22 replies to this topic

[wildedibles]

Over the years I have noticed the numbers going down even tho more people are planting butterfly gardens.

Milkweed is being ripped out all over the place and being poisoned out of farm land as well.

Seems like no one wants this beautiful weed around I don't know why It has one of the most beautiful smells around comparable to lilac it is something I remember most about the smell of summer.

As a child I noticed this weed growing near roads and that's really the only place I seen it growing near is road allowance.

I see it getting cut back more and more every year as they trim the brush at the sides of the road they take all the flower and seed pods off making less and less plants every year.

I did some reading and GMO food is also making it impossible for this lovely weed to grow here and there in the fields.

Milk weed is the only food that Monarch Butterfly caterpillers eat. The Butterfly can get nector from any flower it choses to land on but the caterpillars eat only milkweed leaves.

I have even heard on the TV now that Monarch Butterfly's are getting very low in numbers and this is a butterfly that migrates to Mexico and they have big festivals for this butterfly and it is a big part of their tourism.

This butterfly is found in North America and Mexico so that is 3 country's this butterfly enjoys.

I find many of these butterflys dead on the road or stuck to the rads of cars since the milkweed grows on the sides of the roads it is easy for them to get hit and die they might not even have a chance to lay their eggs :(

So I had a plan ;) I was really upset when I found out that the perfect spot this milkweed was growing in my town was being turned into a road and my heart was broken when they are cutting back all this brush to make a road.

So b4 they started cutting it all back I decided to collect and spread some seeds from this beautiful weed :)

These seeds were from milkweed that was not by a rail road so no oil residue and they are on a road but there was no access threw the winter and no one went on this road it was a service rd no access for normal cars this is about to change but the seeds that I collected are nice at this point no poisons on them at all no salt even :)

I collected these seeds to spread them I will plant a few in my yard next to a fence at the back of my yard away from the road allowance :)

These seeds already had their winter cool time so they are ready to plant and I wish to share them with other members here for free or donate something to Mycotopia for the butterfly's ;)

Send your addy to me in a pm if you are interested in growing this beautiful weed in your butterfly garden and if you have Milkweed seeds to share let me know and we can spread this wonderful weed to get these Monarch Butterfly populations back up :)




These are pictures from last summer watching the butterfly's play in this spot has been fun but all this brush above has been removed :( and they will need a new spot to play

Not a monarch but I see these playing with the Monarch Butterfly's many times



If you wish to donate to Mycotopia for seeds here is the link
https://mycotopia.ne...c.php?do=donate

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Edited by wildedibles, 30 March 2013 - 06:02 AM.

[bugs]

I remember when I was just a tadpole being fascinated watching the monarchs. Even finding a chrysalis now and then, cutting the twig and bringing it home for the terrarium and seeing the butterfly being born. It's so cool as the pretty green chrysalis becomes more and more transparent as the butterfly grows. Man, that was lots of years ago.

Nowadays I don't see them nearly as often. Housing developments etc. have raised hell with milkweed's favorite growing places.

That's a great idea, to disseminate seeds for people to plant and create monarch habitats.

[wildedibles]

:) I thought so too help reestablish the numbers of the plant and the butterfly's always seem to find the plant to lay eggs on ;) maybe this could help their numbers increase as well
they are a plant that is easy to take care of and I am thinking that around a fence would be the perfect spot at our house
they like sand dont need high nutritious soil or anything no extra water they can survive drought hot heat of the summer :)

Last year we had one milkweed plant come up in the yard a friend told us that if we planted the milk weed the butterfly's would find it and the kids would have the caterpillars at their place ( they wanted to take a caterpillar home but with no food we had to leave it where it was ;)) ... the property that was sold was a butterfly sanctuary b4 they sold it they always left the milkweed alone for as long as they owned this property

Thanks for the memory of the chrysalis :) I remember once my grandma let us take one home to put in the empty fish tank so we could watch it hatch that was a lot of fun I almost forgot about that thanks ;)

:) I found some summer pictures of the milk weed



and here is a link to more information about milk weed there are many different ones found around North America :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias

and here is a link to more information about the Monarch Butterfly :)
http://en.wikipedia....rch_(butterfly)

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Edited by wildedibles, 30 March 2013 - 01:01 PM.

[wildedibles]

I have seen many butterfly's this year :) and caterpillars :)

1 and 2

 

and 3

 

and 4

 

 

 

this silly one was not on the right food so I moved him to eat the milk weed since it is its only food till it is  butterfly then it gets to try other flowers :)

 

maybe he is trying to be a butterfly too soon ....

 

 

I am happy the numbers are better this year I just hope the cold holds off a bit longer

[Skywatcher]

Love the caterpillar photos!!!!!

I will be joining the food supplier's this spring. I plan to get the milkweed seeds going in late winter, and staggering the plants into three sets so as to have milkweed in varying stages of growth to insure a maximized period of available feeding ground. 

 

Thank You for the inspiration and seeds Wilde.

[Juthro]

WildE, you rock!

Killer photos.

[wildedibles]

 

 

 

[Stoned Angel]

I right here with you guys! I Love weeds!! I actually planted a weed in a pot in the fount yard. It's my O' to my dumbass neighbor out there spraying nasty chemicals all over his yard and driveway. I have to say most of the Children I talk to now a days don't understand why people would be killing these beautiful "weeds". It gives me hope for the future. Skywatcher, I'll join you in planting milkweed this fall. Hell, I'll make the whole yard just weeds to state my case. milkweed also has medicinal uses The root can be used to treat asthma, colds, and fevers. A tea made from the root will ease a persistent cough and relieve the aches and pains of a fever.

[niemandgeist]

I've yet to see any Monarchs this year, but it's still a little early for them. They generally come around closer to the middle or end of September, but they should be starting to flutter in any time now I hope. Last year we also saw few of them.

Here are two articles explaining possible reasons for the population decline as of late:

http://www.washingto...-low-heres-why/

 

http://monarchwatch....ign/the-details

There is a very nice arboretum/botanical gardens area with an old growth forest where they tend to plant loads of milkweed and tons of flowers that all pollinators go nuts over. This time of year there should be an explosion of flowers there. I'll have to go back and visit once weekly now that the weather is cooling down and things should be blooming to see if I can spot any monarchs. I'll also bring my nice video camcorder with my tripod. It's got 32x optical zoom so it's nice to set it up near the flowers and zoom in to film all of the honeybees, moths, butterflies, hoverflies, and other pollinators do their thing. I keep forgetting to set it up in my back garden to film the peppermint-crazed bees... Gotta get on that soon before the flowers are gone!

It's a shame, really. That and the dwindling honeybee population. Fortunately honeybees seem to go completely bonkers for peppermint flowers. I have never seen so many honeybees in my back yard since I was a boy.

Edited by niemandgeist, 28 August 2014 - 11:20 AM.

[wildedibles]

 

Us folk up here in Canada are almost ready to send them back ;) ...the new generation anyway :)

mid sept we get a frost here and everything will be looking dead only the weed flowers hang on till the really hard frost hits closer to Oct ;) or mid Oct.....

 

Oh I always wanted to know where does the Monarch get the gold to put on the chrysalis?.....

Edited by AGAMA, 30 August 2014 - 07:46 AM.
clarity

[niemandgeist]

I figured that I would bump this thread rather than start a new one, as it is about the Monarch butterfly and there have been recent replies here within a month ago.

 

So far I've seen a whole SINGLE monarch this year. It's still a little early, as they generally flutter through here from late August through September (East Coast, USA, PA/NY/NJ area).

 

I plan to visit the botanical gardens tomorrow for the first time this season. Usually there are tons hanging around there. Hopefully I see a few loading up on salt and other minerals on the banks of the mini streams and tiny waterfalls.

 

Has anyone else spotted any Monarchs in their vicinity?

 

It really bugs me when I don't see the bugs I'm used to seeing.

Edited by niemandgeist, 20 September 2014 - 01:16 PM.

[wildedibles]

I have seen more of them this year last year I seen like 2 all year but this year I have seen like 10 maybe thats still low in numbers from when I was younger

They r still up here hatching out of their chrysalis I seen one today in a parking lot I kinda shooed it away to someones yard beside the parking lot so it can find some flowers that are hanging on ....we have had one light frost but it is nicer again like summer again soon it will be cold again and they will all be coming your way 

try and take care of the ones you find the best you can they will see you all soon :)

[wildedibles]

I think we should do some tracking of our own :) My milkweed is about to sprout soon ;)

we are about to have the last days of freezing nights they will be up soon they might be up in sheltered areas .....I have not seen very many butterflys at all well one blue one tiny pretty one it wouldnt not hold still for a picture tho....

 

Sky has his one butterfly thread too

https://mycotopia.ne...they-will-come/

and anyone who wishes to track them in their areas should start a thread too :) or report in another thread maybe we can keep track of the 3 countrys they are in .... share different ideas to help.....spread seeds and such....

Edited by wildedibles, 21 May 2015 - 11:43 PM.

[niemandgeist]

I've still not seen any Monarchs this year, but then again, as I think I've said, they usually don't tend to show up around here until late summer/early autumn.

 

Hopefully I'll see a few.

 

I'll have to try to take a trip out to the botanical gardens where they plant tons of milkweed in the near future to see if I can spot me any.

[wildedibles]

Two weeks ago i seen my first monarch butterfly around seen about a dozen since then
Lots of caterpillers i have pictures woth dates when i get a computer on the net i will add them in here

[niemandgeist]

I snapped this close-up photo of a Monarch butterfly many years ago at a park. It was taken on a pretty old cell phone with a not-too-great camera, but it's still a nice photo so I thought I'd share it in this very appropriate thread.

 

There were so many Monarchs out that day. I haven't been to that park in a while. I hope to go at the end of this month or some time in September to see if there are any Monarchs flying around. I recall that, in these parts, the Monarchs would usually show up around those times.

 

[wildedibles]

The milkweed in canada is starting to dry out they are turning yellow the last few weeks as the temprature drops
They are getting nice seed pods on them which stay on the plant all winter
Our first frost is comming in this next week almost into october usually we get frost in september but its late this year

The butterflys are getting less of them around not too many flowers left on other plants many wild flowers are even going to seed now and after the frost the garden flowers and rest of the hardy weeds will be dead for the winter

Usually we have a few butterflys that leave after the frost im surprised they make it threw the frost but they warm up and fly again :) i seen my fare share this year not the best numbers but not the worst either

[Gloid]

I grew several of the common milkweed in my front yard this summer.  They came up volunteer, bloomed, and set out seed pods.  I harvested about 7 seed pods, and I figure I'll do some experimenting with starting seeds in pots over the winter to set out in the spring.  

I will have plenty of seeds to share, if anyone wants to plant them, just pm me your address.  I have no idea what the germination rate is for these, so I don't know how many one would need to have a nice planting.  They are the tall kind (about 4 to 5 ft) and tend to topple over later in the summer, especially after a rain, so support of some kind might be a good idea, like a tomato cage or something.

I'm told that they are perennial, and will come up from the roots the next year. 

[Skywatcher]

I have the same variety Gloid, and chopped them down to about 2" at the end of September. They are still growing new leaves and branches.

My total for this year was 47 butterflys that were successfull and flew off. Quite a few came back to lay more eggs and continue the re-generation.......

[pharmer]

Where I garden the milkweed is a weed and there's plenty of it. I watched all of it this summer for larvae but saw not even one. As a matter of fact there weren't any Monarchs at all until late summer and within a day or two they all showed up and hung around for a week, and then they were off to MayheeCo. I was going to leave any plant with larvae standing but, again, couldn't find one on any of the 80 plants in the garden.