Hi Mary,

How do you attach those chrystalis? I just leave mine in the butterfly kit where they make their chrystalis, but most of the time, they are on the half door and I can't always open it when another one is doing the motion to turn to a chrystalis.

Here in Ft. Smith my milkweed is just starting to sprout. How did you get milkweed so early?

Jeannie, I don't know if you can tell when the photo is enlarged, but the chrysalis has been formed on a piece of fine netting.

With this group, I raised them in clear 32 oz food containers, which look like big soda cups. I place a round piece of netting over the top and secure with a rubber band. When the cat forms his chrysalis, it is attached to the netting and I can then place it on a piece of Styrofoam like you see. When they begin to darken, I take the netting and safety pin it to a ribbon dangling from the ceiling in a butterfly rearing cage. When they eclose, they can cling to the netting and dry. Once dry, I release them.

Using these containers requires a lot of work if there are large numbers of cats, as I only keep one or two cats per container and they must be fed frequently. I keep cut up pieces of paper towel to use in the bottom of the cups. My son refers to these paper towels pieces as butterfly diapers. These are replaced several times in a 24 period, so the container is kept clean. I've gotten quite good at being able to gently remove the rubber band by pushing it off of the bottom of the container. Then I secure the netting circle with a clothes pin while I work on the container, even when there is a cat clinging to the netting. When this simple equipment is no longer needed, I sanitize and dry the netting and containers, then stack and store for future use.

Using these small containers, I can remove leaf material from a milkweed and feed individual leaves. I didn't have a lot of big mw plants this spring, so this allowed me to selectively remove leaves from growing plants and keep the plants producing.

Later in the season, I can place a pot of fresh milkweed in the rearing cage and let them have at it until time to replace the pot with a new pot. That is a lot less time consuming, as not having to harvest individual leaves and cleaning one cage a couple of times a day is far easier than many individual containers but I didn't have much potted milkweed available this spring so had to resort to selectively plucking leaves. :-)

I got the idea for using these little containers, Clear Food Storage Containers from a past forum member who showed photos of his rearing set up, which he kept in his office. The netting circles I buy packaged, about 12 circles to a package. I've forgotten what they're called but I found them in Wedding Supplies.

Actually, the number of spring cats this year has surprised me. If not for having the use of young milkweed from my small greenhouse, these particular little guys would never have reached adulthood because I didn't have enough emerging garden milkweed to support them.

Mary

Hi James, I have some outdoor common milkweed stalks that have been up and growing for about six weeks now. This mw was originally planted, several years back, in one of those big plastic tubs with rope handles you can find at the big box stores. After several years, it has escaped the pot but stalks still come up in the pot each spring. The three stalks in this tub are about 36-40 inches high already, now minus all the lower leaves! This tub sits next to my gh wall that faces south, so I'm sure the tub soil warms up earlier than the ground soil. By now, I also have Purple milkweed up, a couple of stalks up abt 20 inches and quite a few common stalks coming up all over, a few up maybe 18-20 inches. I've already harvested the lower leaves off of many of the common mw stalks. They now look like baby palm trees, left with only their top knots waving in the breeze! :-)

I've also got in ground A tuberosa up and a few are already forming flower heads. The soil here must warm up earlier than what you experience in Fort Smith.

Because of the small gh, I can also keep young milkweed alive through the winter so have an advantage in that I already have a limited food source for early Monarch cats. This is how I managed to keep the potted Giant MW alive (now growing and producing those big leaves).

With warmer days ahead, I hope you are soon seeing strong growth for your milkweed. First generation Texas Monarchs should begin arriving soon and they'll all be looking for milkweed. I wish we had fields of it waiting for them.

Mary

BTW, just to update: I released another two healthy Monarchs yesterday, a male and female. Looks like another five are getting ready to eclose today.

And yesterday, while working outside, I noticed a brightly colored Monarch flitting about the garden. Couldn't tell if it was a male or female but I feel confident, based on the bright colors and pristine condition, it was a 2017 first generation Monarch. Might have been one I'd released the day before? Don't know how long they might stick around the general area. However, I've had recent visitors back a week or so as I'm now finding tiny hatch'lings all over once again. Didn't observe these visitors so don't know if a new generation Monarch or some of the hard working Mexico travelers that might still be flitting about.

Mary