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Butterfly Garden

Anyone in Central FL w/Milkweed & No Monarchs?

15 years ago

Hi Everyone, Well, I posted to the Florida Gardening forum and so far no takers. I am a newbie to rearing butterflies and this past Spring in a Butterfly Gardening class I was misled to believing only a few eggs per plant were laid by Mother Monarch. But I guess when she is desperate, she will dump all her eggs on 4 milkweed plants. Needless to say, I can't plant new beds of Milkweed fast enough to accommodate the exploding population of Monarchs that I have. I need help now! After reading on this forum how few Monarch sightings there are in areas outside of Florida, I felt compelled to save the cats on my plants. I now have about 35 Chrysalises and a few cats still eating. My milkweed is depleted, mere stubs! I was hoping that some nearby butterfly lovers may have mature milkweed patches and no Monarch cats. I hate releasing these beautiful creatures into my neighborhood knowing there isn't a chance of them reproducing. I have about 10 days before most of them eclose. If I don't hear from any of the locals near the Orlando area, I will probably resort to releasing them near Garden Centers. Any suggestions are welcome! Of course, I have plans to plant out beds of Milkweed in the Fall, but it is too darn hot & humid here to do any planting now. Thanks for listening, Mary

Comments (5)

debbiefl
15 years ago
Mary,

I always have the same problem. My plants are sometimes covered with more eggs than I can feed when they become cats. I have resorted to trimming the milkweed way back after the cats have devoured them, and hiding the plants under bushes or chairs to let them grow.(I have been leaving the plants in their container so that I can move them around the yard) I remember going to a butterfly class when I first started this a few years ago in Pinellas County. The gentleman that led the discussion said that the butterflies would not lay more that one or two eggs per plant. Boy was he wrong!! I am also having a big problem with wasps. There will be several cats.Then the next day, all gone. Like you, I feel bad when the butterflies come back looking for milkweed and can't find any. So...another trip to all the garden centers looking for more plants. Its a never ending cycle!
caterwallin
15 years ago
Mary, I know of someone who might possibly take your chrysalises. She's one of my online birding friends. She has several milkweed plants outside in her garden. She lives in the Orlando area, Apopka, to be exact. Are you close to there?
Cathy
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Wendy it sounds like they need warmer temps to sprout. I've got some incarnata that has sprouted, but 2 other containers haven't and neither has the purple milkweed (A. purpurascens). Caryl, A. syriaca is a wonderful plant, very important host plant for Monarch butterflies, also the flowers have a heavenly fragrance. Otherwise, it is not a great garden plant - it spreads by rhizomes, pretty much where it feels like. I have 3 established patches of it in the yard, all 3 "planted themselves". One of them is in the middle of a woodland garden and it gets very little sun! I've tried transplanting the stalks to another spot, and guess what - it died in the new spot, and came back like gangbusters in the woodland garden.... :-/ Now I let it grow where it wants, and garden around it. It attracts the Monarchs to the yard, and even though the plants growing in shade don't flower, they do provide some handy food for the caterpillars.
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What caterpillar is this on my milkweed (not a monarch)?
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Just an update: while I haven't seen this caterpillar around since, ALL of the aphids on the milkweeds in this bed are GONE! I have quite a bit of milkweeds located in the bed, and although the incarnata's are mostly "burned" (browned foliage; I had another thread about this), I see no more aphids! A good guy indeed; thanks for the help. Hopefully others will be more inclined to ask before squishing ;)
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These aren't Monarchs. What similar cats would be on milkweed?
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Comments (9)
If you have enough milkweed, there shouldn't be a problem. But if you have enough, you just as well seperate them just in case there is any kind of OE virus but I don't think they would have a problem getting along. It's more of a rearing container problem, actually... my other one's full of herbs and swallowtails (two or three kinds, on fennell, rue, and parsley; I'm hoping they get along, too!), so I've only got one available for milkweed right now. Here's a picture I took today, for anybody wanting to see the differences between a monarch (left) and a queen (right): No, that milkweed isn't the healthiest I've grown, but it looks worse in this shot than it is, and none of the cats seem to mind. Short of pesticides, I'm doing everything I can for that milkweed; the cats don't seem to mind, they chomp away obliviously.
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Growing milkweed (A. tuberosa) from seed in Central Fl.
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Comments (4)
In my experience, milkweed is difficult to transplant, even from a pot. They seem to be very temperamental about having their roots messed with, which is odd since it is sometimes considered a hard plant to get rid of. With the plants from the big box stores, I would just sink the pot into the ground and let the plant reseed itself. Growing from seed, I keep mine in a shaded location every time I pot them up and I try to get to them before they become any kind of root-bound so that I don't disturb their roots while repotting. Right now I have about a dozen each of prairie and whorled milkweeds that I recently potted up from cells to 4" pots. I lost one of those to transplant shock. The next pot-up will be straight into their places in the garden where I will be sure to water daily and also screen (but not block out completely) from much of the sunlight until I'm sure they've taken. A better way to go might be to get the 4" peat pots and sow the seeds directly into those and then drop the pot into place when it's of good size. Once you get a plant or two to go to seed, they will reseed themselves quite happily around your yard and seem to do a far better job than we do.
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marymilkweed
Original Author
15 years ago
Cathy, I live about 12 miles from Apopka, in the Altamonte Springs area. I have just updated "My Page" so my email address is available. Please have your friend get in touch with me if she is interested in some of the Monarchs. Thanks, Mary
caterwallin
15 years ago
Thanks, Mary! I'll give her the information and I hope she gets in touch with you.
Cathy
caterwallin
15 years ago
Thanks, Mary! I'll give her the information and I hope she gets in touch with you.
Cathy

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