Temps Dropping in Virginia

[Mona Miller]

Our temps were very chilly today. I think upper 40s. I pulled all the pupae and caterpillars from my tent and took them inside. I was surprised to find 39 pupae and 7 caterpillars. Now they are warm inside and I hope that they get on with their cycle so that they can get out of town before we get heavy frost.

[BlizzardNole]

Hi Mona...

I thought this would be done by now but I have 19 pupae and 33 cats! Many of them are 4ths and 5ths, so I need lots of plant material. What I have been doing is digging up whole plants and putting them in one-gallon pots, then putting the whole plants in my enclosure. I got myself some of those nice 2-foot by 2-foot by 3-foot enclosures from LiveMonarch.com that they had at the Black Hills that day. Thing is, each time I take another plant, I end up with 2 or 3 more cats!

This weather is incredibly cold for this time of year -- we may even have some snow mix in tonight! We will warm up nicely next week, with several sunny days in the 60s, but the east coast looks to go cold and wet again about 10-14 days down the road. Also, we are looking at a very cold and very snowy winter.

What is the latest we can release from this area? I would think as long as there has not been a hard freeze, they'd be OK? I know they can fly pretty far on a good day.

[Paul Cherubini]

The fall migrants can withstand overnight temps down to about 22-23 degrees F. The southward migratory instinct is gradually weakening, but will continue for another month. So as long as overnight temps don't dip below 22-23 degrees (or about 28-30 degrees if the butterflies are soaking wet when a freeze occurs) the butterflies you release now should make it down to the Gulf Coast or south Atlantic States by mid-November.

[BlizzardNole]

Wow they are even more robust than I thought. I would be worried that a hard freeze down to say North Caro would wipe out any nectar-producing plants though. I guess we could pump them up with gatorade and launch them.

[summerluver]

Hey You Guys! I released my last little girl last Saturday before the December-like weather hit here. I was resting comfortably in the assurance that it would get warmer and safe for them as they got out of N.J. What's going on down there! Now I'm worried again! Are there any organizations that count the migrants down there to see if they're surviving to get through this weather phenomenom?