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New England Gardening

have you heard this about Tropical Milkweed and Monarchs?

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

7 years ago

I'm establishing my pollinator garden. Have my wintersown Anise Hyssop and Asclepias incarnate out. Species Echinacea will be out soon. Was doing some net surfing and found this article about Tropical Milkweed from a site called the Wild Seed Project whose goal is returning native species to Maine. The WSP said that even up in Maine Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) can confused monarchs.

Tropical Milkweed not recommended for butterfly gardens

Wild Seed Project--Monarchs

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Comments (3)

spedigrees z4VT
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Interesting, and sad. I hadn't heard this. I have only native milkweed on my property, but the numbers of monarch butterflies I've been seeing are at record lows. I saw only two or three last year. Migratory species are the hardest hit because they have to run the gamut across farmland sprayed with roundup and other toxic chemicals.
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User
7 years ago
I thought this potential problem with the tropical species was only true of areas where it does not die back but continues to flower throughout the Fall and Winter.

In any event, I saw my first Monarchs yesterday in my yard (Zone 7/NJ). My "butterfly plants" include purple coneflower, black-eyed susans, large Buddleia bushes, Swamp Milkweed and, in about a month, the Tropical Milkweed.

Two years ago, I planted ONE of the tropical ones and now, every year, they are all over the front yard! The plant itself dies back some time in November after the first frost, but apparently the seeds are cold hardy and survive just FINE. I can see some might consider it weedy, but the flowers are gorgeous and the butterflies seem to love it!
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"they are now stirring, and preparing for their journey north from Mexico." She asked for help, so that the Monarch population heading north from Mexico, would have enough host plants along the way towards Canada. These days people in the south should cut their Asclepias curassavica, nivea, Gomphocarpus, and Calotropis down to the ground before the Monarchs start migrating south again, so that the Monarchs returning south won't get infected with OE, and they won't be tempted to leave the migration and lay eggs. I've grown Asclepias curassavica and Gomphocarpus physocarpus, so that there would be a lot of leaves for the caterpillars, and I'm simultaneously growing milkweeds native to my area which can take years to mature, and are still too small to feed caterpillars. I don't think Asclepias curassavica and Gomphocarpus physocarpus are listed as invasive in the USA. I think Gomphocarpus is invasive in Australia. I agree that people should focus a lot more on growing nectar plants for the adults, and the lack of flowering plants they can use, may be more crucial than growing the milkweeds at this point. Studies have shown there are enough milkweeds around for them, it's the loss of habitat and nectar plants along their fall migration route that's making their numbers decline. There is a population of Monarchs that stay in the deep south and don't go to Mexico. They have the highest infection of OE. No doubt because many people in the south grow the tropical milkweeds year round and never cut them down, and probably quite a few aren't even aware of OE. Everyone should plant more fall blooming plants for the Monarchs.
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terrene
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I've been raising Monarchs for nearly 10 years and my property is a Monarch Waystation and yes I've heard this about tropical milkweed. There may be problems growing in the southern zones where Asclepias curassavica is perennial but not here in zone 6 (in my experience).

Our season just isn't long enough - often the tropical milkweed doesn't even have enough time to produce mature seed pods, before it's killed with a hard frost. What's more, as soon as it gets cold at night the Monarchs are out of here pronto (usually around late Sept/early October). There is no chance whatsoever they are going to hang around because of the tropical milkweed.

I grow common, swamp, purple, and orange (butterfly weed) milkweeds and it is a finicky genus - not all species do well every year, it is a target for insects, and it randomly dies back, so I grow a fair amount of the tropical because it attracts egg laying females to the garden. I then collect the eggs and raise them on whatever cuttings are doing well, the caterpillars are adaptable, and if I've got a lot of hungry 5th instar caterpillars to feed, will sometimes collect extra common milkweed cuttings from wild sources.

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