Monarch virgin

[runnr]

In Sothern California you would expect there would very few Monarch, and you would be right. However my wife bought a small plant with small attractive red and yellow flowers about 2 years ago, you guessed it, a milkweed. Surprized to see a couple beefy colorful caterpillers devouring the plant a couple months later and some research revealed monarch catippilars. I know nothing about monarchs, except for the infamous illustration of he caterpiller on Ortho insecticide, but found them very facinating. Southern California could use some attractive widlife (its full of fuzzy brown animals) so I watched as the next year I had a brood (flock? Swarm? Platoon?) of more catipillers. This has quickly spiralled out of control as I now have five potted milkweeds, and may have to buy more (the little suckers eat more than a teenager on summer vacation). It seems there are so few milkweed that the monarch release more than a few eggs on the plants.
I finally was able to grab about five "cats" as they were running (squirmming? galloping? Girating?) off to make preperation to be a butterfly (note-to-self...buy more plants). They should hatch (explode? birth? Enter?) early November, then I guess they migrate. If you see any Monarchs with a California tan, say hi for me.

[Mona Miller]

They travel up the coast north when they are migrating. There are many colonies along the coast of California.

http://www.xerces.org/monarchs/

Some southern California areas have Monarchs year round.

[runnr]

Thanks Mona. I know all of those areas, and they're very nice portions of CA. I must say the Monarchs have good taste.
Got my Monarch education from this site, and one thing I have noticed is early in the morning, and/or at night, the "cats" squirm and contort all the while oozing green cat-slime. While somewhat disturbing, once the sun comes out the slime drys and the cats come out of their sticky coma. Is this normal? If not I suspect a residue of pesticide the nursury may have used on the milkweed to control the Monarch problem (they have to sell pristine milkweed, not the ravaged plants I have after 2 weeks of cat-feasting). Just wondering.

[Mona Miller]

Possible pesticides, yes. Talk with the nursery about your need for pesticide free milkweed. Tropical milkweed is really easy to grow from seed. I grow my own and that way I know that it doesn't have pesticides. Rinse plants thoroughly. But, if it is a systemic, it will take several months for the plants to be pesticide free.

[runnr]

This will be the first year I have given full attention to creating a brood of butterflies. I read, and was hoping, that by November this last bunch would do what their supposed to do and migrate. But after reading that "some" areas in Southern California have year-round populations, I am getting concerned. It's like wanting the grown kids out of the house. I cant possibly keep buying milkweed, have a couple seedlings going and just tranplanted a trimming using plant hormones as I read (reading the precautions on the hormones was just a little frigtening. I fear getting any on me lest I start growing roots). It seems the more plants I have, the more eggs I find. Quite maddening.

[Mona Miller]

Tropical milkweed grows easily without rooting hormone. You just need to make sure you leave a leaf node (where the leaves come out of the stem) and just stick that down into the soil after removing the leaf. I have some tropical milkweed that is rooting in water in my kitchen window.

[runnr]

Got it. I may just feed the hormones to the goldfish instead (sounds like an opening to a Stephan King novel).