Bad year for rearing for us.

[tartandtiny]

My daughters and I started collecting eggs again this year. We didnt find very many. Out of 10 only two became butterfly's, the rest either didnt hatch or the cats did before getting much larger than 2nd instar.

I have seen a lot of butterfly's in my yard, nice to know they are out there.

I almost feel like I should have just let the eggs alone, maybe they would have had a better chance if I hadnt interfeered with Mother Nature.

[Mona Miller]

Very few eggs make it in nature. Perhaps 2-4 will make it to adulthood out of the 600-900 that can be laid by one female.

[tartandtiny]

That's amazing. I try to check for eggs in my yard after seeing a butterfly in the garden. But havent had much luck finding many.

There are so many aphids I think the butterfly's are looking for other plants to lay them on.

I also noticed that this year they are laying their eggs on the smaller imature milkweed plants instead of the larger plants in the garden.

Do you think there are still eggs to be found this late in the season? I am in central CT.

[chanceychelsey]

I collected about 8 eggs last week that have not hatched (I doubt they will at this point). I found one egg about 4 days ago that hatched overnight. I found that most of the eggs I collected from my yard, were also on immature plants. I have so far released 60 Monarchs. I have 80 chrysalis' waiting to hatch, approx. 30 cats eating in my cages outside and 35-40 small ones still inside. I found very few eggs/cats on the milkweed I collected from elsewhere to feed my guys. Most of my eggs were from my garden which has about 12-15 plants. My milkweed crop this year did not come back very strong this year, but there were still many Monarchs (and milkweed tussock moths) laying eggs on it. The milkweed along the side of the road here is still in very good shape. Many of the plants are still green and not yellowing yet and I am just starting to notice aphids now.
I am about 45 mins north of Toronto, so you may still find the odd egg. Now the challange is getting it growing and released while the weather is still warm enough.

Waystation 927
Tottenham, Ontario

[Sueinma]

I have about 125 Monarchs in process, from eggs to chrysalises. I've had lots of activity this year in eastern Mass. and still finding eggs daily. However, females will probably stop laying in the next week or so, if this year is similar to previous years. It is starting to get cool at night, and I think that might trigger them to start heading south or closer to the coast.

I've collected most of the eggs in my yard, but have also collected some at the milkweed meadow where I collect extra food for the large instars. The milkweed there is still in beautiful shape, especially considering it is a wild meadow.

As for aphids and other pests, I regularly patrol the milkweed in my yard from the beginning of the season and eliminate ALL other insects except for Monarch eggs and larvae. This inlcudes slugs, earwigs, spiders, beetles, etc. The aphids are pretty easy to control if you simply rub them off from the growth tips as soon as you see a few, and they never get a chance to colonize that way.

Also, I will often clip the tops off of milkweed plants that have degraded - this sometimes stimulates nice new growth tips, and the Monarch females love those. I agree that they seem to prefer the small plants. I followed a female around in the wild meadow for about a half hour collecting her eggs, and she was very choosy, and would find the teeniest plants hidden in the grass to oviposit.

[dandjtaylor]

Sue

I second your post here in Salem, MA. Still getting 20-40 eggs per day. Released over 1100 so far with still about 500 in process. But I will stop collecting on the first of September so they all have a chance to be gone by the time I have to go out of town in early October.

Hopefully, our East Coast population can make up for the terrible year that the midwest and plains have had.

[alletahg]

I also live in CT, near the shoreline, and am still finding eggs. We've released more than 80 butterflies so far and still have about 30 total eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalis. The milkweed in my yard has been blessedly free of aphids and since I cut it regularly to feed the caterpillars, there are always young leaves for the butterflies to lay eggs on. I haven't had as much luck finding eggs at a local park with lots of milkweed unless I really search hard for smaller plants. The bigger ones are going to seed already.

[Mona Miller]

Have you talked with the park about perhaps managing the milkweed patch and getting it certified as a Waystation? Monarchs need tender milkweed in the fall for that last generation. Cutting back some produces that tender milkweed. In a gas pipeline field, I cut back the stems of the milkweed that doesn't have seed pods.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/
Info on Monarch Watch Waystations