Randy,

I think that caterpillars are much more resiliant than people may think. Last late Nov./Early Dec. when we had the first big ice/snow/very cold weather here. The temps. went down to 17 degrees, and it was very windy and snowy. In fact, we had a blizzard warning here. I knew there were black swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel outside and decided to bring them inside before the storm because I did not want them to freeze. I brought in all I could find. After the storm, I went out to the garden, and found 3 caterpillars. I was SURE they were dead, until I touched one and it moved. I was absolutely shocked to find out that they survived that bitterly cold weather.

Now, I don't know about eggs, and this didn't happen with monarchs, but these black swallowtail cats certainly seemed to be hardier than I ever would have guessed.

Elaine

Randy, I would bring in a few of the eggs, and cover a few of the milkweed plants in the pasture, and hope for the best.

New growth on milkweed is very tender, and subject to even a light frost, with burning of leaves. But, I am sure that there are several "micro-climates" in your pasture, that may be more protected. Just knowing where they are???

The ground is starting to warm up. If, the temps drop down to around 34, and do not stay long, we may be ok.

I would say that it would be better to try to save a few Monarch eggs- 2-4, and be able to raise them onto adulthood, as opposed to saving alot of eggs, with no food to feed them.

My Pecan tree is starting to leaf out. Usually, there aren't any more hard frosts when it starts leafing out. Hopefully, the Weathermen are wrong.

Good luck, and keep us posted. :)

Hopefully, the Weathermen are wrong.

I was wondering too since I've been seeing butterflies and now our temps are supposed to drop down in the low twenties a couple nights following a very warm March.

Hi Elaine

I think you are probably right and I shouldn't be too concerned. But if there is a chance we might loose a couple eggs, Amber will have her daddy in the doghouse for a month. :-)

Linda,

Since I've posted this, lows have been dropped even more. Because of the micro-climate here there is a very high likelihood of freezing temps 2 nights. If there is any break in the cloud cover those nights, it can drop to mid to low 20's real fast. The temp here this morning at sunrise was 37.

I'm thinking of covering 3-4 plants in the pasture and digging one up that has 8 eggs on it. I'll take a large mass of root ball to ensure the plant doesn't stress. Need to take a hand lens out to check this evening. 2 of the eggs on one plant look more translucent than they did yesterday. Wondering if they have already hatched.

randy

The eggs will turn translucent, then dark towards the top. Then, it is only a matter of time. I would definitely bring the translucent ones inside.

If you are getting stem cuttings, leaves, or digging up plants, I would definitely wait until early morning or late in evening to do it, to decrease you chances of wilting. Immediately,put the stems in some water out in the pasture. The leaves may do fine in a Ziploc container with some tiny holes punched in the lid with an awl or ice pick. I put a small doubled paper towel on the bottom. You'll want to have a fresh leaf for the newly hatched cat to climb onto. But, I've never done this with Viridis leaves. I don't know how quick they are to wilt after cut. Need to do some experimenting. :)

I realize now, that you are in a more lower lying area being close to the creek. Your chances of a frost may be greater than mine.

As for Mother Nature..... You can do what you can, but we have no control over the weather. Amber will learn heartbreaks as well as successes in raising Monarch caterpillars. All of us on this Forum have had our heartbroken over eggs that did not hatch, not enough milkweed, Tachnid flies, OE.

NEWS!!! The milkweed and eggs may be more resilient than we thought.

This is from an e-mail from Chip Taylor at Monarch Watch in Lawrence, Kansas.

The radio said 28F this morning but the temps are
> usually lower in our garden. Below freezing
> temps are predicted for the next 4 mornings as
> below. It looks like Friday and Saturday mornings
> might be the worst.
> I just checked the swamp and narrow leafed
> milkweeds in the garden and both appear to be
> unaffected by the low temps of this morning. I'm
> monitoring 5 viceroy caterpillars that feeding on
> a sandbar willow in the garden and they all seem
> to be fine as well.
>
> Eggs and small larvae are known to be more
> resistant to low temperatures than are 4th and
> 5th instars. However, in all these cases, the
> length of the exposure to below freezing temps in
> critical.

Enlarged view of Monarch egg hatching
http://www.wildscaping.com/butterflies/monarch_life_cycle.htm

Video of Monarch egg hatching. Pretty cool!
http://monarch.org.nz/monarch/2006/08/13/1055/

Keep us posted, Randy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Monarch egg hatching

Oh, No!!! Looks like most of the state is in for a freeze for Sunday. I always have trouble knowing just what to cover. Can't cover everything!

I did cut off a leaf of the Showy milkweed with some eggs, and put it in a ziploc container. It was so full of sap. But, surprisingly, it sealed off, did not wilt, and looks fine this morning. And, the stems of the Swamp mw full of eggs that I cut off look fine.

Randy, did you dig up one of your Viridis plants? How does it look? Did you find any hatched eggs?

Congrats upon seeing your 1st Hummer! I noticed your posting on Journey North. Hope to see mine any day.

Linda

I'm going to dig a couple this evening and check the plants that have eggs that were close to hatching.

I took some cuttings and put them water this morning just to see what they would do. I don't know how milkweed responds to this and wanted to see.

We're going to get 2 hard freezes here, maybe 4. Just depends on cloud cover.

randy

I just can't believe this weather!
I think digging a few up is a good idea, Randy! If the eggs/hatchlings survive, which they probably will, they'll need something to eat. I don't know the cold tolerance of a. viridis - I hope it's low!
MissSherry

Glad that you took some cuttings of the Viridis, Randy. Sometimes, when I have dug up some milkweeds from the farm, they had a tendency to die to the ground, and then proceed to come back up, later. So, it's best to have several options.

Linda,

I lifted a large root ball on a plant that had just a few eggs on it and dropped it right back into it's hole. The tap root 12" below the soil line was 1 1/2 inches thick. I can why they die back before growing.

I went back out with water in a small glass and took off the stems with eggs on them.

Checked the plant with eggs close to hatching with a 15x hand lens. One that was easy to look at has a long thin green colored mass inside the egg and the top of the egg is slightly discolored.
randy

Tee! Hee! Those milkweeds are pretty tough plants. They've probably been there a long time. I still probably would have dug up about 3 of them to move them closer to your backyard, so they could be watered regularly during the summer. Usually, there are enough roots in a med sized clump to take over when the long taproot is severed.

Be very careful in transplanting young milkweed plants and seedlings. If that taproot is broken off, the plant is a goner. Tropical milkweed is not like that.

I think that your cuttings will do very well with this cooler weather. I like to use the square Ziploc containers. Drill holes into the top of the container the size of the stem. Cut a square of water oasis about half the depth of the Ziploc container. Stick it into the container, fill with water, and let the Oasis soak up the water. Pour off the extra water. Don't want water coming up thru the holes, or the Cats could drown. The Oasis really helps to hold the stems up, as well as keeping the milkweed stems moist when it is so hot in the summer, and the water evaporates. Then, you can put your containers in your new Butterfly cage! Do you have room in your home?

Several people here use the Florists water piks to put the milkweed stems in. It will work for small stems, but needs to be checked frequently to see if water needs to be added. I have stuck the water piks in a container of sand to stand them up.

Some folks use small vases with the tops covered with saran wrap, and holes poked for the stems.

Won't be long, and Amber's going to have some Monarch cats!!! Keep us posted.

Randy, it might just be better to cover the plants with a sheet or light blanket to hold in the heat from the ground. The eggs and caterpillars should be fine then. The freeze will not be a sustained freeze as on Monday it will warm up to 68* (so far the weather has predicted). If the plants are that small, you can use milk jugs, soda bottles, whatever you have on hand to cover them that you can remove during the day when the temps warm up.

I'm glad you didn't dig the plant because surely it would have died. Those tap roots do NOT like to be disturbed. However, they hold water and water is a conductor of heat, so the plants should be okay. To protect your eggs, though, and new hatchlings (if the eggs hatch between now and then), I would definitely cover them.

Susan

I'm witht he cover your pland and don;t dig it up approach....I just drive a few stakes into the ground on the perimiter and a couple of center spots whre I want to cover, and then take a large tarp, and weight the borders down with some rocks/bricks.....it's carried me every time.

Yep - I think I'm gonna take a large tarp and cover my plants in the front, and put the lids back on my seedling containers.

Susan

Ladies,

It's been about 24 hours now and the a. viridis cuttings look just like they did when I took them.

Been thinking the cold tolerance of these plants have to be low or they wouldn't be here. Guess I'll find out tonight.

Bottomed out at 36 this morning with no frost. Weather Underground had predicted 35, so they were very close.

But they are predicting tonight a low of 25 and a freeze warning is in effect from 10 pm this evening to 11 am Saturday.

I know covering plants works very well for a few hours. Guess I'll give it a shot with some plants. Got some old towels I may double over and use bricks to hold in place.

Think I should collect more eggs today though.

Thanks for the input.

randy