How about if you just get some sticks or skewers (the bamboo kind that you BBQ with) and stake them up? The monarchs might still be around and it would be nice if they seeded around a bit.

Otherwise, there is no reason you can't do it. Mine have been chewed to the nub by caterpillars and come back the next year just fine.

Yet, again this year, I am running out of milkweed.

The darn caterpillars are so picky, why won't they just eat any old milkweed... NO they only want syriaca this year. Last year they would only eat incanarta.

I have to drive around looking for milkweed on the side of the road to feed the devouring caterpillars.

I had planned to grow more milkweed but the darn caterpillars eat my plants to nubs - so they never get pods. But the plants (and the cats) keep coming back each year.

So yes, you can cut them back and they will be fine. And if you want to send me the leaves... feel free.

Thank-you for the replies. I think maybe I'll cut some back and stake up a few. Staking is a bit of a job, though, since some of these stalks are 5-6 ft tall and located on quite a steep slope.

Joepyeweed, I'd be happy to send you any leaves I have. The weed I'm wanting to cut is the common milkweed, but I also have a pink butterfly weed--I'm not sure of the specific varieties. E-mail me how to best mail them and I'll send you a pile. I probably have seeds left over from last year, too. I'm probably not going to save any more seeds since I have them practically sprouting out of my ears.
Martha

Thanks for the offer docmom, but all of the babies are hanging j's right now, except for one... by the time you snail mail me anything - the last one will be done eating. And I found a ditch not too far from my house that has some a. syriaca growing in it. I am planning to go back and get some pods when they are ripe.

Joepyeweed, syriaca is better (at least for me) from runners or rhizomes. Yours should spread but if you still want more try digging some rhizomes from the ditch rather than pods. They take off!

Yes, I am expecting it to spread. I put three plants in two years ago, but we got such a severe drought last year that many plants were stunted and didn't bloom - so I imagine that their root growth last year was probably limited too.

I do expect after this season of plentiful rainfall that there should be some rhizome start ups next year. Well I do have a shovel in the back of my truck at all times, so I could dig some roots...

Usually I get caterpillars on my asclepias incanarta, but this year they were all on the syriaca.

I grow milkweed just for the caterpillars.

I am so glad I found this web site! Aside from cutting back the milkweed, do the babies eat the stems? I did not have any Monarch's visiting me this year (first time doing the butterfly garden and loving it!), but I do have Queens who are similar to Monarchs, and the Queens stay and apparently lay eggs all yr round, cause I am rifling thru the garden trying to find uneaten milkweed for the little rascals. I created a little habitat in my son's room so that I could rescue the caterpillars (queens, sulphurs so far) and let them cocoon. Unfortunately wasps and other predators get them. so, will they eat the stems, or do I have to have the leaves? I am working on growing cassia from seed for the sulphurs. Thanks, all!

Asclepias seems to be very adaptable to being eaten down to nubs. Not only do the butterfly larvae eat the plants, but slugs seem to love them, and sometimes my plants experience a lot of dieback from fungus too.

Darlene, I've raised Monarchs for 3 years, and yes they will eat stems if there is no other food left to eat, but it's probably not the most nutritious part. I am constantly scouting out wild sources of Asclepias syriaca to potentially supplement food for the caterpillars if my garden supply runs low.

To prevent wasps, spiders, etc. from getting your larvae, you can try using a mesh container - I bought an inexpensive pop-up container this past summer - has a fine mesh that keeps out all insects.

FYI this website has a butterfly forum with lots of info - although it's not nearly as active during the winter.

I have milkweed in my front yard that have lots of flowers. One is more bushy than the other. When should I cut back the leggy one? I live in Sarasota,Fl. Do I wait until the flowers are gone.I hate to upset the eating patterns of the Monarchs.

Do you know which milkweed you are growing? I'm guessing it's tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica?

http://nababutterfly.com/tropical-milkweed

If so this is probably a better question for the Butterfly Gardens forum.

Yes, I bought it from my local nursery. They have pretty orange and yellow flowers.

Yup, that's A. curassavica. Looks like a nice plant, albeit there is controversy in the butterfly camp about it. I'd plant it!

Yes, I've heard some say that in the southern U.S. it should be cut down to about 6" several times during the late fall and winter to discourage monarchs from sticking around and not migrating to Mexico.

By now that wouldn't be an issue. I just don't have experience with that particular species to know the right time to prune it. Hopefully someone will come through on the Butterfly Garden forum for you.

On a side note I have seen A. curassavica here in Kansas City at a local display garden in late summer. It's a pretty plant and the monarchs were all over it. I'm satisfied though with the various native perennial species I grow in my yard (A. tuberosa, incarnata, verticillata, viridis, sullivantii). A. incarnata seems to be the favorite.

Just to elaborate a bit, yes, the concern with this species centered around the idea that its presence would tend to cause monarchs to not migrate. Yet here too, this is too simplistic. For example, in S. Florida, there are races of monarchs that never leave. For them, this plant is ideal. It just depends on where you are in the main monarch flyways.

All that aside, I'm finding my interest growing in using this or related cultivars as an annual up here, for strictly summer use (obviously). I really dig the coloration on those flowers, and it has a good strong look to it. Not this year-my planting plans for my work got finished in November-but maybe next year!

Do you all realize there is a GW milkweed section? It didn't exist when these original posts were made, but now there are quite a few "specialists" who provide information there. Just FYI.

"Florida Gardening" forum is quite active in terms of butterfly gardening too.

Grow Milkweed Plants is a good group to join in FaceBook

Joepyeweed, There is a big difference between the Asclepius syriaca that is in my garden, and the syriaca growing wild certain places on the property. The syriaca in the garden gets watered and fed regularly. It is basically spreading out of control. The wild ones that aren't watered and fed have remained compact, only 1 to 2 stalks. Just thought I would mention this since you are so in need of syriaca plants at the moment.