No Monarchs in Trenton FL 2008

[TreeFarm]

Last year I had some success raising Monarchs to adulthood in a small patch of Tropical Milkweed I propogated from seed. Based on this sucess I thought 2008 would be a banner year as I increased the size of my patch to at least 100 vigorous stalks some over 6' tall. To my disappointment I saw not one Monarch all year and the plants showed no sign of being eaten by larva so 11/1, I quit checking. Two days ago, I checked out of curosity and was suprised to see many stalks striped of leaves and counted over 30 cats. Now I am concerned that they will not mature enough to sucessfully pupate as it is late in the year and the last 2 nights I have brought them inside because temperatures have dropped below freezing. My other concern is the leaves on the plants show frost damage and are yellowing which will cut down on available food. Can Monarch larvas survive a frost or am I being overly cautious? Thanks for listening. ... Lynn T Gill; Trenton FL

[Mona Miller]

Adult butterflies are much more frost tolerant than larvae and pupae. I have heard of them surviving frost, but most do not survive. If you can dig plants and bring them in to feed larvae, I'd bring both the larvae and plants inside.

[chanceychelsey]

When I gave a Monarch egg to a co-worker who did not have milkweed, I cut the leaves off of the plant and placed each leaf between a dampened paper towel and then put them in the fridge. The leaves stayed fresh for quite a lenghty period of time. You might want to do that to ensure enough food, and I would bring the cats in, and let them finish their cycle indoors. I raise mine in the plastic containers that grape tomato's come in, one to a container. (Be aware that some of the more curious ones leave through the holes when they are going from one stage to the next. I just leave the lid open when they are out, and when they finish shedding their skin, they usually do go back in to feed on the leaves. On the odd occasion, they will go into someone else's container, through the holes, and dine with their neighbour, until I place them back in their own container.)

Waystation 927,
Tottenham, Ontario

[Mona Miller]

Are you using perennial milkweed? Common milkweed, Asclepia syrica, holds up well in the frig. I've had leaves that I placed into a ziplock bag stay fresh for up to 2 weeks. I put those into the bag dry. Tropical milkweed leaves doesn't hold up as long.

[chanceychelsey]

The majority of the milkweed kept in the fridge was common milkweed. I have also had it keep for up to 2 weeks. I have tropical as well, but only keep the extra cut leaves in the fridge for a couple of days until I need them. I was short on tropical milkweed last year and offered both types to see if they would eat both, and found that they had no problem switching from one to the other. I tore out a mixed flower garden this fall to make into another milkweed garden. I should have a great supply next year, lets just hope I get more visitors than I did last year!

Waystation 927
Tottenham, Ontario

[Mona Miller]

A milkweed common to Canada is Asclepias speciosa (Showy milkweed). This species is supposed to be more toxic than Asclepias syrica (Common milkweed). The toxicity level in Asclepias curassavica (Tropical milkweed) is supposed to be very high and therefore provides more protection for the Monarchs.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/specio.htm
Asclepias speciosa (Showy milkweed)

http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/curass.htm
Asclepias curassavica

http://shop.monarchwatch.org/product.aspx?p=125522(base)
The standard seed kit for the Monarch Watch Waystation has Showy milkweed seeds

This year I purchased the kit from California and planted SWAN PLANT (Asclepias fruticosa). So far it is still green and we've had several hard frost. I sent the rest of seeds in that kit to a friend in California.