My 2011 Monarch Season-another great year!

[Nancy Werner]

I have been raising Monarch butterflies for over 4 decades now - this is my 43rd year this summer. Last year I raised 456 monarchs.

This year I raised "only" 319 monarchs, which is a more manageable amount. The females started out in the lead-I had 10 females in a row hatch. But the final count is 160 females and 159 males - very close!

I raise them in containers and a cage just on top of my stove top in my kitchen. This was my first year ever with problems with Tachanid flies-they invaded about 7 of my caterpillars. Gruesome little parasites. But I raise most of my monarchs from eggs, and I suspect these that were invaded were some caterpillars I acquired at one or more of my "sources". I have several sources around the metro area (I live in Saint Paul, MN), and some up north (East Bethel) and some down south (Hastings, MN).

Most of my flutters were large and very healthy again this year. Had about 3 -4 small ones. I calculated (with the 12 that I lost after turning into chrysalis, due to various reasons) that my success rate this year was 96.24%.

I let my last 7 go on September 17th (these raised from eggs that I got in Hastings, MN), and actually spotted one in my neighbor across the alley's front yard on September 22nd. Time for them to vamoose!

All in all a very good year, and I had to make only one trip to Hastings for extra milkweed leaves.

I hear that a lot of people are raising monarchs now. Great, and keep up the good work!!! Their survival rate is SO much better raised indoors in a controlled environment. Plus, if there is an area of milkweed you want saved, put a homemade tag on them and also prepare for battle with your local public works department and state mosquito control departments, as I have been doing.

It's time to take back charge.

[Mona Miller]

Wow! What an amazing amount of work. Thank you so much for sharing.

[dandjtaylor]

Nancy

Congrats on a great year. Mine is almost over as well. 20 minutes ago, I tagged and released my 1000th of the season (690 tagged). Here she is...PNW 864

I needed 11 today to get there and exactly 11 eclosed.

[Mona Miller]

Congratulations! I don't know how you do it.

[dandjtaylor]

Thank you, Mona. This year was difficult with a couple of heat waves and the two 3-day rains. I think I may not go so "gung ho" next year...unless of course, the winter numbers are as dismal as Chip is predicting. Then I have no choice but to get out there and add as many adults to the mix as possible. I think this is about my max though...any more and I would probably go crazy.

My last caterpillar is looking pretty fat; he'll pupate any day.

[Mona Miller]

I think I raised about 300 Monarchs this year, but end up raising many species of other butterflies. I raised every Swallowtail species this year, plus Pearl Crescents, a few Viceroy and Red Spotted Purples, etc.

I have over 20 Tiger Swallowtails munching on Black Cherry. I hope they finish soon.

[Fishslime]

Slow start in Bangor PA- saw many adults early but not enough eggs to really get started - got over 70 eggs and cats Aug 23 - lots of males showed up in the early hatches and the last one was a male(10/5/11) 51 released - with drought and floods most of the summer, the milkweed ended early, saw peak migration the first week of October -5/6 per hour for most of the week - good luck to the Monarchs in 2012

[blazing star]

Thank you, Nancy! Nice job.

I, too, battle the mosquito control here. I'm on a no spray list but it's not always helpful due to drift.

[mosquitocontrol]

I thought there was a natural spray on the market so as not to hurt plants and animals. Also don't mosquitoes have a natural predator???

[Nancy Werner]

RE: Mosquito control natural spray.

If there is, the Minnesota Department of Mosquito Control is definitely NOT using it. I don't know
what the natural predators of mosquitos are-there is probably at least one, since all species have at least one predator. Will research it, though-thanks!

[MilkeweedEater]

Down here in flordia not cats down in tampa i want to see them again

[mosquitocontrol]

Have you found a natural predator for them mosquitoes yet,I'm curious to know what it is???

[Mona Miller]

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Sightings_All.html
Try looking up "Monarch Sightings" on Journey North. You can email those that posts. Some are talking about caterpillars and some are located in FL.

[mosquitocontrol]

I have seen posted in other forums that wasps are a good natural predator. Are there any wasps around there?? Maybe you can coax them in some how with a sweet smelling fragrance. Thanks for the info I will look that up.

[Mona Miller]

Wasp eat butterfly caterpillars and will also attack small butterflies, too. Wasp are part of the natural environment, if you don't use pesticides.

[MilkeweedEater]

any onw have any milkweed the local markets and super markets dont sell any here

[Mona Miller]

This is from Bring Back Monarchs:
http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the- ... -suppliers

Plants:
Florida

Biosphere Consulting, Inc. – biospherenursery.com – BIOSPHERE@BioSphereNursery.com – 407.656.8277

Florida Native Plants, Inc. – floridanativeplants.com – fnplants@mailmt.com – 941.322.1915

Native and Uncommon Plants – nativeanduncommonplants.com – lespierpont@mac.com – 904.388.9851

The Natives Inc. – thenatives.net – wfbissett@thenatives.net – 863.422.6664

Wilcox Nursery – wilcoxnursery.com – InfoGreen@WilcoxNursery.com – 727.595.2073

Florida (wholesale)

Boyton Botanicals – boyntonbotanicals.com – sales@boyntonbotanicals.com – 561.737.1490

Dawn to Dusk Nursery, Inc – dawntodusk.us – dtdn@hughes.net – 813.986.6956

Frontier Wholesale Nursery – kturner61616@tampabay.rr.com – 407.568.1333

Green Images Native Landscape Plants – 407.568.1333

Green Isle Gardens – godts123@gmail.com – 321.436.4932

Maple Street Natives – maplestreetnatives.com – info@maplestreetnatives.com – 321.729.6857

Pine Lily Nursery – pinelilywild@yahoo.com – 863.993.3966

Rancho La Orquidea, Inc. – rancholaorquidea.com – OrchidFarm@aol.com – 850.983.8948

The Natives Inc. – thenatives.net – wfbissett@thenatives.net – 863.422.6664

Seeds:
Florida

The Natives, Inc. – thenatives.net – wfbissett@thenatives.net – 863.422.6664

Onalee Seed – onalee.com – onalee@aol.com

[mosquitocontrol]

Sorry, I didn't know the wasp would eat the caterpillar and small butterfly

[Mona Miller]

The paperwasp cut the caterpillars up and put them into hatching chambers for their offspring. It is pretty gross.

[mosquitocontrol]

It sounds pretty gross. I bet not a pretty sight to watch either??

[Mona Miller]

Not a pretty sight. I rescued a butterfly from one wasp. She was able to go about continuing to lay. I have a small net that I net the European Paperwasp, which is an invasive species and stump them until they are flat.

[MilkeweedEater]

i founrd a pic of a paperwasp thats is what is on my schools milkweed how 2 get them off

[Mona Miller]

Can you show us what it looks like?

I use photobucket and flickr to upload pictures and then you can take the url and post it easily.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26695859@N ... 767336550/
This is a photo of the European Paperwasp. If they are an invasive wasp, I net them with a small net and stump them. But, you have to be careful not to get stung doing this.

www.flickr.com

www.photobucket.com

Planting a diversity (many types) of plants instead of just milkweed helps. It's call a monoculture when you plant only one type of plant in an area.

[MilkeweedEater]

probleem i dont bring my cmarea to school with me so i dont got a pic of the one on the plant for findi g it out use google

[mosquitocontrol]

Mona,
Did you get stung by the wasp???? Well at least she could lay some eggs so we can share the beautiful monarch. By the way the pictures are stunning!!!!!

[Mona Miller]

No, I didn't get stung and I've netted and stumped a lot of these. When I saw them cutting up caterpillars and attacking small butterflies, I got mad at them. The European Paperwasp even eats native wasp.

[mosquitocontrol]

Glad to hear you didn't get stung. So are you ready for the new season yet. Can't wait for more pics.

[Mona Miller]

Our season doesn't begin until late April and sometimes not even until May or June. I will plant some milkweed seeds soon inside. We are having an ice storm tonight.

[freda]

This is actually a question for dandjtaylor but it guess it applies to anyone raising significant numbers of monarchs indoors. I tried to send a personal message to the Taylors but failed repeatedly.

This is my first visit to Monarch Watch this year and I'm REALLY interested in your numbers! I'm even more interested in your rearing system and if there's anything from your system which I and other enthusiasts can adapt to ours.

I attended Monarch Teachers Network (western Canada) last July and will again this year, always hoping to learn more ways to help the Monarchs. Do you have a website where I can see what you do and how you do it?

I had a slow year in 2011 mostly because we don't have an abundance of Monarchs here in Kenora, On and I was away over the apparent two days that oviposting took place. I came home to hundreds of hatching holes in my milkweed plants but no cats. I have a better plan for this year...

Freda Holmes

[Mona Miller]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2024&p=10053#p10043
These are pictures that Dwayne posted.

If you look up to the right, there's a search. Search on Rearing. Many of us have shared what we do.

[dandjtaylor]

Thanks, Mona, for the post. I have messaged Freda with my email address. I changed my setup significantly last year to make things easier and more controlled. I moved my cats indoors to my greenhouse.

[Mona Miller]

When you have time, please share your new setup with us.

I have never raised that many Monarchs, but I do raise several other species of butterflies for conservation. I have Zebra, Tiger, Giant, Black, Spicebush, and Pipevine Swallowtails to release when they emerge this spring, plus Promethea moths, too. During the summer I raised Red Spotted Purples and Viceroy, Red Admirals, Buckeyes, Silvery Checkerspots, and Pearl Crescents last year. Actually, I raise whatever species I find. How do you find them, just plant their host plants, they will eventually come if they are native to your area and you have the right habitat?

[sbannister]

Have you found a natural predator for them mosquitoes yet,I'm curious to know what it is???

Frogs and lizards eat mosquitoes. Also, down here they stock standing water with little fish, like minnows, that eat the mosquito larvae. I don't know the exact species. After Katrina, we had a lot of abandoned swimming pools that filled up with rain, so that's what they did to stop the mosquito epidemic and they are still using this method. Also, dragonflies eat mosquitoes.

[Mona Miller]

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing this.

[sbannister]

You're welcome. The fish work but we still have mosquitoes. They spray for them also, but we still have them. I think they are under control but not totally.

[Mona Miller]

When the full summer heat comes here, not the spring and late fall we have mosquitoes, too. We also have tiger mosquitoes, which burn when they sting and keep burning. The mosquitoes are more active in the evening after 4 PM. They are not as active in the cool morning. So I do most of my work in the yard in the cool morning instead of the evening.