I’m very much on the stance of taking in caterpillars on doomed milkweed. In fact, I live in rural PA where milkweed commonly grows in fields mowed to plant corn or bail grass into hay. I had two fields across the road with 7 mature patches of milkweed each. So there are a large number of monarchs out there daily. Since I saw they were setting up to mow yesterday, I went out and found every egg and caterpillar I could find. I even found one chrysalis and a roosting female under a leaf. Anyways I found about 30 eggs and 40 caterpillars yesterday. I have a two milkweed patches that are 15 years old each. It was mowed today and I searched the wreckage for survivors and found a male monarch, two eggs, and a caterpillar. I’m going to raise them all and send them on their way. The male monarch is also doing surprisingly well by the way!
Now that indeed is some intense Monarch rescue! Bravo! That absolutely took some effort, and with those numbers, continued effort! Thank you for helping all of them out!
@@MrLundScience Some of the eggs already started hatching today. I had about 10 new cats today, leading me to believe these 10 were all from the same female. The others are still in their egg and the new caterpillars are back to their carefree munching after I moved them. So far it’s going pretty well and I just found another huge milkweed patch down the road that’s in no danger of being removed. So I have a backup if I need it. I’ve even resorted to caterpillar proofing my greenhouse and putting some potted milkweed in there with some of these guys to ensure there is no cannibalism at all and that they have the space they need. So far it’s manageable and some have already pupated. I hope I got to them before a wasp or tachnid fly did.
@@h2oquality2010 I do what I can. Normally I’d let nature be nature over there because I use them as my local ‘wild population’ to compare to the ones I raise. But that was a huge level of human interference so I decided that I’d take them all in and see how it goes.
I live in Kentucky on a farm and couldn't believe how much milkweed was disappearing. We don't do much farming anymore, so no sprays was killing it off. We planted 50 pounds of sunflowers this year and the milkweed has pretty much taken over the field now! Birds ate a lot of the seeds and deer ate the tops out of the sunflowers but there is still a few the butterflies can land on. I don't know what made the milkweed come back with a vengeance but so happy it did! This is my first year at trying to raise monarchs. I only have 2 caterpillars so far but still waiting on some eggs to hatch. Thank you so much for these video's. I've learned so much. I hope I get more comfortable as time goes by and can take care as many as you do at a time. I don't think most people think about how important butterflies and bees are to our ecosystem.
I wish you luck! It's habit forming, though. Few milkweed stalks I see go unsearched during these summer months, and many stalks are the parking lot type.
I didn't know you're in the metro Detroit area.. so am I. My neighbor turned me into a milkweed hunting monster. Every time I'm driving in the car, I'm looking for random growing milkweed ... I've brought my neighbor home at least 100 eggs and bunches of leaves. Happy I found your channel
Are you describing a type of caterpillar-grub-hub business? Ha ha! Very cool that you and your neighbor have teamed up this way! Thank you for helping them out!
Alright, Thank you for saving and raising them! I'm in California and raise many every year. Have my own milkweed in yard. I keep the catepillars on fine mesh cages to protect them from predators.
I'm in Delaware, the monarchs are just barely showing up last week or so. Plenty of plants in my garden. The A tuberosa plants do really well, I already have seedlings from seeds collected this season. The A syriaca on the other hand, it gets attacked by all sorts of bugs. The pods are huge, but the seeds are completely eaten on the inside.
I'm sorry about your luck with the A syriaca. It does seem that depending upon location in North America, how much pests can be a problem with the plant can certainly be a different experience. Sounds like (though I'm not for sure, of course) the culprit is the milkweed bug, which can decimate seed pods during the nymph stage. They can be tough to deal with. I wish you much luck with your continued efforts! Seems like many on the east are saying the Monarchs have taken a while to show up...but they are saying that they have shown up now!
@@MrLundScience started out very late for North IL. But has been gang busters ever since. You will be up and rearing before ya know it! Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge!
Hi Mr Lund! I have been working on establishing a Monarch sanctuary along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee for the past two years. Much research has gone into this effort and we have learned a great deal in the process. Your video series has been extremely valuable as a learning tool. I want to thank you for that and encourage you to continue the series for the sake of our endangered friends and the kind souls trying to help the population. I have a suggestion for you to possibly try and also a possible research topic you may be interested in. Watching you gather "doomed" milkweed made me smile and is a practice I use in feeding the hungry mouths we have rearing here in Wisconsin. Two years ago a Monarch mentor discussed the challenges in establishing new patches of milkweed. She spoke about the challenges of starting from seed as well as transplanting. We have been successful with both. I have seen your videos on starting from seed, but nothing on transplanting. Your video here inspired me to write. When saving "doomed" milkweed this summer, I did an experiment of my own. You mention the root system of the milkweed and allude to the fact that the root system for milkweed is indeed very resilient. We can use this fact to our advantage (and to the advantage of the Monarchs). I noticed this as well last year when transplanting several times from the same patch of established milkweed. I would dig some out, come back a week later, and there would be new shoots popping up from the remaining main root structure. This told me that transplanting was not only viable but is also a great way to get a new patch going without destroying the location where "borrowing" my plant starts. Fast forward to this year's experiment. When gathering "doomed" milkweed this summer, I would pull entire stalks as you demonstrate here in your video. I was very careful to grasp firmly as close to the ground as possible when pulling the plant. My goal is to try to bring along as much of the white root as possible. Once I got the stalks home, I start the process of preserving the stalks/ leaves for freshness/ longevity as a stored food source. I keep 5 gallon pails in my garage and add water. I then prune or trim the stalks much like you would do with fresh cut flowers. Cutting on an angle, I cut off around 6" from the bottom of the stalk, which when done will then include the bottom white root section. I then put the stalks as is into water and gather the bottom cuttings. The stalks will stay fresh like this for several days until I have time to inspect/ harvest the leaves for cleaning/ refrigeration. I then take the cuttings and plant directly into regular soil in a container (leaving a couple inches above ground) and give a good watering. I repeated this process all summer and was surprised by the results! On average, more than 50% of these simple root cuttings sprouted new growth and became viable transplant candidates. Pretty cool "side hustle" while going through the rearing/ feeding rituals we are all doing anyway. The root system is the key!! By the way one other root trick I learned this year. Tending to Monarch habitat includes daily monitoring for eggs and/ or predators as we know. You were spot-on when you pointed out in this video that young/ fresh growth attracts females for egg laying. This has been my experience as well. So I am constantly monitoring the tops of the milkweed plants for aphids, stink bugs, wasps, or other insect presence. In this process I am also watching for the emergence of flower heads. If you nip off the heads, the plant will then often send out new root runners in an effort to flower, thus propagating your milkweed patch!! Of course you can also let some flower if you want seed pods to form. We reared over 150 Monarchs this summer and had manny memorable experiences in the process. Next year's experiment will be to test whether female Monarchs lay both fertilised a well a non-fertilised eggs. We think this is the case (the breeding generations' main job is to propagate the species by being egg laying machines). Our hypothesis is that a female's job is to lay eggs and that they will lay even if their eggs are not fertilised. This would explain why we see so many eggs that do not hatch. Perhaps these topics may interest you as well!! Best to you and the rest of the community!!
I do this too! Both the taking in the eggs and caterpillars but also bringing home healthy leaves to give to my caterpillars later. I'm probably gonna steal your "doomed milkweed" name for it lol.
Greetings Christina! If "Dr." was used as a term of endearment, many thanks! But I do wish to go on record for any who happen to read this, I am not a doctor and have not earned such credentials. I agree with your observations. It's the young shoot new growths I'll often check first. Whether it's due to the newer, more tender and easier to chew leaves they offer, or the lower chance of other insects claiming the territory, or some combination of the two or even factors we don't know of, the mother Monarchs seem to recognize the advantages of laying on new growth. I hope your egg finds have been going well for you this season!
Loved watching the pick and hunt, don't usually see that. I am about 45min south of Detroit and in my 2nd year of monarch and black swallowtail rescue. Thanks!
If you wish for a surefire way to know which instar you are seeing, this video gives you a quick, visual way to know for sure for all five instars: ruclips.net/video/IuPsK6xOnDY/видео.html I hope this helps!
Thank you for an awesome video Mr Lund 😊 The "survival of the fittest" perspective has always irked me, when it comes to the monarchs. Paper wasps are rampant where I am. So many people also prefer to spray, rather than put in the work and hand weed garden areas. These creatures have everything against them. We have to make the effort, as you say, or we'll lose them.
Irking, I suppose can be a good verb. I certainly don't wish to diminish the argument, as it can have some validity. I just feel the validity of the argument carries more weight if we're looking at eggs laid in a natural, undisturbed setting. But, a fast food parking lot with plenty of human activity is a setting that has human perils not found in a natural setting. In those situations, I think a "survival of the fittest" argument becomes moot. 50 million + years of evolution have prepared the Monarchs for much...but not lawnmowers.
As it's from "unknown" sources, as people have brought up, it could potentially have been sprayed with herbicides/pesticides the day prior, so it may be worth rinsing such leaves! Good luck!
Happy to oblige! While I wasn't calling it "doomed" at the time, when living by some nature trails that had milkweed, I'd always check the young shoots that were in the trail mowing zone the parks & rec maintain so that any eggs on them could be found an taken in. Good luck in your search!
I absolutely love how you show yourself going out and looking for eggs and caterpillars!! Here’s my doomed milkweed story: I live on a farm and my dad’s cornfield got sprayed with round up earlier in the season. There was milkweed in the fields with monarch caterpillars on them I took in those caterpillars and raised them and many of them turned out to be beautiful butterflies!! I did have some deaths but they were due to tachinid flies.
Love your support for monarchs! I got into it finding some cats in some non native milweed in my area. I'm from south Spain and time to time you can find some monarchs flying around. Too sad that saving those does nothing to help the endangered monarchs from North America...
I admit, I do feel that the Asclepias syriaca spoils those who have access to it with the leaf sizes. Narrow leaves does mean more work, so I tip my hat to you and others who work with those species!
I know years where I wasn't at first finding eggs, expanding my search area has usually helped. Seems a spotty year for many, based upon comments and IG. Some are having a very dry year, while just a few counties over, others are having a seemingly normal one. Overall, it seems people are reporting them as less, and later in the season to arrive. Here's hoping, Grim!
People trying to save the monarchs are likely the people dropping seeds in parks and at fast food restaurants. Some monarch enthusiasts call that (you taking plants) poaching, but I go cut plants also because I care more about my cats than I do about silly rules lol however there’s a risk of collecting plants in areas of manicured parks, restaurants etc due to pesticides. The fact that those plants you collected are super clean with no aphids would suggest that’s a possibility
I had not heard the term "poaching" in this context. A type of place I've "poached" before, then, has been highway medians. I certainly don't recommend this when high speed traffic is involved, but times where I've searched highway medians before the milkweed is about to be mowed down, I've taken in eggs and caterpillars. I certainly agree, if the leaves are from an unknown source (meaning, you don't really know the milkweed and how it's cared or not cared for), they could contain recent sprays. I don't worry about this too much, though, as it's common practice for me to bleach treat leaves and eggs I take in. It washes off surface pesticides/herbicides, and disinfects for both NPV and OE spores. (If curious, the video that shows a bleach treatment procedure is here: ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html ) For any Monarchs you have rescued from certain doom, my thanks to you!
You are so fortunate to be able to just take a walk and find common milkweed growing around!!!! I live near la The only stuff I find is stuff deliberately planted in someone's garden Once I found tropical growing in a restaurant parking lot What a fluke. Still however planted in purpose Wish that stuff grew west of the Rockies !! I think you mentioned butterflies may avoid plants heavily covered with bugs Problem...how do you safely get rid of the bugs? Can you spray with something and cover with netting to keep adults off for a few days? Thanks as always You rock I am going to get milkweed and raising monarchs for release going in my grand child school Should be great learning for both monarchs and children!
Whats crazy is the milkweed looks after itself while the shrubs they planted require constant trimming and maintenance, and in my opinion is just as attractive, especially with stunning caterpillars on it.
the shrubs planted don’t “need” constant trimming or maintenance. They could just let them grow naturally but as a society we have deemed them not esthetically pleasing to the eye and decided a round ball was more acceptable. I personally love the natural beauty of an untamed meadow 🥰
There are plenty of spots in Metro Detroit, both commercial and residential that do seem to have spots reserved for some healthy looking adult milkweed plants, so that is encouraging. (I leave such plants alone, as they seem intentional, and thus, not mine to peruse and pluck from.)
@@MrLundScience Let's just hope they are catching on and it becomes a trend all over the range of monarchs and other insects. They just need a little help at the beginning and then they take off, I had one in my yard just 3 years ago, and from that one plant by rhizomes and me taking the seeds from it in the fall and planting them in trays I have around 50 plants..
With out tropical climate, you'd think i'd see milkweed growing all over down here in South Louisiana. However, i posit that since weeds/vegetation grows so profusely down here, it's the spraying of vegetation that has decimated the wild milkweed crop.
Do you talk to the property owners about this? I would think they'd be very cool about someone "weeding" their mulch bed. Then you could take as much as you want. I'm struggling to grow milkweed in Central Indiana for some reason this year, but have 2 little plants growing up in an old flower pot that I didn't plant anything in this year. How they got there, I'll never know, but I'm happy they're growing here!
In 10+ years of doing this and needing leaves for caterpillars, I'll have to admit, there's a few property owners I have not had the pleasure of meeting.
I was about to give up on monarchs this year until I FINALLY had a female lay eggs on some of my planted and potted milkweed on 8/1. I managed to score six monarch eggs, and I consider them little miracles given the complete lack of all butterflies this year. I have one brood of black swallowtails, and they are all siblings. Cabbage Whites were slow to show up too, so it’s not just a monarch issue. Given what people are seeing on the east coast, I’m wondering if there was some sort of weather disruption late last season or early in this one. I know my last cats flew in late October from Zone 7…which I consider very late!
Greetings Anna! Sounds like you've been having a busy season indeed! I agree, from what I'm hearing throughout the comments this year, the east coast seems to have much fewer Monarch sightings and eggs. Meanwhile, others in the mid-west are having "normal" year. (Normal, as far as the last ten years have been.) Perhaps a blip in this season's migration that we won't see again. Only time will tell.
@@MrLundScience Thank you for the reply! I’m seeing about one adult a day in my backyard, although it could be the same one just visiting time and time again! 🤣 But I’m not watching as often as I think I am, so that is a variable too! I have about 10 monarch cats in my outdoor butterfly habitat, and being very mindful of my future food supplies for the final September brood. I wish I could save every egg I find in my garden but I have to keep my eyes on that last group, same as my black swallowtails - the 30+ I have raised thus far in 2023 wiped out much of my parsley, and now I’m trying to grow more parsley and fennel for September/October. Milkweed is harder to grow when you want to grow it, so I’m planning for next year. Thank you for making sustainable food supplies part of your rebooted video series!
I often have daydreams of making some sort of sign begging people not to cut down/pull out these random milkweed patches. But I'm too shy (scared) to do it, and I don't know what to say.
Perhaps this can be subtle, yet effective. What if it's a small, visible sign that just says "Milkweed". That's it. A label. But, if a plant is labeled, it would be assumed someone cares about it. Might be less likely to be pulled. Granted, I've never done this, so can't speak to how effective it is, but...perhaps.
@@MrLundScience Thank you, that's a really good idea! All I need are some medium or large plastic plant labels and a sharpie, both of which I already have on hand.
Update: I don’t think one of my monarchs will make it, the reason is, this chrysalis didn’t close all the way, it as that thin membrane, which in itself may not be a problem, but there is this black looking liquid coming out while the chrysalis is still closed, and part of the monarchs wing is sticking out.
I agree that what you're describing doesn't sound good. Unfortunately, there's nothing much to do with a questionable chrysalis other than give it the chance to surprise you. Hope for the best, but of course, prepare for the worst. Sorry that this has occurred.
I've enjoyed a Painted Lady experience, and upon finding some caterpillars, there's been three times I've reared some Eastern Black Swallowtails. However, I'm not likely to make videos on other butterfly species. For me, I suppose it comes down to looking at it as, time spent with a different species (learning how to rear them, filming, editing, etc.) could be time spent with the Monarchs. As the Monarchs are the ones facing potentially threatened or endangered status, I'll likely be sticking with them for as long as there are still topics to cover and questions to answer.
Yo, I actually found another Cat yesterday and found another Cat today, so in total now I have 5, two are In chrysalis right now. I have noticed with one of my chrysalis that it didn’t close all the way, it looks like fins on either side of the chrysalis, the other chrysalis doesn’t have it, its smooth, any idea why?
Lucky finds! Great to hear that you have five now, Alex. As for the chrysalis, without seeing it, it's tough to diagnose what occurred, and that's not to say I could even if I were to see it. Sometimes, when forming the chrysalis, malformations can happen that are quite out of our control. Even so, I've had some chrysalides that have had slight malformations that still had a healthy adult emerge from. So, while it might have a different shape, it may be just fine. Of course, prepare yourself in case it is not. Good luck!
@@MrLundScience I’m watching your video on Chrysalis, you talked about a chrysalis forming with only a thin almost clear looking membrane and thats what my chrysalis is doing but on both sides, i could send you a photo on instagram if you want, so i do have high hopes that the butterfly will be just fine.
Last summer I had a bunch of monarch caterpillars, musta had about thirty of em, and the milkweed I had must have been previously sprayed, it was heartbreaking to watch them all die what look like a painful death, I gathered them up and tended to them hoping they would pull through but they did not I was so upset 😭💔
My apologies to you. Losing many at once can be heartbreaking and frustrating. At the time of making the following video - ( ruclips.net/video/2FE9646Z9xs/видео.html ) - I had just experienced losing a large number of caterpillars. At the time, I wasn't sure if it was NPV or not, or exactly what NPV was. Looking back, it may well have been a bacterial infection, or, feeding with pesticide treated leaves. Since that time, I've bleach treated my leaves using the procedure shown in that video, and haven't had such a situation since. Sorry for the losses you experienced, but it's great to see that it didn't discourage you. Thank you for your continued efforts with the Monarchs!
Would you please do a video about how to have a conversation with neighbors who use or want to use pesticides? My neighbor recently signed up when a door to door guy knocked, and I don't want this to stymie my monarch rearing, especially because we grow so many milkweeds here so I don't have to ever worry about food sources--forget every other reason I wish I could talk her out of this😮💨. I'm particularly interested in how to approach it so that I don't seem to be scolding her or making her feel like I'm looking down on her for her decision--if that makes sense? If you did a video on this before, and I missed it--my apologies.
We're in San miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. I'm starting to see what look like Monarchs here on their way to Michoacan. Do they also stop here to lay eggs, or are we so close to Michoacan, that they just continue to fly on?
I hope you're not asking for the statistical numerical answer on this one. ;-) As a general rule, milkweed we aren't familiar with has an unknown chance of having been sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or, may even contain OE parasite spores. For this reason, "wild sourced" leaves (even if only as wild as a parking lot) are bleach treated. I still use the procedure I show here: ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html Bleach treating leaves in this way can destroy OE parasite spores, NPV (a type of fatal Monarch virus), and also gives a thorough wash to any harmful chemicals (herbicides or pesticides) that are still on the exterior of the leaf or shoot. It is true that some herbicides/pesticides can be absorbed by the plant, depending upon which specific chemicals are involved, so it's not 100%, but the washing of leaves definitely minimizes these risks. While it might not be brought up in this video, I've been bleach treating my leaves ever since learning how to and why it helps, and I have not had any ill effects, and most importantly, zero NPV and zero OE outbreaks. Great question!
My dad mowed down some milkweed on his “lawn” (I say that because the thing was biologically dead after) and a couple weeks later more shoots shot up from the rhizomes. Life finds a way or something
Hi there! I have lots of milkweed plants (Narrowleaf) and live in Southern California, how can I reduce the aphid population safely with monarchs? I’m overrun with oleander aphids and the water blasting ain’t working 😂
The good news: I'm learning about these guys much more now, as I'm experiencing them in much higher numbers than where I previously was living. I do see an aphid specific episode in the future. The less-than-good-news: It'll take some time before I've got some good advice. It's likely an episode for next year. In the meantime, I do wish you luck (and MUCH sympathy) with your oleander battle!
I have not. I have heard it can not be successfully done. Then, I heard that it can be successfully done. Then, I forgot about wanting to test that out. Now, upon your comment, it's back on the list, so thank you for reminding me! While I'm fairly sure it's not for this season, I'll be testing this out next summer. I want to figure this one out!
Hi, do you have any videos about how to tend a milk weed plant after monarch season? I have a plant about 2m x 2m and I think about 5 out of 30 cats got black death this year which I promptly removed before it swept through the entire population (which it did last year). I also suspect a few had OE and have deformed wings, but I have not yet tested them. I now have aphids at the end of the stalks which I haven't been able to prune because they still have crysilises yet to hatch. When they have all hatched, what is the best way to sanitize and prune to promote healthy growth and populations next year. I'm in New Zealand.
Greetings! I would start by saying, it's tough to diagnose some things without seeing the subject first hand. There's at times some definite signs of certain ailments, such as NPV which will turn the deceased caterpillar very dark. (It's sometimes referred to as "black death".) For a curled feeler, or otherwise malformed one, while I can't be sure, it doesn't sound like it's a "deal breaker", so to speak. No immediate infection I've heard of has such a symptom. In addition, there was a time I had a caterpillar that at 3rd instar I noticed, it had a malformed, very short front tentacle. As it molted to 4th and 5th instar, the tentacle remained pretty much the same. I kept track of this caterpillar when it went into chrysalis, and waited to see how the adult would come out. When he emerged, there was no sign of any issue or deformity. He was a perfectly healthy butterfly. To sum up, we can't be sure, but it's not a terrible sign. If other symptoms arise, an ailment might be present, but if it's only the tentacles, it may work out without issue. Good luck!
Assuming I have a separate enclosure to rear them in, I keep them separate for best practice quarantine reasons. For the most part, caterpillars can't really pass on the major villains to each other, such as OE parasites or NPV. However, if a caterpillar does have NPV and then later dies from it, or in the case of some bacterial infections, it can often leak out fluids that do have the risk of then infecting other caterpillars. Typically, I want a few days of separation to see if that happens. In terms of the later season Monarchs, if I find caterpillars in the wild that are going to be the migratory generation (so for me in Michigan, caterpillars in August and onward) I will often leave them be. I'll still take in eggs, but for caterpillars, I usually choose not to for a few reasons. The caterpillar has made it that far, and with natural environmental cues. Further, usually later in the season, I have already caterpillars I'm rearing to keep me busy. Eggs, though, I have time to plan out where the milkweed I'll feed them will be coming from. I hope that makes sense! Sorry for the book answer to the question!
Greetings Brian! To prevent the leaves from wilting and keep the fresh for longer, I wrap the stem of the leaf in moistened paper towel strips, as I show in Raising Monarchs Part 2 - ruclips.net/video/Ehq__6MQP3w/видео.html (I queued it up to where I show this.) Just a moist paper towel strip wrapped around the stem base of the leaf seems to keep the "fresh" and with the proper amount of vein pressure for about 2 or 3 days. I'm able to often keep some extra leaves prepared this way in the fridge for feeding, and they'll stay good for a day or two. (Could maybe go longer, but I usually find fresher food than that.) I hope this helps!
Finally getting a few eggs some of them have already hatched but no cats. I have a ton of predators and they don't last very long. So I'm gonna go out and look again fight off the hornet's the spiders the weird little flies that I know infect them in fact I did find one that infected a cat very sad
questions: i've found just 3 caterpillars on my milkweed, but they need those fresh leaves. did you try to replant the stalks you pulled up? is there a way to preserve the leaves you harvested so they don't dry out so quickly?
Greetings! I did not replant the stalks, as I had caterpillars at home that were able to make a meal of them. With shoots pulled this way, though, I have at times treated them the same as individual leaves, where I'll wrap the base of the stem where I broke it off at (leaf or shoot) with wet paper towel. Helps extend the freshness of the shoot for about 2-3 days, and can be kept in the refrigerator for later use.
Nevermind I just saw your reply to someone else with a link to your NPV video and at the end you showed how you save the milkweed in the fridge! Thanks!
Yep, there's some different ways to do it I've seen others do. Some will use plastic test tubes to keep stems moist, be it for the leaves or for actual shoots they pull. I think it can be more difficult if the species of milkweed leaf is narrow than the Common Milkweed I have in Michigan (and many of us east of the Rockies have access to). For me, I have still find my quick wrap of moistened paper towel around the leaf stem is the quickest and cheapest, and they stay pretty fresh for as long as I need them to (2-3 days) in the fridge. I hope that helps!
@@MrLundScience thank you! Yes we are on the west side of Michigan with lots of common milkweed. I've been using your wrap method and it seems to be working well!
Greetings! I'm not sure if you're asking why did it happen, or, what is actually happening if a chrysalis turns this way, or, what is going to happen to the butterfly. And, depending upon what's being asked, I have a varying amount of knowledge. A general answer might be, though, that it's not good news. The chrysalis could be damaged. It could have an infection, be it viral or parasitic or some other type. There truly are a lot of possibilities. Even so, from my experience, there can be times when a chrysalis looks questionable, yet, a healthy adult still emerged from it. In those cases when a chrysalis is in question as to its health, I isolate it from any others (in case a contagion is involved) and still give it the chance to pleasantly surprise me, and sometimes, they do. Still...not always, so if you're experiencing this, please be prepared. There's a video on "Chrysalis Issues" that describes some of this, if you feel so inclined: ruclips.net/video/wB8udbV3kOY/видео.html I wish you luck with any chrysalis you may be dealing with, and thank you for your efforts with the Monarchs!
@@MrLundScience thank you for the tip of advice! I appreciate that and throughout this year I have been raising 24 monarch eggs and 14 of 24 lived on as butterflies while 5 baby caterpillars that just hatched escaped from my bug cage. 3 chrysalis I accidentally dropped on the ground but no damage on the outside until the next day when they turned white so 3 chrysalis didn’t turned into butterflies. 1 chrysalis was eaten by another Monarch which I learned that if the leaves are dryer up the caterpillars might bite off of each other which I learned that. So like you said in early videos that when they are hungry they need fresh leaves.
You have to be really careful when exploiting a new source of milkweed that it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides. If there are no aphids or caterpillars on it, I take a hard pass and keep checking it until I see evidence that things can live on it.
Doomed milkweed is a good way to introduce pesticides and other chemicals into your setup... and washing it may not remove it all since it can be *IN* the plant. You have to do what you have to do... and certainly rescuing and caterpillars or eggs etc would be beneficial, as long as you segregate as not possibly infect others
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I’m very much on the stance of taking in caterpillars on doomed milkweed. In fact, I live in rural PA where milkweed commonly grows in fields mowed to plant corn or bail grass into hay. I had two fields across the road with 7 mature patches of milkweed each. So there are a large number of monarchs out there daily. Since I saw they were setting up to mow yesterday, I went out and found every egg and caterpillar I could find. I even found one chrysalis and a roosting female under a leaf. Anyways I found about 30 eggs and 40 caterpillars yesterday. I have a two milkweed patches that are 15 years old each. It was mowed today and I searched the wreckage for survivors and found a male monarch, two eggs, and a caterpillar. I’m going to raise them all and send them on their way. The male monarch is also doing surprisingly well by the way!
God bless you for helping them! 👍
Now that indeed is some intense Monarch rescue! Bravo! That absolutely took some effort, and with those numbers, continued effort! Thank you for helping all of them out!
@@MrLundScience Some of the eggs already started hatching today. I had about 10 new cats today, leading me to believe these 10 were all from the same female. The others are still in their egg and the new caterpillars are back to their carefree munching after I moved them. So far it’s going pretty well and I just found another huge milkweed patch down the road that’s in no danger of being removed. So I have a backup if I need it. I’ve even resorted to caterpillar proofing my greenhouse and putting some potted milkweed in there with some of these guys to ensure there is no cannibalism at all and that they have the space they need. So far it’s manageable and some have already pupated. I hope I got to them before a wasp or tachnid fly did.
@@h2oquality2010 I do what I can. Normally I’d let nature be nature over there because I use them as my local ‘wild population’ to compare to the ones I raise. But that was a huge level of human interference so I decided that I’d take them all in and see how it goes.
I started helping monarchs after finding your videos. Now my grandkids help me. I’m so grateful for your instruction and knowledge. Thank you!!!
Welcome aboard! I'm certainly grateful for people being able to use the information. Thank you for getting involved!
Love the effort you put into helping out monarchs 👏
Many thanks! I'll do my best.
I live in Kentucky on a farm and couldn't believe how much milkweed was disappearing. We don't do much farming anymore, so no sprays was killing it off. We planted 50 pounds of sunflowers this year and the milkweed has pretty much taken over the field now! Birds ate a lot of the seeds and deer ate the tops out of the sunflowers but there is still a few the butterflies can land on. I don't know what made the milkweed come back with a vengeance but so happy it did! This is my first year at trying to raise monarchs. I only have 2 caterpillars so far but still waiting on some eggs to hatch. Thank you so much for these video's. I've learned so much. I hope I get more comfortable as time goes by and can take care as many as you do at a time. I don't think most people think about how important butterflies and bees are to our ecosystem.
I truly enjoyed this! I have ZERO Monarchs in my yard this year…and last! 😢 South Jersey. I’m going to go look for doomed cats and milkweed! ❤❤❤
I wish you luck! It's habit forming, though. Few milkweed stalks I see go unsearched during these summer months, and many stalks are the parking lot type.
I didn't know you're in the metro Detroit area.. so am I.
My neighbor turned me into a milkweed hunting monster. Every time I'm driving in the car, I'm looking for random growing milkweed ... I've brought my neighbor home at least 100 eggs and bunches of leaves.
Happy I found your channel
Are you describing a type of caterpillar-grub-hub business? Ha ha!
Very cool that you and your neighbor have teamed up this way! Thank you for helping them out!
That's funny. But really, I'd rather go find her eggs and milkweed than knowing she's buying eggs off the internet.
my local coffee shop has always been my favorite spot for doomed milkweed!
Caffeine and milkweed at just one stop? Sounds perfect!
Alright, Thank you for saving and raising them! I'm in California and raise many every year. Have my own milkweed in yard. I keep the catepillars on fine mesh cages to protect them from predators.
Much appreciated. Very cool that your caterpillars are getting the outdoor experience! Thank you as well for your help with this important pollinator!
It is now illegal to raise monarchs in California, cant touch or otherwise interfere with them in any way. A permit is required to do so.
Hi! Can you please tell me more about your mesh? How fine do you use and where did you buy it? Thanks!
I'm in Delaware, the monarchs are just barely showing up last week or so. Plenty of plants in my garden. The A tuberosa plants do really well, I already have seedlings from seeds collected this season. The A syriaca on the other hand, it gets attacked by all sorts of bugs. The pods are huge, but the seeds are completely eaten on the inside.
I'm sorry about your luck with the A syriaca. It does seem that depending upon location in North America, how much pests can be a problem with the plant can certainly be a different experience. Sounds like (though I'm not for sure, of course) the culprit is the milkweed bug, which can decimate seed pods during the nymph stage. They can be tough to deal with.
I wish you much luck with your continued efforts! Seems like many on the east are saying the Monarchs have taken a while to show up...but they are saying that they have shown up now!
So good to see you back. I have not missed one of your videos. On my 5th year rearing Monarchs. Thanks for all your knowledge!
Greetings Patti! It's great to be back! Congrats on year five! I certainly hope your season is treating you well!
@@MrLundScience started out very late for North IL. But has been gang busters ever since. You will be up and rearing before ya know it! Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge!
Hi Mr Lund! I have been working on establishing a Monarch sanctuary along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee for the past two years. Much research has gone into this effort and we have learned a great deal in the process. Your video series has been extremely valuable as a learning tool. I want to thank you for that and encourage you to continue the series for the sake of our endangered friends and the kind souls trying to help the population.
I have a suggestion for you to possibly try and also a possible research topic you may be interested in. Watching you gather "doomed" milkweed made me smile and is a practice I use in feeding the hungry mouths we have rearing here in Wisconsin. Two years ago a Monarch mentor discussed the challenges in establishing new patches of milkweed. She spoke about the challenges of starting from seed as well as transplanting. We have been successful with both. I have seen your videos on starting from seed, but nothing on transplanting. Your video here inspired me to write.
When saving "doomed" milkweed this summer, I did an experiment of my own. You mention the root system of the milkweed and allude to the fact that the root system for milkweed is indeed very resilient. We can use this fact to our advantage (and to the advantage of the Monarchs). I noticed this as well last year when transplanting several times from the same patch of established milkweed. I would dig some out, come back a week later, and there would be new shoots popping up from the remaining main root structure.
This told me that transplanting was not only viable but is also a great way to get a new patch going without destroying the location where "borrowing" my plant starts. Fast forward to this year's experiment. When gathering "doomed" milkweed this summer, I would pull entire stalks as you demonstrate here in your video. I was very careful to grasp firmly as close to the ground as possible when pulling the plant. My goal is to try to bring along as much of the white root as possible. Once I got the stalks home, I start the process of preserving the stalks/ leaves for freshness/ longevity as a stored food source.
I keep 5 gallon pails in my garage and add water. I then prune or trim the stalks much like you would do with fresh cut flowers. Cutting on an angle, I cut off around 6" from the bottom of the stalk, which when done will then include the bottom white root section. I then put the stalks as is into water and gather the bottom cuttings. The stalks will stay fresh like this for several days until I have time to inspect/ harvest the leaves for cleaning/ refrigeration.
I then take the cuttings and plant directly into regular soil in a container (leaving a couple inches above ground) and give a good watering. I repeated this process all summer and was surprised by the results! On average, more than 50% of these simple root cuttings sprouted new growth and became viable transplant candidates. Pretty cool "side hustle" while going through the rearing/ feeding rituals we are all doing anyway. The root system is the key!!
By the way one other root trick I learned this year. Tending to Monarch habitat includes daily monitoring for eggs and/ or predators as we know. You were spot-on when you pointed out in this video that young/ fresh growth attracts females for egg laying. This has been my experience as well. So I am constantly monitoring the tops of the milkweed plants for aphids, stink bugs, wasps, or other insect presence. In this process I am also watching for the emergence of flower heads. If you nip off the heads, the plant will then often send out new root runners in an effort to flower, thus propagating your milkweed patch!! Of course you can also let some flower if you want seed pods to form.
We reared over 150 Monarchs this summer and had manny memorable experiences in the process. Next year's experiment will be to test whether female Monarchs lay both fertilised a well a non-fertilised eggs. We think this is the case (the breeding generations' main job is to propagate the species by being egg laying machines). Our hypothesis is that a female's job is to lay eggs and that they will lay even if their eggs are not fertilised. This would explain why we see so many eggs that do not hatch.
Perhaps these topics may interest you as well!!
Best to you and the rest of the community!!
U FINNALY POSTEDDDD
True!
I do this too! Both the taking in the eggs and caterpillars but also bringing home healthy leaves to give to my caterpillars later. I'm probably gonna steal your "doomed milkweed" name for it lol.
Very cool! And it's not term theft, as all terms originate somewhere!
Thank you thank you thank you for returning to us, your constant online-students and hoping there will be many more.
Thank you, Debbie, and thank you for your constant vigilance on this issue. Your help in the comments sections has been so very much appreciated!
Thanks, Dr. Lund!
Great video 📹 like always.
I've noticed new growth tends to attract the female monarchs to lay eggs. 😊
Greetings Christina!
If "Dr." was used as a term of endearment, many thanks! But I do wish to go on record for any who happen to read this, I am not a doctor and have not earned such credentials.
I agree with your observations. It's the young shoot new growths I'll often check first. Whether it's due to the newer, more tender and easier to chew leaves they offer, or the lower chance of other insects claiming the territory, or some combination of the two or even factors we don't know of, the mother Monarchs seem to recognize the advantages of laying on new growth.
I hope your egg finds have been going well for you this season!
Thanks so much, Mr. Lund 😁
You are inspiring ! - GOOD vid.
Hey, much appreciated. Thank you much!
Loved watching the pick and hunt, don't usually see that. I am about 45min south of Detroit and in my 2nd year of monarch and black swallowtail rescue. Thanks!
Egg hunts always have a bit of a thrill to them. Sometimes, we can be very surprised with what we find! Part of the joy!
I LOVBED LEARNING ABOUT HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CAT INSTARS! THIS IS SO HELPFUL!! JUNE
If you wish for a surefire way to know which instar you are seeing, this video gives you a quick, visual way to know for sure for all five instars: ruclips.net/video/IuPsK6xOnDY/видео.html
I hope this helps!
Thank you for an awesome video Mr Lund 😊
The "survival of the fittest" perspective has always irked me, when it comes to the monarchs. Paper wasps are rampant where I am. So many people also prefer to spray, rather than put in the work and hand weed garden areas. These creatures have everything against them. We have to make the effort, as you say, or we'll lose them.
Irking, I suppose can be a good verb. I certainly don't wish to diminish the argument, as it can have some validity. I just feel the validity of the argument carries more weight if we're looking at eggs laid in a natural, undisturbed setting. But, a fast food parking lot with plenty of human activity is a setting that has human perils not found in a natural setting. In those situations, I think a "survival of the fittest" argument becomes moot. 50 million + years of evolution have prepared the Monarchs for much...but not lawnmowers.
@@MrLundScience I 100% agree.
Never thought of checking random doomed milkweed, great idea! Thanks
As it's from "unknown" sources, as people have brought up, it could potentially have been sprayed with herbicides/pesticides the day prior, so it may be worth rinsing such leaves! Good luck!
Thank you for the idea! We live near forrest preserves and the seeds produce plenty of "doomed" milkweed around.
Happy to oblige! While I wasn't calling it "doomed" at the time, when living by some nature trails that had milkweed, I'd always check the young shoots that were in the trail mowing zone the parks & rec maintain so that any eggs on them could be found an taken in. Good luck in your search!
I absolutely love how you show yourself going out and looking for eggs and caterpillars!! Here’s my doomed milkweed story: I live on a farm and my dad’s cornfield got sprayed with round up earlier in the season. There was milkweed in the fields with monarch caterpillars on them I took in those caterpillars and raised them and many of them turned out to be beautiful butterflies!! I did have some deaths but they were due to tachinid flies.
Sorry about the tachinid flies, but other than those, sounds like you very much came to their rescue!
Love your support for monarchs! I got into it finding some cats in some non native milweed in my area. I'm from south Spain and time to time you can find some monarchs flying around. Too sad that saving those does nothing to help the endangered monarchs from North America...
Greetings from the US! It's so amazing to me still that Monarchs appear in Europe from time to time. Very awesome!
Awesome to see you back!! 👍👍
Thank you. It's great to be back!
The milkweed leaves you find in all your videos are HUGE! Narrow leaf is native to California & way smaller.❤
I admit, I do feel that the Asclepias syriaca spoils those who have access to it with the leaf sizes. Narrow leaves does mean more work, so I tip my hat to you and others who work with those species!
Hello Mr Lund! Good to see you back.
Greetings! It's great to be back!
Perhaps I should go do some rescue searching. My plants just aren't bringing them in this year.
I know years where I wasn't at first finding eggs, expanding my search area has usually helped. Seems a spotty year for many, based upon comments and IG. Some are having a very dry year, while just a few counties over, others are having a seemingly normal one. Overall, it seems people are reporting them as less, and later in the season to arrive. Here's hoping, Grim!
Glad you're back.
Very happy to be back. Thank you!
People trying to save the monarchs are likely the people dropping seeds in parks and at fast food restaurants. Some monarch enthusiasts call that (you taking plants) poaching, but I go cut plants also because I care more about my cats than I do about silly rules lol however there’s a risk of collecting plants in areas of manicured parks, restaurants etc due to pesticides. The fact that those plants you collected are super clean with no aphids would suggest that’s a possibility
I had not heard the term "poaching" in this context. A type of place I've "poached" before, then, has been highway medians. I certainly don't recommend this when high speed traffic is involved, but times where I've searched highway medians before the milkweed is about to be mowed down, I've taken in eggs and caterpillars.
I certainly agree, if the leaves are from an unknown source (meaning, you don't really know the milkweed and how it's cared or not cared for), they could contain recent sprays. I don't worry about this too much, though, as it's common practice for me to bleach treat leaves and eggs I take in. It washes off surface pesticides/herbicides, and disinfects for both NPV and OE spores.
(If curious, the video that shows a bleach treatment procedure is here: ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html )
For any Monarchs you have rescued from certain doom, my thanks to you!
You are so fortunate to be able to just take a walk and find common milkweed growing around!!!! I live near la The only stuff I find is stuff deliberately planted in someone's garden Once I found tropical growing in a restaurant parking lot What a fluke. Still however planted in purpose Wish that stuff grew west of the Rockies !!
I think you mentioned butterflies may avoid plants heavily covered with bugs Problem...how do you safely get rid of the bugs? Can you spray with something and cover with netting to keep adults off for a few days? Thanks as always You rock I am going to get milkweed and raising monarchs for release going in my grand child school Should be great learning for both monarchs and children!
Whats crazy is the milkweed looks after itself while the shrubs they planted require constant trimming and maintenance, and in my opinion is just as attractive, especially with stunning caterpillars on it.
the shrubs planted don’t “need” constant trimming or maintenance. They could just let them grow naturally but as a society we have deemed them not esthetically pleasing to the eye and decided a round ball was more acceptable. I personally love the natural beauty of an untamed meadow 🥰
There are plenty of spots in Metro Detroit, both commercial and residential that do seem to have spots reserved for some healthy looking adult milkweed plants, so that is encouraging. (I leave such plants alone, as they seem intentional, and thus, not mine to peruse and pluck from.)
@@MrLundScience Let's just hope they are catching on and it becomes a trend all over the range of monarchs and other insects. They just need a little help at the beginning and then they take off, I had one in my yard just 3 years ago, and from that one plant by rhizomes and me taking the seeds from it in the fall and planting them in trays I have around 50 plants..
@@Cathy_MidwestHome_Hens Ya bad wording on my part, you've summed it up nicely.
With out tropical climate, you'd think i'd see milkweed growing all over down here in South Louisiana. However, i posit that since weeds/vegetation grows so profusely down here, it's the spraying of vegetation that has decimated the wild milkweed crop.
I also started growing milkweed (Asclepias Curassavica) from seed. Just want to help local butterflies. It's already sprouting
Great to see it sprouting, right? Very cool!
great video.
Thank you, kindly!
Do you talk to the property owners about this? I would think they'd be very cool about someone "weeding" their mulch bed. Then you could take as much as you want. I'm struggling to grow milkweed in Central Indiana for some reason this year, but have 2 little plants growing up in an old flower pot that I didn't plant anything in this year. How they got there, I'll never know, but I'm happy they're growing here!
In 10+ years of doing this and needing leaves for caterpillars, I'll have to admit, there's a few property owners I have not had the pleasure of meeting.
I was about to give up on monarchs this year until I FINALLY had a female lay eggs on some of my planted and potted milkweed on 8/1. I managed to score six monarch eggs, and I consider them little miracles given the complete lack of all butterflies this year. I have one brood of black swallowtails, and they are all siblings. Cabbage Whites were slow to show up too, so it’s not just a monarch issue.
Given what people are seeing on the east coast, I’m wondering if there was some sort of weather disruption late last season or early in this one. I know my last cats flew in late October from Zone 7…which I consider very late!
Greetings Anna! Sounds like you've been having a busy season indeed!
I agree, from what I'm hearing throughout the comments this year, the east coast seems to have much fewer Monarch sightings and eggs. Meanwhile, others in the mid-west are having "normal" year. (Normal, as far as the last ten years have been.) Perhaps a blip in this season's migration that we won't see again. Only time will tell.
@@MrLundScience Thank you for the reply! I’m seeing about one adult a day in my backyard, although it could be the same one just visiting time and time again! 🤣 But I’m not watching as often as I think I am, so that is a variable too!
I have about 10 monarch cats in my outdoor butterfly habitat, and being very mindful of my future food supplies for the final September brood. I wish I could save every egg I find in my garden but I have to keep my eyes on that last group, same as my black swallowtails - the 30+ I have raised thus far in 2023 wiped out much of my parsley, and now I’m trying to grow more parsley and fennel for September/October. Milkweed is harder to grow when you want to grow it, so I’m planning for next year. Thank you for making sustainable food supplies part of your rebooted video series!
Nummy nummies!!
Indeed!
I often have daydreams of making some sort of sign begging people not to cut down/pull out these random milkweed patches. But I'm too shy (scared) to do it, and I don't know what to say.
Perhaps this can be subtle, yet effective. What if it's a small, visible sign that just says "Milkweed". That's it. A label. But, if a plant is labeled, it would be assumed someone cares about it. Might be less likely to be pulled. Granted, I've never done this, so can't speak to how effective it is, but...perhaps.
@@MrLundScience Thank you, that's a really good idea! All I need are some medium or large plastic plant labels and a sharpie, both of which I already have on hand.
Update: I don’t think one of my monarchs will make it, the reason is, this chrysalis didn’t close all the way, it as that thin membrane, which in itself may not be a problem, but there is this black looking liquid coming out while the chrysalis is still closed, and part of the monarchs wing is sticking out.
I agree that what you're describing doesn't sound good. Unfortunately, there's nothing much to do with a questionable chrysalis other than give it the chance to surprise you. Hope for the best, but of course, prepare for the worst. Sorry that this has occurred.
Any chance you could try raising some other butterfly species?
I've enjoyed a Painted Lady experience, and upon finding some caterpillars, there's been three times I've reared some Eastern Black Swallowtails. However, I'm not likely to make videos on other butterfly species. For me, I suppose it comes down to looking at it as, time spent with a different species (learning how to rear them, filming, editing, etc.) could be time spent with the Monarchs. As the Monarchs are the ones facing potentially threatened or endangered status, I'll likely be sticking with them for as long as there are still topics to cover and questions to answer.
Yo, I actually found another Cat yesterday and found another Cat today, so in total now I have 5, two are In chrysalis right now. I have noticed with one of my chrysalis that it didn’t close all the way, it looks like fins on either side of the chrysalis, the other chrysalis doesn’t have it, its smooth, any idea why?
Lucky finds! Great to hear that you have five now, Alex. As for the chrysalis, without seeing it, it's tough to diagnose what occurred, and that's not to say I could even if I were to see it. Sometimes, when forming the chrysalis, malformations can happen that are quite out of our control. Even so, I've had some chrysalides that have had slight malformations that still had a healthy adult emerge from. So, while it might have a different shape, it may be just fine. Of course, prepare yourself in case it is not. Good luck!
@@MrLundScience I’m watching your video on Chrysalis, you talked about a chrysalis forming with only a thin almost clear looking membrane and thats what my chrysalis is doing but on both sides, i could send you a photo on instagram if you want, so i do have high hopes that the butterfly will be just fine.
Last summer I had a bunch of monarch caterpillars, musta had about thirty of em, and the milkweed I had must have been previously sprayed, it was heartbreaking to watch them all die what look like a painful death, I gathered them up and tended to them hoping they would pull through but they did not I was so upset 😭💔
My apologies to you. Losing many at once can be heartbreaking and frustrating. At the time of making the following video - ( ruclips.net/video/2FE9646Z9xs/видео.html ) - I had just experienced losing a large number of caterpillars. At the time, I wasn't sure if it was NPV or not, or exactly what NPV was. Looking back, it may well have been a bacterial infection, or, feeding with pesticide treated leaves. Since that time, I've bleach treated my leaves using the procedure shown in that video, and haven't had such a situation since.
Sorry for the losses you experienced, but it's great to see that it didn't discourage you. Thank you for your continued efforts with the Monarchs!
Do monarch butterflies lay eggs on first year milkweed
Jesus, I only have 8 chrysalis and 1 butterfly so far.
Be fair to yourself. [insert smiley emoji here] I'm a school teacher. I have time during the day to look. Congrats on the 9 you are rearing!
Would you please do a video about how to have a conversation with neighbors who use or want to use pesticides? My neighbor recently signed up when a door to door guy knocked, and I don't want this to stymie my monarch rearing, especially because we grow so many milkweeds here so I don't have to ever worry about food sources--forget every other reason I wish I could talk her out of this😮💨. I'm particularly interested in how to approach it so that I don't seem to be scolding her or making her feel like I'm looking down on her for her decision--if that makes sense? If you did a video on this before, and I missed it--my apologies.
Maybe leave a sign saying why these plants shouldn't be pulled.
I suppose that is always an option. From what I'm seeing, though, I'd be making a lot of signs for Metro Detroit!
We're in San miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. I'm starting to see what look like Monarchs here on their way to Michoacan. Do they also stop here to lay eggs, or are we so close to Michoacan, that they just continue to fly on?
What’s the chances that they were sprayed with anything😢
That’s what I’m worried about
They had living caterpillars on them so they were likely okay
The cats are alive and well, if sprayed, they'd be reacting.
I hope you're not asking for the statistical numerical answer on this one. ;-)
As a general rule, milkweed we aren't familiar with has an unknown chance of having been sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or, may even contain OE parasite spores. For this reason, "wild sourced" leaves (even if only as wild as a parking lot) are bleach treated. I still use the procedure I show here: ruclips.net/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/видео.html
Bleach treating leaves in this way can destroy OE parasite spores, NPV (a type of fatal Monarch virus), and also gives a thorough wash to any harmful chemicals (herbicides or pesticides) that are still on the exterior of the leaf or shoot. It is true that some herbicides/pesticides can be absorbed by the plant, depending upon which specific chemicals are involved, so it's not 100%, but the washing of leaves definitely minimizes these risks.
While it might not be brought up in this video, I've been bleach treating my leaves ever since learning how to and why it helps, and I have not had any ill effects, and most importantly, zero NPV and zero OE outbreaks.
Great question!
@@MrLundScience ah
My dad mowed down some milkweed on his “lawn” (I say that because the thing was biologically dead after) and a couple weeks later more shoots shot up from the rhizomes. Life finds a way or something
Hi there! I have lots of milkweed plants (Narrowleaf) and live in Southern California, how can I reduce the aphid population safely with monarchs? I’m overrun with oleander aphids and the water blasting ain’t working 😂
The good news: I'm learning about these guys much more now, as I'm experiencing them in much higher numbers than where I previously was living. I do see an aphid specific episode in the future.
The less-than-good-news: It'll take some time before I've got some good advice. It's likely an episode for next year.
In the meantime, I do wish you luck (and MUCH sympathy) with your oleander battle!
Have you ever tried propagating milkweed from cuttings? How does the success of this method compare to growing from seed?
I have not. I have heard it can not be successfully done. Then, I heard that it can be successfully done. Then, I forgot about wanting to test that out. Now, upon your comment, it's back on the list, so thank you for reminding me! While I'm fairly sure it's not for this season, I'll be testing this out next summer. I want to figure this one out!
Hi, do you have any videos about how to tend a milk weed plant after monarch season? I have a plant about 2m x 2m and I think about 5 out of 30 cats got black death this year which I promptly removed before it swept through the entire population (which it did last year). I also suspect a few had OE and have deformed wings, but I have not yet tested them. I now have aphids at the end of the stalks which I haven't been able to prune because they still have crysilises yet to hatch. When they have all hatched, what is the best way to sanitize and prune to promote healthy growth and populations next year. I'm in New Zealand.
Can you transplant that milkweed? You started me on my butterfly journey. I planted a dozen milkweed plants and I’m realizing I need more.
I have a cat with his front feelers curled…..is it sick?
Greetings!
I would start by saying, it's tough to diagnose some things without seeing the subject first hand. There's at times some definite signs of certain ailments, such as NPV which will turn the deceased caterpillar very dark. (It's sometimes referred to as "black death".)
For a curled feeler, or otherwise malformed one, while I can't be sure, it doesn't sound like it's a "deal breaker", so to speak. No immediate infection I've heard of has such a symptom. In addition, there was a time I had a caterpillar that at 3rd instar I noticed, it had a malformed, very short front tentacle. As it molted to 4th and 5th instar, the tentacle remained pretty much the same. I kept track of this caterpillar when it went into chrysalis, and waited to see how the adult would come out. When he emerged, there was no sign of any issue or deformity. He was a perfectly healthy butterfly.
To sum up, we can't be sure, but it's not a terrible sign. If other symptoms arise, an ailment might be present, but if it's only the tentacles, it may work out without issue. Good luck!
I do understand the “cats” lol
Definitely didn't want to be confusing if any didn't!
What happens if the chrysalis is small?
When you find caterpillars in the wild, do you add them to your populations or keep them separate?
Assuming I have a separate enclosure to rear them in, I keep them separate for best practice quarantine reasons. For the most part, caterpillars can't really pass on the major villains to each other, such as OE parasites or NPV. However, if a caterpillar does have NPV and then later dies from it, or in the case of some bacterial infections, it can often leak out fluids that do have the risk of then infecting other caterpillars. Typically, I want a few days of separation to see if that happens.
In terms of the later season Monarchs, if I find caterpillars in the wild that are going to be the migratory generation (so for me in Michigan, caterpillars in August and onward) I will often leave them be. I'll still take in eggs, but for caterpillars, I usually choose not to for a few reasons. The caterpillar has made it that far, and with natural environmental cues. Further, usually later in the season, I have already caterpillars I'm rearing to keep me busy. Eggs, though, I have time to plan out where the milkweed I'll feed them will be coming from.
I hope that makes sense! Sorry for the book answer to the question!
After picking the leaves do you have to do anything to them to keep them fresh and from wilting ?
Greetings Brian!
To prevent the leaves from wilting and keep the fresh for longer, I wrap the stem of the leaf in moistened paper towel strips, as I show in Raising Monarchs Part 2 - ruclips.net/video/Ehq__6MQP3w/видео.html
(I queued it up to where I show this.)
Just a moist paper towel strip wrapped around the stem base of the leaf seems to keep the "fresh" and with the proper amount of vein pressure for about 2 or 3 days. I'm able to often keep some extra leaves prepared this way in the fridge for feeding, and they'll stay good for a day or two. (Could maybe go longer, but I usually find fresher food than that.)
I hope this helps!
Finally getting a few eggs some of them have already hatched but no cats. I have a ton of predators and they don't last very long. So I'm gonna go out and look again fight off the hornet's the spiders the weird little flies that I know infect them in fact I did find one that infected a cat very sad
Great to hear that you're saving those eggs from the predatory doom they'd otherwise be facing! Thank you for helping them out!
if you want to find monarch caterpillars, go out at night & use a black light! they glow under blacklight!
questions: i've found just 3 caterpillars on my milkweed, but they need those fresh leaves. did you try to replant the stalks you pulled up? is there a way to preserve the leaves you harvested so they don't dry out so quickly?
Greetings! I did not replant the stalks, as I had caterpillars at home that were able to make a meal of them. With shoots pulled this way, though, I have at times treated them the same as individual leaves, where I'll wrap the base of the stem where I broke it off at (leaf or shoot) with wet paper towel. Helps extend the freshness of the shoot for about 2-3 days, and can be kept in the refrigerator for later use.
With that much milkweed, how do you keep it fresh to feed the cats? Im assuming you don't give it all to them right away
Nevermind I just saw your reply to someone else with a link to your NPV video and at the end you showed how you save the milkweed in the fridge! Thanks!
Yep, there's some different ways to do it I've seen others do. Some will use plastic test tubes to keep stems moist, be it for the leaves or for actual shoots they pull. I think it can be more difficult if the species of milkweed leaf is narrow than the Common Milkweed I have in Michigan (and many of us east of the Rockies have access to). For me, I have still find my quick wrap of moistened paper towel around the leaf stem is the quickest and cheapest, and they stay pretty fresh for as long as I need them to (2-3 days) in the fridge.
I hope that helps!
@@MrLundScience thank you! Yes we are on the west side of Michigan with lots of common milkweed. I've been using your wrap method and it seems to be working well!
Question, what happens to the chrysalis when it turns white and dirty black?
Greetings!
I'm not sure if you're asking why did it happen, or, what is actually happening if a chrysalis turns this way, or, what is going to happen to the butterfly. And, depending upon what's being asked, I have a varying amount of knowledge.
A general answer might be, though, that it's not good news. The chrysalis could be damaged. It could have an infection, be it viral or parasitic or some other type. There truly are a lot of possibilities. Even so, from my experience, there can be times when a chrysalis looks questionable, yet, a healthy adult still emerged from it. In those cases when a chrysalis is in question as to its health, I isolate it from any others (in case a contagion is involved) and still give it the chance to pleasantly surprise me, and sometimes, they do. Still...not always, so if you're experiencing this, please be prepared.
There's a video on "Chrysalis Issues" that describes some of this, if you feel so inclined: ruclips.net/video/wB8udbV3kOY/видео.html
I wish you luck with any chrysalis you may be dealing with, and thank you for your efforts with the Monarchs!
@@MrLundScience thank you for the tip of advice! I appreciate that and throughout this year I have been raising 24 monarch eggs and 14 of 24 lived on as butterflies while 5 baby caterpillars that just hatched escaped from my bug cage. 3 chrysalis I accidentally dropped on the ground but no damage on the outside until the next day when they turned white so 3 chrysalis didn’t turned into butterflies. 1 chrysalis was eaten by another Monarch which I learned that if the leaves are dryer up the caterpillars might bite off of each other which I learned that. So like you said in early videos that when they are hungry they need fresh leaves.
I hope i can get cats next year there were non this year
I'm sorry to hear that. Are you in North America? If so, there is still time this season!
@@MrLundScience yep and i hope i can find some there is always next year to
You have to be really careful when exploiting a new source of milkweed that it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides. If there are no aphids or caterpillars on it, I take a hard pass and keep checking it until I see evidence that things can live on it.
Doomed milkweed is a good way to introduce pesticides and other chemicals into your setup... and washing it may not remove it all since it can be *IN* the plant.
You have to do what you have to do... and certainly rescuing and caterpillars or eggs etc would be beneficial, as long as you segregate as not possibly infect others