starving caterpillars

[butterfly mom]

Like many of you, I have been battling milkweed pests. Despite disposable gloves soaked with their remains, those horrible little beats (aphids or spider mites or whatever they are) kept increasing. The combination of them and a plethora of Monarch eggs resulted in nothing but stems. The slow-to-hatch Monarch babies have no leaves to eat. Does anybody know if they can survive on just the stems? Oh, I hope so!
Thanks,
... rita b

[Mona Miller]

So many kinds of milkweed. Common, swamp, tropical,... I've actually seen them chewing on the stems. I'd say if the stems are soft enough they will eat them. You don't have any source of wild milkweed. Every where I go, even in the city I see plants of milkweed in my area.

[texas butterfly]

Thoughts,

Look for the wild milkweed.

Contact a local garden club, maybe one of the members has milkweed.

Contact a local nature club and maybe they know of some resources for milkweed.

Botanical garden in your area?

Can you buy anymore? Maybe a local garden center has more milkweed that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides?

Just some thoughts and maybe one of these groups in your area could direct you to some milkweed.

I'm having same problem with my milkweed.

The yellow aphid, some other kind of small bug.
Rust on bottom of leaves and then the leaves yellow and fall off.
Black mold on tops of leaves.

Most of my milkweed was chopped back and it looks healthier now. The trimming of milkweed seemed to make it grow again.

Also, when you get milkweed for your cats. Do you just give them leaves?
Or do you cut a stem for them?

I found real good luck in just sticking the "bared" stems that cats ate into water. Within a couple of weeks these cuttings grew roots and started growing leaves again. I stuck cuttings in ground and they are making some nice younger leaves now. These cuttings actually saved me, since it gave me a new generation of milkweed leaves to use. And now some of the larger plants have recovered.

[Mona Miller]

Or, if you have some friends then you can ask them for some milkweed. I have the Washington Area Butterfly Club and they are a great group of butterfly loves. There may be a butterfly group in your area.

[butterfly mom]

Thanks to all of you for your care and suggestions. I've already tried all the nurseries. I dare not introduce native/wild milkweed since we are surrounded by "yard Nazis." (sigh) As a brand new member of the local garden club, with my first meeting not until the end of September, that is not an option for this year. However, sticking a couple of cuttings into the ground may do the trick.
You are a great group!
... rita b

[Mona Miller]

Does the garden club have a contact person? Contact them and asked if they know where to get milkweed. Don't wait until the end of September. Good luck!

[butterfly mom]

Aha! The milkweed is coming back. It is a joy to see the little leaves popping out.
... rita b

[Mona Miller]

Rita,

Both A. tuberosa and incarnata are well behaved. Not common milkweed, it rumps all over the place and is very tall. The first two can be planted in butterfly gardens that need to be well behaved. They don't run under ground and pop up all over the place. A. incarnata even has designer names associated with new cultivars. There's a white 'Ballet', a pink 'Soulmate' and a pink 'Cinderella'. All those designer A. incarnata's are loved by butterflies for nectaring and for monarch for eating.

[Wyvern]

Rita,

Both A. tuberosa and incarnata are well behaved. Not common milkweed, it rumps all over the place and is very tall. The first two can be planted in butterfly gardens that need to be well behaved. They don't run under ground and pop up all over the place. A. incarnata even has designer names associated with new cultivars. There's a white 'Ballet', a pink 'Soulmate' and a pink 'Cinderella'. All those designer A. incarnata's are loved by butterflies for nectaring and for monarch for eating.

Common milkweed can be tamed to some degree. In my yard it is actually very well behaved and pretty much stays where I want it. I do have a couple spots in the yard that it wants to send "runners" to underground, but only when there has been a lot of rain to soften the ground up in the first place. I just pull those shoots out of the ground once a week until they stop coming up (kinda the same behavior I do with bamboo runners lol). Also, it can be beneficial to "top" the milkweed plants at the end of June/1st week of July.... you'll see leaf buds at the joints of existing leaves down along the entire stalk. Pick a spot about half way down or so and cut above a node. When you top the plants, then those leaf buds will begin take off with fresh new growth..usually you can end up with two new stalks for the price of the one lol.

[Mona Miller]

Some associations actually have a no taller than 4 ft. rule. I've got some tiny common milkweed about one foot high in the front yard and I haven't dug it up, yet. I hope I don't get a letter from the association.