Heartbroken and need advice on Monarch parasite control
I am just heartbroken and need help from all you butterfly experts.
My first concern is for the adult male monarch shown in the first two pics below. I found him on the ground near the milkweed a few days ago. His right (as I'm looking from above) fore wing and rear wing are rolled under towards the bottom. Plus he has discolored patches. He must have been newly emerged as he kept trying to pump his wings up and could only fly a few inches off the ground. He could crawl onto the leaves of the pentas and lantanas and eventually make his way to a flower to feed. I placed a banana on a plate under the lantana and he crawled onto it to eat. He lived for three days before a mockingbird flew in for an easy meal.
1) Am I correct in assuming that he is infected by OE? Was the female that laid the egg infected and therefore the egg, caterpillar and the new adult were infected as well?
2) According to this article from the University of Georgia on OE, there are 3 major monarch populations in North America: a population that breeds east of the Rocky
Mountains and migrates every year to wintering sites, a population that breeds west of the
Rocky Mountains and migrates to areas
on the coast of California and a non-migratory population that breeds year-round in southern
Florida which doesn't migrate and reproduces throughout the entire year. The site says that more than 70% of these South Florida monarchs have OE infections.
a) Is there any reason to try and collect the eggs (almost impossible to find them with my never ending fight against aphids) and raise in an enclosure knowing that the eggs would most likely already be infected with OE?
My second concern is wasps. I didn't notice the one below that was clinging to this female who was laying eggs until I looked at the pictures later. (This pic was posted a few weeks ago on another of my posts).
1) Is this a type of wasp that would lay it's eggs in the abdomen of the female adult or in the egg or caterpillar?
2) How do I get rid of them without spraying the plants? I'm not quick enough to catch one and kill it with my gloved hands.
My last concern is aphids.
1) I have been hosing and picking these things off daily. It's a losing battle. And when the females are laying their eggs in aphid infested areas as shown below, it's almost impossible to collect the eggs.
a) Will the aphids eat the eggs? I've been told no but I have seen so few caterpillars as compared to the number of eggs laid.
b) Are there effective methods to fight the aphids without killing or washing off the eggs?
I just feel hopeless. I put in 12 nice, healthy, aphid-free milkweed plants to attract monarchs. I had plenty of females laying eggs but had just a few caterpillars (assume that the aphids or wasps got them?) and only a few new adults of which this one is obviously deformed. And, I haven't seen a female laying eggs for a few weeks.
Since I'm in South Florida, am I fighting a losing battle trying to attract monarchs when I know that OE infection is almost guaranteed?
Should I just pull out the milkweed and focus on nectar plants?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Rhonda
Comments (13)
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