Help! my cut Milkweed is limpy

The milkweed cuttings are worst than the parsley for getting limpy, IMO. Then it dries up curls and cracks with my little Monarch eggs on them. I put the stems in water when I cut them off the plant and laid the leaves with the eggs on them on top of the bigger stems. That's after I rubbed all the ugly undesirable bugs off first. The stems are in wet foam wrapped in plastic and covered like a sandiwich with paper towels. I'm I suppose to sprinkle the plants with water to keep them moist? How often do you change out the stem for a new one?
Any and all advice on Monarch raising please. I'm getting scared that I've messed up. There's hover flies, aphids and milkweed bugs that I had to brush off just about every leaf that I found eggs on. These babies wouldn't have a change on my nasty milkweed plants. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I am on my way home, but the little I know just leave the aphids on the plants.
All Milkweeds incuding mine have them so I am sure the butterflies know what to do.
Best,
Karen

I have that new batch of cats that I brought in 2 days ago. There are 14 and the leaves are only lasting 1 day. Sometimes they are so wilted by my bedtime that I stick a couple of fresh ones in just to get them till morning.

chris

Thanks, Karen that's good to know. If aphids were money I'd be a millionaire. I brush'em &/or squish'em when I bring in the milkweed for the cats. That's about all I can do now that there are eggs on so many plants.

Well, Chris that's probably what I'll have to do too. Even though the stems are in wet foam, they just flop. If they can just stay moist and not dry and curl I'd feel a whole lot better. I'm so afraid of throwing out a 1st instar when I take out the dried up leaves. I've just been scooting them over to one side and laying a good leaf on top in hopes that if there's a baby in the tangled dry leaf, he'll be able to climb up on a good leaf.

Thats what I do also. They will be about 5x the size they are now in 2 days, and it will be much easier.
I can believe how fast they are growing.

These will be my first Monarchs to raise. I'm tickled to death to finally see Monarchs in my yard. I only saw a few cats back in May and when I went back a few days later, they were gone. That's about the time I started really reading this forum and getting the bf bug!

This bf bug is absolutly contagious and it is fast becomming an obsession. Gonna have to keep it in check though. School is starting soon and I am going to be crazy for a while.
Deb check out my new post to see how big yours will be in 2 days.

chris

I haven't seen this mentioned any where else before... but I sear the cuts on my milkweed when I take them, before putting them in water. It's sometimes recommended for plants that bleed latex. Give it a try with your next batch and see if it helps...

Karen

Karen, could you explain how you "sear" the cut? Would a lighter work?
chris

Yes... a lighter will work... a candle too. Go out and harvest your milkweed as usual... bring it in... just before you put the cuttings down in fresh water, or floral foam... have your flame ready right next to you (I use the candle cause I'm a lefty and a little awkward)... make a fresh cut (I make it on an angle), and immediately run the cut through the flame... searing it, and stopping the latex weeping... then directly into the water.

Something about the latex weeping keeps the plant from taking up water....

Thanks, Sounds good, I will try it with tomorrows cuts.

Here's what I do:

I cut the MW and immediately root it in water. By week two, I have sprightly MW and new rooted cuttings. I've been doing this for several seasons.

Maggie

I'll try the searing too for the MW I bring in to put in the cage on the wet foam. It sounds logical that it would stop the sap from being lost.

Maggie, how do you water root cuttings of MW? Oh WOW would I ever like to try that!

It seems our instructions are mutually exclusive. May I suggest you do both as a trial and then use the method that works best for you.
Regards,

Maggie

CDG-

I just hack them off and put them in water. I have a ton of A.Currasavica. I don't know yet about the other kinds of milkweed. I have Calotropis Gigantea- we'll see how it roots.

Maggie

edited for clarity


This message was edited Aug 8, 2007 9:58 PM

I have the A currasavica and the tops all have blooms, do you cut the top with bloom off and root that? There are no side branches on it.

chris

We cut the milkweed into sticks about 8-10" long and put them in water. In a few days you will see white root sprouts. When the roots look real healthy, plant them in real loose potting soil and keep moist. We keep as many potted milkweeds on hand a possible. That way we can take in a potted plant for the babies, changing out plants as they get eaten. Starting over again with the one the cats have eaten, by cutting sticks for rooting. It is a viscious cycle, but we love it. My Cat (Kathleen) is a real earth mother (and a Master Gardner), so we try all types and methods. Right now we are keeping our fingers crossed for the latest eggs to have some Queens in the bunch. Had a Queen visit the milkweed last week but didn't see if or where she laid any eggs. Only once before did we have a Queen and then only because I recognized the larva (has a 3rd pair of feelers on its back). We raised that one and I have an 8 x 10 print of it here in my computer / hobby room.

Cordeledawg, thanks for asking. Yes, Cat is doing great. Has returned to her Interior Design business part time - out with the girls tonight seeing a movie. Re: your spicebush, you will get visitors if they are in the area. Hard to raise if you leave them on the bush, as the birds and other predators will find them sooner or later. The first few years raising monarchs were great. Then the predators seemed to home in on the yard. We don't try to bring in every egg but do move the cats in for protection.

Rod

Ron, if I understand you correctly, the MW cuttings are very similar to taking water rooting cuttings of Brugmansia. I was successful with Brug cuttings in water. The MW cuttings in water sounds like an easy way of getting new plants fast! That's wonderful news!
Assuming the potting soil would be sterile for using it in the house, I would just want to sit the potted plant inside the cat cage. How soon after you've potted the new MW plant can you "serve" it to the Monarch cats?

Maggie, I tried searing the milk weed and I'm very pleased with the results. The ones that I seared this morning are still very moist standing straight up in the wet foam! The one that I did my old way is hard and crispy (by just cutting it off the plant and sticking the cut end in water then into the wet foam). Thank you for the tip!

Deborah

Hi Maggie,

When I got started, I had the same problem as you. I found that re-cutting the milkweed stem again under water (running from the tap or in a large bowl) has helped keep my cuttings fresh. Sometimes I even re-cut the stem twice underwater before I plunge it into my little containers (small gladware containers with florist foam & water; I cut a hole in the lids just the size of a milkweed stem & stick the whole stem through).

Good luck!

Jess

Glad the searing helped Deborah...

Karen

Oops, sorry Karen, I got your name wrong. Yes the searing is wonderful news!

It's all good... glad it helped.

I cant believe how much and fast these little things can eat!
I had to go buy the florist foam that holds water today, I was using a sponge.
The searing and the new foam helped alot.
4 of the babies I brought (5 days ago) are starting to pupate. That was so fast.

chris

I think the difference is you are using floral foam and I just use water filled yogurt cups. I poke appropriate size holes in the lids so no cats drown. Usually a couple weeks after they strip the leaves off, I have roots growing from the bottom and can pot them up. You have to cut the lid apart to avoid stripping the roots. After a couple more weeks (depending on weather & fertilizer), I can use them in the cages again in a pinch. A month or 2 is better.

Maggie

With A. curassavica in hot weather, keeping it watered regularly helps with wilting and I don't think anyone mentioned when to collect leaves. I've found the leaves collected in the hottest parts of the day to wilt the fastest. Whenever I can, I collect them in early morning and late evening or even at night (lady with flashlight seen in my garden sometimes) and often carry a container of water with me when collecting to stick the leaf stems in to keep them fresh. I have a milkweed bed right by my back door on the afternoon shade side of the house...it's handy for collecting those "extra" leaves when cats are running out of food in between my usual collecting times. It's usually hot here in summer...this summer was kind of weird with all that record-setting excessive rain and cloudiness, but it's dried out and getting hot again now.

Deb, How are the babies?

Deborah,

My suggestion had to do entirely with getting new plants, not on current feeding. Using the cuttings to produce new plants is much faster than starting with milkweed seeds in potting soil. That takes almost a full year to get something that will feed a hungry cat or two. Still, working from my poor memory, it will still take 6 months or so to transform a cutting into a potted plant. Starting this late in the year with cuttings will produce good potted plants for next spring. Once you have a good supply of potted plants, they will regenerate when placed outside after most of the leaves and top stems have been eaten. The cycle goes round and round.

I will ask Kat what method she uses for cuttings on which to feed new larvae. I know she is very fussy that there be wadding around the stems to keep the little cats from drowning. She likewise, I know, makes a fresh diagonal cut (under running water), repeated a couple of days later.
We seem to have fresh cuttings until most of the plant has been eaten.

Rod - the Catbirds mate

I left my DH with my cats, both the Monarchs and the BSTs, for four days while I went out of state to visit my mama. He did a great job gathering milkweed and putting it in the water cups and also the wet foam. The only problem I saw when I got back home was the fact that there wasn't enough milkweed inside the container which I corrected immediately.
I'm really proud of him. He cut the parsley and fed the BSTS and released four BSTS. He just wasn't sure if they were females or males and did get a little huffy when I asked him what gender they were. He said, they were butterflies and that was all he needed to know.

I'm going to try water rooting some milkweed plants for sure!

Great Job! DH
I am also going to try the water rooting.

Long thread...kind of skimmed (since I'm SOO behind) but here's my 2 cents... I always put the stem of the milkweed in water and cut it again and it will stay healthy. Cut the stem down and throw them in water and ignore them and they'll root easily.

I'm just so thrilled to hear how easily milkweed plants root! Whoa Hoo! I've got some on my kitchen counter that I took out of the cat cages when they stripped the leaves clean. It's wonderful news to know these stems will root.