at WebArchive.Org , then click on Seed Lists and DataBase , then click on the germination record of your and adjacent zones.)

If a plant is root-hardy over winter to your area and/or self-sows over winter, it can probably be wintersown. I have even done this with pentas in my garden, although these plants were later to bloom than if they had been sown indoors a few weeks before frost.

Seed swaps can also be a frugal way to acquire butterfly plants and two regular annual seed swaps that always attract a large number of seed traders from around the web are:

-- http://cubits.org/ellasgarden/thread/view/71788/ (last year's swap) - originally from the DG family, and imho, always part of the DG family. Has seed traders including newbie and survivors rebuilding their gardens to highly knowledgeable, experienced and/or international that together bring an incredible selection of seeds. The rules may seem complicated, but that is what makes this particular swap unique in more participants having a higher chance of obtaining particular seeds they may want. That said, whatever seeds are available change from year to year and depend on what folks bring to the swap.

-- http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/exch110707403808.html?16406

Coleup - thanks for starting this thread - we have no cats in our rue this year, nor have we seen any monarchs so far either in our garden or on our walks in local park system - very sad.

My wintersown butterfly weeds are doing well, although they were slow to get started. That may have been related to our very wet spring, though. They're about a foot tall now and I can't wait for them to bloom next year!

Oh, Bluespiral! Wonderful info and so nice to have you post here. I send big thanks your way, too, for the division of your giany Hosta given to me by Critterologist at our Fall swap!

I am currently raising 10 monarch cats. All but two have formed chrysilises! This is my first time with any butterfly raising. Also have 9 Black Swallowtails now as pupas. Didn't think I would make it through the eat everything in sight last instar phase! Suffice it to say I'm in a "Where there's a will, there's a way mode.

Secretly wish I could overnight express mail my Monarchs to Mexico to replenish the population there that will overwinter and tart the migration North next Spring....Can it be that they won't know the way North if they don't make the journey South?

Haven't been much of a seed starter but aim to supply Mid Atlantic gardeners here with those I have and still am collecting from various milkweeds, especially a. curasavica which will bloom the first year but isn't winterhardy. They do well as pot plants.

Thanks for the info, Bluespiral! I was on the web today looking up different butterfly host plants and ended up with quite a list! I am already looking forward to next spring... :-)

Coleup, what was your secret for attracting so many cats this summer?

I love dill, but the cats ate it all. But that's ok, because I love the black swallowtail butterfly's they turn into. The cat is bright green with black stripes. Unfortunately, the birds eat them. Last year I collected them in a jar and fed them carrot tops and I got three huge beautiful black swallowtail butterflies!

Judy, that's an interesting question about whether a monarch could find its way back north if mailed to its winter habitat in Mexico. Which leads to wondering how they navigate.

One thing, though, and this seems to be often omitted from discussion in main media - many winged beings migrate in certain wind currents, both on and off shore, and this is where wind turbines are also located for generating energy alternative to fossil fuel energy. This can't be good for monarchs.

Congratulations everyone on raising your cats :)

I hope folks post monarch sightings in the days to come.

Coleuslover I can just see you doing that carrot top feeding! You are such a sweetheart! When I let my coleus go to flower, butterflies used to like them, too. Isn't it great to see a brand new
butterfly whose wings aren't tattered and whose colors are bright!
Below is a picture of the Black Swallowtail I fed fennel and parsley! None of the others have emerged yet.

Some good news! Monarchs are beginning to show up in Cape May, New Jersey where they have been monitoring the southward migration for years. They even train volunteers to tad Monarchs and thus trace their routes to Mexico.

http://capemaymonarchs.blogspot.com/

So we should be seeing some coming down from the north shortly! The ones we see now will not lay eggs til next Spring when they start North again from Mexico

Bluespiral, I think the Monarchs are at a higher altitude than wind farms, but maybe someone here knows better? Of course, storms late season like Sandy throw off all kinds of usual events.
I know the Cape May project is hoping that the dessimation along the Jersey shore has not adversely effected the Monarch population.

It looks like those cats really loved your fennel and parsley! Hope to see some monarchs soon as they migrate south.

My aunt sent a bookmark in my birthday card that says ". If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies"

You have a cool Aunt, Sally! That bookmark sounds like something the Grandmother in the "My Hippie Grandmother" book you gave me might do! Love the book, thanks again.

The cooler weather (I'm assuming) has slowed the metamophosis from pupa to butterfly.
Now I'm wondering whether the Black Swallowtails will emerge soon or if they will stay in diapose until the Spring? This Sunday will be two weeks for most of them.

The Monarchs have all formed chrysalises (two didn't make it) Wonder how and where they join up with fellow migrators?

What butterflies are any of you seeing out there?

Picked up some Rue plants and assorted Butterfly Bush starts if anyone wants some, I can bring to Bulb Sort Party at Jills or to the Spring swap. I also will attempt to overwinter some Asclepias 'currasavica' like I do my other tropicals.

Something sure liked my fennel and butterfly weed. YAY!!!

I found a black swallowtail cat munching away on my fennel this morning! He had picked an entire stem clean and looked like he was still at it! :-)

Enjoying his fennel this morning!

My fennel, parsley, and dill have all been left alone. I wonder if the birds are eating all the caterpillars?

People say this has been a good year for swallowtails. Ssgardener are you seeing any butterflies?

Lots of things eat caterpillars! One of the Monarch cats was gotten by a wasp Spiders, frogs and toads and salamanders and birds. Yep, it's a jungle out there.

Evidently, Black Swallowtails can over winter as eggs. instars and pupa depending. My BST pupa are all now a dark brown which can indicate that they won't eclose until Spring. Wonder what effect if any our return to warm weather will have?

Coleup, I saw a lot of butterflies earlier in the year, but I don't have a lot of blooms right now.

The other day I saw a beautiful butterfly I'd never seen before. It was black with pale yellow or light gray markings. Very pretty!

Haven't seen monarchs for awhile.

I haven't seen any monarchs either this year, SSG. I got some butterfly weed late in the summer which I'm hoping will self-seed next year. I let the seed pod break open. ;-)

That's interesting that the Black Swallowtails can overwinter as eggs and pupae, Coleup. I think the butterflies I saw the most of this summer were the Swallowtails, the Cabbage White (tons of those--not sure what they are using as a host plant in my yard), and tons of Skippers, which were nice. I'd like to get some more butterfly diversity for next year...

Diane Rehm Show today Oct 1 at 11 am on local Public Radio stations is all about Monarch migrations and decline. WAMU 88.5 FM (10 - 12)

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-10-01/environmental-outlook-shrinking-monarch-butterfly-population


This message was edited Oct 1, 2013 8:28 AM

Great show , well worth listening to once or twice!

Gita and Catmint try putting a dead branch/stick or two in amonst your parsley or fennell and maybe your cats will pupate there. They probably won't emerge (eclose) til Spring so they need to choose a protected from predators site to over winter.

Cat, you might be able to find the little bit of red and black 'skin' from last shedding. Neat how they change isn't it!

Saw two migrating Monarchs on Monday. They were flying about 30 feet up thru the tall oaks.
Wouldn't have thought to lool high up for them, I was trying to see the bald eagles I heard overhead.

Good suggestion, Coleup! I'll look for a stick for him.

Swallowtail cats on my dill

Adorable! I can almost hear the munch-munch-yum-yum! :-)

Here's my little guy enjoying my fennel this morning:

funny how I can always spot the cats and (obviously) the butterflies but have not found chrysalis anywhere...they must hide really well!

OMG just found a huge mantis hanging out by the Joe Pye weed! Wouldn't mind having him there except the caterpillar isn't too far away. Should I bring the cat and his fennel inside?

Mantis wait till the prey comes to them so unless the cat decides to crawl by him....

Okay that's good to know--thanks!

Yes, you can put the cat and fronds of frest fennel into a quart mason jar and replace lid with a paper towel rubber banded in place. Better to keep jar outside and out of direct sun or rain. Put s stick or two in jar and it will pupate there. Need to clean jar daily and give fresh leaves.

thanks, Coleup! I set him up in a mason jar with lots of fennel and parsley, and a stick. Mason jar is tucked away in a shady bed under the rose bush.

This is what I saw hanging out by the Joe Pye weed:

I had no idea mantises were so huge!

Spotted this one on Monday. A good 5 - 6 inches! Two egg cases so far.

Coleup? Did you mean to post a photo?

oops Love that camophlage.

yes the camouflage is amazing! I'll have to look around for egg cases.