Monarch Watch Forums

by **Jim** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:58 pm

Monarch sightings for the South Atlantic region of the United States (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD,NC, SC, VA, WV) - 2004 to 2008.

by **OzmasGurl** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 3:45 pm

In Sharpsburg, MD, we sighted ONE Monarch, flitting about the milkweed in the field behind our home. We're hoping to find the eggs in a day or two, by inspecting the milkweed.

Other than this ONE Monarch, we have not seen ANY others so far this year. How depressing!

by **FmrYpr21222** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:51 pm

I spotted the first one on August 4. Then on Sat August 21, my husband was cutting grass and he came in and told me there was one flying around my garden. I went out and looked, and there she was - landing on my milkweed. I'm pretty sure I saw her eggs - will know for sure in a few days. I was a bit concerned since the plant she chose, has quite a few milkweed beatles. Also, she landed on the swamp milkweed which is growing next to the regular milkweed. Didn't spot any eggs, but that plant is covered with those beatles.

by **drader** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:54 pm

It's the middle of September, and I've seen only one monarch in the last four weeks. I haven't seen more than a couple all summer. On Labor Day weekend in past years, I have easily collected 100+ larva to raise in my 8th grade science classroom for tagging. This year, I've searched hard and have managed to find only 7; a student brought in another 5. There is a lot of great-looking milkweed growing all around this area, but there are no indications of the presence of monarchs (leaf damage, droppings, etc.) Unless things quickly improve, the migration numbers here are going to be very low.

by **FmrYpr21222** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:29 am

I'd posted about a couple eggs we found on our milkweed, but have not seen the cats

Very disappointing to say the least. I thought I'd read somewhere that nothing would eat them because of the milkweed. Must be wrong, hey? Also, was in Indiana, PA over the weekend, and whenever we stopped, I looked at the milkweed and checked - nothing! Lots of the leaves have been chewed on. Also has been a very disappointing season for the Black Swallowtails. Is there anything else that eats milkweed?

by **Virginia Monarchs** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:19 pm

We have seen a total of 7 Monarchs this week. I get home mid-afternoon and go into the garden. One of the seven I released myself from a container of chrysalis(s) that I have on my screened porch. We lost a bunch that were scattered around my back yard when we had a cold snap a couple of weeks ago. They turned brown and softened. Lesson learned. Next year if cool weather is predicted I will bring the pupa in. Two pupa that I had in containers on my screened porch were knocked off the table and the pupa separated from the containers. I used Scotch super glue and attached them back onto the lid of the container. Five days later I had butterflies. Right now I have three cats in a container and two pupa that should emerge this weekend. I brought them in on advice from a forum reader.(I think it was Monarch lady) Thanks! I hope it is not to late to make their journey. Could someone tell me what milkweed beetles look like? I've got some kind of bug on my milkweek that starts out as little yellow bugs and turns into black and orange bugs. They haven't bothered cats we have had outside but I think they may have eaten some eggs.

by **Virginia Monarchs** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:26 pm

We have seen a total of 7 Monarchs this week. I get home mid-afternoon and go into the garden. One of the seven I released myself from a container of chrysalis(s) that I have on my screened porch. We lost a bunch that were scattered around my back yard when we had a cold snap a couple of weeks ago. They turned brown and softened. Lesson learned. Next year if cool weather is predicted I will bring the pupa in. Two pupa that I had in containers on my screened porch were knocked off the table and the pupa separated from the containers. I used Scotch super glue and attached them back onto the lid of the container. Five days later I had butterflies. Right now I have three cats in a container and two pupa that should emerge this weekend. I brought them in on advice from a forum reader.(I think it was Monarch lady) Thanks! I hope it is not to late to make their journey. Could someone tell me what milkweed beetles look like? I've got some kind of bug on my milkweek that starts out as little yellow bugs and turns into black and orange bugs. They haven't bothered cats we have had outside but I think they may have eaten some eggs.

by **drader** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:04 pm

Wow...today a was able to tag 119 monarchs as they were feeding on ironweed in a pasture not far from my home in Jackson County, West Virginia. Yesterday, I tagged 5...today 119! I also saw one large larva on milkweed. Here is the part that puzzles me...of the 119 tagged butterflies, only 24 were female. If the weather cooperates this weekend, I should finish out my 175 tags; I have only 36 remaining.

by **cardinal lady** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:28 pm

We have just been through feeding frenzy in our backyard, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our Monarchs. At last count we had over 30 chrysalis out of probably 60 catepillars that we could account for. The rest are hidden somewhere we haven't been able to find. We had to keep running out to find Milkweed plants at a local nursery (where they have a butterfly garden) as ours were completely devoured in just a couple days.

by **cardinal lady** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:19 pm

We just noticed three chrysallis a week ago and now have new hatch of "cats", about 25 of them; and wouldn't you know it, in Florida we have had the 2 coldest nights we have had since 2001. But looks like, with a little forethought and a lot of prayers, we have saved everyone of them. We built a protective shelter around our milkweed for the cats, strung leftover Christmas lights inside the tent and they love it. The temperature outside the enclosure was down to 28 the first night but inside a balmy 40 degrees.They are fat and eating, and ready to do their thing! We brought the hanging cocoons inside on the porch and provided just enough heat for them to survive. We bought extra milkweed plants to supplement our existing plants, and even got more "cats" as three eggs have hatched during the cold weather. What a great treat to have these creatures respond to a little care and concern for their welfare.

I would love to learn how to tag some, but am afraid of damaging them. So for now will just enjoy them for as long as I have them around.

Back in Dec. we had over 30 and only lost two as far as we know anyway. What a wonderful experience we have had...

by **Cass** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:05 pm

Found 2 Monarch cats at McKee Botanical Gardens today - got home and for the first time in the two years since we planted the milkweed we have a cat on our plants - all cats found are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long.

- I've never found more than 1 cat in a season - is is possible that last years hurricanes have brought us more than broken branches?

by **pianopete** » Fri May 06, 2005 7:14 pm

I'm new at this having started a butterfly garden a couple of months ago. Currently have 7 milkweed plants in the ground. From the moment I brought the milkweed home, monarchs have been sighted daily, and new cats on the milkweed weekly. Right now I have somewhere between 10-20 cats of various sizes in a mesh enclosure inside the house happily munching on milkweed (potted). One chrysalis in another cage that should hatch any day now. I get my milkweed from the local Home Depot, and there are always monarchs fliting around the potted plants in their nursury. So it is my opionion that currently there are many monarchs in the Palm Beach Gardens, FL area.

by **Virginia Monarchs** » Mon May 23, 2005 9:36 pm

We saw our first Monarch of the season Saturday, May 20, 2005. It was pretty faded and beaten up looking but was flying without any problem. We've checked our milkweed plants but so far no eggs.

by **fl_mariposa** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:37 am

I had about 4 or 5 regulars at the end of May. They started laying eggs, and I began bringing the cats inside as I found them-last count I had about 35. Now I've had 1 hatch, about 15 in chrysalises, and the rest are still cats. Watch out-they escape easily and will pupate anywhere! I have one chrysalis on my tile backsplash, one on a drinking glass, and one (not very smart caterpillar!) decided to pupate on the bottom of the seat on my bar stool. It's been fun, and they keep coming around to lay more eggs. I hope my milkweed can hold up to this many!

by **dichatham** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:56 pm

Hi,
I'm brand new to the list. I haven't seen any monarchs flying but obviously they are because last night I found 1 catepillar on my 2-year-old milkweed. I'm sooooo excited

Should I leave him out there or should I try to bring him in?
Thanks for the help.
Diane

by **jturk3** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:05 pm

I spotted a monarch on common milkweed in New Market, MD in the evening on Sat July 2. I didn't get close enough to it but it's behavior lead me to believe it was a female laying eggs.

by **FmrYpr21222** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:58 am

So good to see so many Monarchs this summer. Only saw a couple last year. So far, found 2 tiny cats on milkweed and a couple eggs. Now have 4 Chrysalis. Last one changed yesterday (7/29). Grandkids are getting a real kick out of this. Surprisingly, my husband is noticing and commenting a lot more. I'm hoping to get my garden certified as a waystation.

by **OzmasGurl** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:34 pm

We currently have 27 chrysalises on a few small branches placed in drilled holes on a block of wood, in the middle of an upside down platter on our dining room table, along with two aquariums with at least 25 more caterpillars, ranging in size from microscopic to almost ready for making their pads, from which to hang in the infamous "J".

Most of these caterpillars were found in the field behind our home here in Sharpsburg, and a few were found in the next little town over from us.

Fresh milkweek is collected a few times each day and placed into wet plant oasis(used in floral aranging) in a sandwich baggie that is zip-locked; this is to help preserve the plant for as long as possible before changing it to the new stock that is picked.

Even this is exciting, because in the aquariums, some eggs, that we could not and cannot see, have hatched out the teeniest of caterpillars - they are sooo cute, and seem very happy with the setup we have for them.

The field is checked on a daily basis, and most days it's checked two or more times, and we continue to bring them in, so that they don't become prey for insects and birds and whatever other creatures may find them appealing.

We have LOTS of photographs, and are willing to post them, if someone can tell us how to go about doing so.

Have a wonderful day!

by **dichatham** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:04 pm

I've seen 4-5 in Essex (outside Baltimore). I know they are out there too because I'm getting a lot of caterpillars. So far I've had 2 cycle and emerge--one lost one wing and stays inside with me and the other I released and she flew off happily.

Diane
Baltimore, MD

by **jturk3** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:38 pm

Saw at least 2 different Monarchs on Sun 8/21/05. I saw one attempting to roost in a pine tree (it was about 95 degrees) but it flew on. The other was nectaring. It didn't appear to be migrating (no particular directional flight).

by **Judy Molnar** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:03 pm

On August 30th I got the email update from Jim about starting to tag the last week of August if you are between lat 35 and 40. The Virginia Living Museum in Newport News is at lat 37, so I walked the grounds to see what was up. We are still seeing females actively ovipositing, males chasing and courting females, and caterpillars of all 5 instars on the milkweeds on the grounds. There's at least several dozen larvae of all ages on the grounds from an unthorough search, and a volunteer has 30 larvae in her yard about 8 miles north of the museum. Other calls have come in from folks with caterpillars, it looks like a banner year. I've seen 2 females ovipositing the past 2 days, one courtship chase of a male going after one of these ovipositing females before they broke it off, and 2 males nectaring, all this in our butterfly garden.

I can understand tagging a nectaring male, since we couldn't be sure whether it was migrating or not, but do you still want us to tag actively ovipositing females right now?

Judy Molnar[/b]

by **NathanielsMom** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:08 pm

We currently have 22 chrysallises around our yard.

During the last "batch" (about a month ago) we had 15, the batch before that was 9 and our first group (that we noticed) was 5 in June of this year.

by **bjorkboy81** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:40 pm

Here in Jacksonville, the monarchs have just finished eating all of the milkweed in our back yard and have begun their transformation. There are 9 in all, and there are still some caterpillars that are eagerly awaiting new leaves every minute. I tried to get more food for them, but even the plants at the local Ace were overwhelmed by the hungry caterpillars already on them. Can't wait until they emerge as butterflies.

by **mokajava** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:17 pm

This is our first year of hosting monarchs. We planted the asclepias and waited. I lost most of the first larva batch to birds I think, but when I had the chance I removed this last one and took it inside to watch the miracle. So today she made her maiden voyage south I suspect. One photo of the butterfly and several of the pupa. I just found this site today when I was curious what was out there about the monarchs. Cool...
Here are pictures of the monarch I released today
http://www.pbase.com/uzgroup/image/50725427
http://www.pbase.com/uzgroup/image/50695291

by **bjorkboy81** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:42 pm

Well, we have successfully hatched four monarchs...three have flown away. When I woke up this morning, eagerly awaiting a couple butterflies, none of them had hatched. Finally, one did emerge...but she fell down and I had to help her up. We spent about Four hours together, taking photos and getting her strength built up. She finally flew away around 1 this afternoon. The second one to emerge fell as well...and has two broken front legs. It's very upsetting...he has simply been clinging for 6 hours to the flower I put him on. His wings are still all scrunched up, just about the saddest thing I could imagine. I don't know if I should just wait and hope that his wings will dry out...he may be able to get along with the broken legs. I read that someone put their butterfly in the freezer to end its life when it had a broken leg. Right now I will just let nature take its course. There are more ready to emerge every day...and I keep finding more and more all over the place! More eggs on the milkweed that is finally growing back as well. Next year I'll get my Waystation sign.

by **Judy Molnar** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:12 pm

Friday October 14, Virginia Living Museum staff Jim Drummond and Bo Baker led a high school trip to Grandview Nature Preserve in Hampton, Va. The preserve borders the Chesapeake Bay on the western shore. They reported seeing 8-10 individual monarchs between 9:30 and 11 am nectaring on Seaside goldenrod at the preserve and trying to fly south but not making much head way. Some monarchs ended up being blown [by prevailing winds out of the west] out into the Chesapeake Bay across the beach where the students were conducting estuarine studies. Weather was overcast all day, occasional drizzle, breezy, barely got into the 70s. But it cleared beginning about 5:30 pm.

Museum Staff member Betsy Wolin was in Hilton Head S.C. over this sunny, breezy weekend to visit relatives. She reports she was walking north for 2 miles on the beach Saturday, October 15 from about 8 am to about 8:45 am, and during that walk she counted 63 butterflies moving south past her. The butterflies were mostly monarchs [~55 of them] and the rest were fritillaries that would stop here and there. Many flowers on properties adjacent to the beach attracted butterflies. All weekend there were patches of sulphur and buckeye butterflies nectaring on all the flowers around, as well as monarchs.

I also noticed more "action" at my flowers this Saturday, October 15 as well, I was able to tag 3 monarchs that stopped to nectar on my butterfly bush in Newport News, Virginia, and that's the most I've seen in one place at one time. My garden is a ways inland from the western shore of the Bay, on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers.

At the museum, we've been tagging and releasing both reared and wild monarchs since September 15th. We have 2 that will be released today, 3 that will be released tomorrow, and only one more chrysalis is left to hatch. It looks like we'll have tagged just shy of 100 monarchs this season by this week's end.

Several people reported to me at the Butterfly Society of Virginia meeting in Norfolk on October 9th that they are still rearing monarch caterpillars as of that date in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va. Talk about "pushing the envelop!" Our horticulture staff found one caterpillar on thread-leaf milkweed, which is one of the few milkweeds still left standing on museum grounds. We're letting nature take its course on that one. I hope these late monarchs make it. We've had a mild September with no real strong cold fronts, so depending on how warm October is, they may be OK, or not.

Best of luck to all!

by **Judy Molnar** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 4:01 pm

A monarch with the tag “GLE397” was photographed at the approximate GPS coordinates of Lat: 37-41-19 Long: 76-18-24 at 4:45 pm on Sunday, 10.23.05 during a canoe trip north of the Rappahannock River in Virginia. This information was relayed to me via a coworker.

Can anyone tell us where and when that monarch was tagged?

Thanks!
Judy Molnar

by **pianopete** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:19 pm

Here in South Florida hopefully the last hurricane of the season (Wilma) has passed. However, it seems the high winds must have blown all our monarchs to who knows where, or mabe they did not survive the storm. Before the storm we had many monarchs fliting all about the yard. Now only 2 or 3 and they are probably ones we have tagged and released in the past few days..... I see the tags when they stop to nectar. In the last couple of months we have tagged and released 50 ( 125 for the year ), and from what I was observing, I suspect that most have been staying in our area. We still have lots of milkweed in bloom ( no storm damage to the milkweed ), and we should be releasing more monarchs in a few days...

by **Christian Manion** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:42 pm

While visiting Austin Texas on Oct. 30 a male butterfly was seen nectaring on lantana. It was flying in a southerly direction as it left the nectar source.

by **bjorkboy81** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:50 pm

Well, it's November 6th in Jacksonville, FL and there are more cats hatching again. There was one who was able to survive the first cold snap of the season and its a big one now. Hope to have a new chrysallis in a few days. There are babies on the milkweed and lots of eggs just waiting to hatch. The milkweed is about to bloom again for the first time since being devoured. One day I'll figure out how to post photos...they have been a big hit.

by **Judy Molnar** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:30 am

One monarch spent at least 30 minutes on my butterfly bush yesterday, around noontime, November 6 2005, in Newport News VA. At around 4 pm I saw another monarch nectaring there, although it could have been the same one. I was puttering around the house and only now and then glanced out the window. Winds were from the south, it was sunny & warm, into the 70s.

Judy Molnar

by **bjorkboy81** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:03 pm

January 10...after we had a freeze a couple days ago, there are new cats on our butterfly weed. There were some butterflies that hatched just before the freeze and some that I brought inside to hatch as well. Unfortunately, we have a new dog and he's still a little youthful and likes to attack things that move. He got ahold of one of the butterflies and has done quite a bit of damage to its wings. The butterfly is still enjoying life though and has been eating and moving about on the plants.
I have been running into another problem all year long too. When some of the butterflies hatch, their wings are all deformed and will not spread out...and most of the time, I have to help all of the butterflies up off the ground once they hatch so their wings can dry. Does anyone have any ideas as to why both of these problems are occuring? I would like to have greater success next year. Thank you!

by **pianopete** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:36 pm

Here it is the 2nd week of January 2006 and there are many Monarchs active in our butterfly garden and throughout the neighborhood. Eggs are being deposited regularly, which I collect and bring indoors to hatch. This past fall we tagged and released 50 of which I only spotted a few tags after releasing. Since about mid December, I have not spotted any tags, thus I don't know if the tags migrated, were lost, or moved on to some other area in Florida. In any case, the weather is mild and sunny and there lots of healthy Monarch activity in south Florida.

by **pianopete** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:45 am

Here it is now the 1st week of Feb 2006, and Monarchs plentiful. Since last summer we have raised and released back into the wild 250+. January was a really busy month, and it appears February will be similar. Several days we were releasing 12+. Although many of the necturing flowers are still in short (many took a beating during the fall hurricanes), the milkweed (50+ plants) is in full bloom and that keeps the monarchs happy. We have also started growing giant milkweed, and by summer that may be the main host plant we grow. The cats really love it, and it produces much larger leaves to feed on. Haven't heard anything back on the 50 monarchs we tagged.

by **harpo787** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:50 am

It's March 27, and I never see monarchs where I live (not a lot of plant life in my part of town).

However, in Hollywood Florida at my mother's residence, we've seen the occasional butterfly, including of course, monarchs. Personally, I've only seen two in her backyard since we've created our combination butterfly/rock garden, but she's seen a few more, but it never seems to be more than one at a time.

It's a different story, obviously, as every milkweed out there (scarlet milkweed and giant milkweed) seems to be drowing in caterpillars. Initially, we only had 2 on each of the giant milkweeds, but since purchasing the scarlets, we now seem to have about 4 cats to each plant.

We had two pupae, but one has disappeared somehow...and we can't figure out why.

by **pianopete** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:18 pm

Throughout March Monarch activity slowed a bit for us but is starting to pick up again.

We collect the eggs (and cats when we see them) and bring them inside until they emerge as butterflies. That gives the highest success rate... avoids predators and other outside perils. Currently we have about 25 cats happily munching on milkweed leaves in the indoor cages so in a few weeks we should be releasing Monarchs again.

The milkweed is starting to grow again as we head into the spring months... and we need lots of fresh milkweed to feed all these cats.

by **tamileaver** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 am

We have spotted a few monarchs here in the Baltimore area.

It seems early - we don't usually see them here till August.

My daughter even found a cat over the weekend.

by **sopranole** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:28 pm

I see monarchs almost every time I look at my butterfly garden that I started this spring. Recently found 2 catepillars that have since wandered off to evolve, and found a few new ones today, about the size of a grain of rice.

by **jayneboyer** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:10 am

Saw a lone monarch in our Durham yard this weekend. It is the first this summer! Monarchs have been pretty scarce in central NC for the last 5 years. In prior years we would get lots of monarchs feeding at our abelias and a few caterpillars in the milkweed.

by **ButterflyLdy** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:34 pm

It's the beginning of August 2006 and we are seeing Monarchs everyday. Saw several pairs dancing and flitting around. Later observed a pair mating and a female flying from milkweed patch to patch laying eggs. I've gathered over 30 monarch eggs from the milkweed and are hatching them indoors and will raise the cats in my butterfly cage. I found three cats on my milkweed, but I'm finding mostly eggs right now. Here's a picture of a pair mating.

by **Lita** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 7:31 pm

Wow! Now that's a great picture. Such joy :mrgreen:

Thanks, ButterflyLdy

by **reginak** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:20 pm

I think I saw monarchs in my yard yesterday. I have no milkweed, they were in the bindweed (those wild morning-glory-type things that are impossible to get rid of). Is there any other kind of black-and-orange butterfly it could have been?

by **ButterflyLdy** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:46 pm

Hey Reginak,

The Viceroy looks very similar to the Monarch. I don't see why you couldn't have a Monarch in your yard, though. If you don't have milkweed, you won't have the caterpillars, but Monarchs love many flowering nectar plants. It was probably a Monarch. :wink:

Here is a link that shows the difference between Monarchs and Viceroys:
http://www.naturalplanet.org/lessons/monarch-viceroy.htm

Rebecca

by **jturk3** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 4:00 pm

Today, while scouting a tagging location, I saw 3 male monarchs nectaring on swamp milkweed. Location is near Springfield Forest Park.
I also saw one flying in urban Springfield on the drive home.

by **Stormy** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:11 pm

We only seem to get one Monarch a year. She comes for a few days and lays her eggs. She laid about 25 eggs on 8-14-06 not sure what happen to them all but we got one cat out of them all. She did come back a few days ago and lay more eggs, I'm now keeping a close eye on the eyes.

by **staceydaigle** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:00 am

I have spotted several Monarchs in our area. The first one was at the Garden Center at Lowe's at the end of August. Though I didn't think much of the sighting at the time I know realize how significant this was until... and now for my long story.

September 2nd I was at my Mothers house on the other side of town. I was looking at her plants and noticed 2 cats on her milkweed. She suggested I take them home and take care of them, as the previous year We saw a few but then they disappeared a day later.

Anyway, I went home prepared a box, then returned to rescue the cats. The next day she had more so I got them. The day after that the same thing.

By this time my dear Husband made a large cat house based on some pictures I found on the internet. It is nice and large, I can fit several one gallon potted plants inside it. In the mean time my Mother continued to find cats, and I kept retrieving them.

I had no previous experience with caterpillars but it seemed interesting so I kept reading everything I could. The milkweed I had growing in my yard was now gone so I returned to the area nurseries to purchase new Milkweed. Remember the Monarch that was flying through Lowe's well apparently she was looking for someplace to lay her eggs, as the 5 plants I purchased from Lowe's all had intars of various sizes already on the plants.

One week from our first caterpillar sighting I had 22 chrysalis hanging from the top of my cat house. Wednesday Sept 13 we had 41 chrysalis in that have formed from our cats. After we had 22 I realized thought I should move some so I have taken some of the chrysalis down and put them in emergence boxes that I have made.

Here is the problem I am currently facing. I only have one big plant left to give the caterpillars. It is fluffy and has lots of leaves but then I am out of Milkweed. Thats it. I can't buy it anywhere. I can't find it wild anywhere. I have driven over 150 miles in the past 3 days looking for Milkweed. It just doesn't grow here like it does in other parts of the country. Lots of other weeds but no milkweed. I even found a Joe Pye Weed growing in a field that I was wandering through. Our church group prayed that I would find milkweed. I spoke to the EPA through a friend of mine who has contacts there, they said it grows her but not very readily and mostly in back out of the way areas. Places accessable only by four-wheel off road buggys.

Sadly it some of the cats will probably not have enough to eat. I have aprox 25 more cats that have hatched from eggs. Any suggestions for me? Anyone care to send me some Milkweed leaves in the mail??
I think I want to make it my mission to throw Milkweed seeds everywhere that I can. Next year I will definitely be prepared.

I can't help but believe the density of eggs on the 10-12 plants I have purchased is reasonable. There is problably just no place for these females to lay their eggs.

BTW - our first eclosing was this morning. How exciting. My Mother came over and let it fly off of her hand.

Suggestions, comments, clarifications?

Thanks for your time.

Stacey

by **psi_chemie** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:38 am

I hope you were able to find more milkweed. I am suprised you can't find any in florida. There are many different species, and some look very different from each other:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/index.htm

You may find you do have some around. I often find a vine milkweed growing where other milkweed cannot be found, and it looks very different than what one might expect.

I have seen some places online selling some type of caterpillar food that you can mix up supposedly, but I don't know anyone who has tried this.

Good luck!

by **jharris119** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:39 pm

I was sitting on my back porch in Pulaski, VA (southwest VA) on Sunday, September 17th and began counting monarch butterflies as they flew over my house in a Southwesterly direction. I counted over 56 butterflies and all of them seemed to be flying in the EXACT same path. It was truly amazing! Maybe they are on their way toward Mexico?? I will continue to be on the lookout...

by **munchiemonarchs** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:23 pm

I have been seeing several of them daily on my Zinnias. I watched one lay eggs on my Milkweed on Sept 10, 2006. There are about 20+ cats, different stages.
North Metro Atlanta

by **hawker** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:33 am

Here in Gainesville, GA (50 miles north of Atlanta) I've been seeing a couple of dozen monarchs migrating through for the last few days. Many I see are right in the center of town and traffic.

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