why is tropical milkweed bad for monarchs

Well, some studies have found that one non-native species of milkweed - tropical milkweed - may have harmful effects on monarch butterflies. Here's why. May 15, 2017. I think more people will be willing to listen then and we can all get back to helping save monarchs and their amazing migration. Im thinking about taking it out of the ground and potting it so I can have more control over its care and I can move it indoors when the caterpillars start going into their J position. and this was picked up by the media. Instead all we read are nebulous complaints and ad hominens about purists (a dog-whistle word intended to describe, not purity but a busy-body who is dogmatic about a subject which ironically is what you, the author of this article is). James early research suggests that non-reproductive and migratory monarch populations in Australia are not adversely affected by the presence of non-native and other tropical milkweeds such as Gomphocarpus fruticosus, an African milkweed sometimes called Swan plant or Balloon plant. Late in September this year I started to see a Monarch every day. At the time I didnt know there was a controversy about it. They said the butterflies need other companion nectar plants near the milkweed-preferably some California natives. These caterpillars hatch from eggs laid on the plant before consuming its leaves. But James contends that the presence of milkweednative or non-nativeis NOT a primary cue for suspending reproductive and migratory behavior. I have grown sick and tired of having my ethics and morals questioned because I choose to grow some non-native plants in a controlled garden setting (in Minnesota!). There is room in my garden for native and non-native (though according to a post above, tropical milkweed is now considered a native for California, YAY!) Hi Penny, sorry to hear about your December monarchs. I have remained steadfast in my scientifically based approach to growing the herd by following all the steps that you outline. This species is an important nectar source for bees, butterflies, and other insects, and serves as a Milkweed is vital for the monarch's life cycle. We have to have a label to distinguish the various types of gardeners. but then.. In southern California where I live, it is the variety of milkweed that is available at my local native plant nursery. When do you recommend cutting milkweed back in the fall? There are many, many plants that produce nectar after milkweed is done blooming, natives & non-invasive non-natives. I would try cleaning cuttings with water first. The tropical is starting to leaf out again. Milkweed hurting the monarchs is just as wrong and confusing to people as using whorled milkweed as a supposed threat to horses and cattle to eradicate all milkweeds for all reasons. We are planting our own seeds now, as pesticide-free plants can be hard to find. Don't Plant Non-Native Milkweed Though monarchs will feed on it, tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a problematic non-native species that should be avoided. Curious why the breeding cycle was so late. I saw pupas only on a pot of milkweed which I put on top of a birdbath. I kept them alive until the end of December and then they died. For the garden: By late March or early April, you'll want to plant your milkweed to attract the monarchs. Tropical milkweed's popularity as a landscape plant may help the monarchs regain territory. As is the case for the monarch, toxins of the plant build up in the bug's body, making it poisonous to birds and other . Youre reading a lot into two words DeannaRespectfully, the selfish gardener. So butterfliesand moths as wellhave what we call host plants. Portable tropical milkweed has several advantages: 1. Since you are in a continuous growing region, cutting back plants also removes built up OE spores on plants. I was under the impression, since I live in the Houston area, that the only milkweed that does well here is the tropical milkweed. There is no reason for the writer to use derogatory, insulting terms such as native purist. We dont usually see any Monarchs until its time for the Methuselah generation and by then even the Swamp Milkweed is becoming tough, however, the Monarchs still prefer to oviposit on those plants over all others. There, he documented winter breeding monarchs on milkweed right next to large clusters of non-breeding monarchs in nearby trees. The last two years we had a sudden freeze around Thanksgiving and maybe earlier the year before and both times there were monarchs and caterpillars all over my tropical milkweed. (Or at least as far from it as frost-free areas of the US get) The plant can even establish in a non-cultivated setting here, I wouldnt be too surprised if it would be locally banned or regulated at some point. Too many native-only gardeners are trying to push ultimatums that just arent necessary. The Western monarchs' California population has fallen 99 percent since the 1980s, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Each listing has both native and perennial growing regions to help make the best choices for your garden. If youre going to grow this in those regions with a year-round population and continuous growing seasons, you need to make some adjustments. The juxtaposition challenged conventional monarch wisdomthat reproductive and non-reproductive monarchs can live side by sideled him to earn a PhD in entomology, and write more than a dozen papers on the migrating insects. To a breeder of Monarchs this is obvious as the larger monarchs at the end of each season do not mate even with ideal habitat full of ASCLEPIAS CURASSAVICA. Either females have deposited eggs already on the plant or possible parasites have already escaped the yard the moment certain caterpillars became adults and flew off. Read More The Great Wall of Florida PipevineContinue, Read More Monarch Butterfly Picture w/ Inspirational Quote about BeautyContinue, How to create a butterfly garden that attracts and supports monarch butterflies and their kids, Read More How to Start a Monarch Butterfly Garden that Brings Home the Butterfliesand CaterpillarsContinue, Twelve Days of Butterflies 2019- Unique Butterfly Gift Ideas to make a butterfly lovers flutter with joy, Read More Twelve Days of Butterflies-Butterfly Gift Ideas for 2019Continue. Should we give up avocados to help save the monarch butterfly roosting sites? Then why do the monarchs ever even bother leaving Mexico? The tropical milkweed was not cut back. I will probably do that if it looks like there is going to be a cold snap. I would occasionally see a Monarch but I did not get eggs or cats. November 4, 2016 my 1st grade students and I notice monarchs visiting our tropical milkweed. Please dont buy into the idea that this research on Tropical milkweed is not yet settled. Perhaps people should be encouraged to tag in Florida to see if any of those butterflies are also recovered in Mexico. Luckily the frost was not until almost the end of Dec. so I had milkweed to feed them, they went into chrysalis a little before Xmas and stayed in for quite some time. We do not see many monarchs going north, only the fall migration. Plus, the baby catz love the flowers produced my the Tropicals. These recommendations are not applicable in south Florida (south of Orlando), where a distinctive, non-migratory population of monarchs has long been established. The ants that herd them like organization and tranquility. Instead, water the plants to ensure that they are able to tolerate the aphid feeding. The truth is youre egotist. 6 Valentine Gift Ideas for a Butterfly Lover (or Friend). I plan to do it very carefully but I dont know how sensitive the plant is, I wouldnt want it to get damaged during the re-potting. He strongly suggests using native milkweeds whenever possible. However, there are a lot of gardeners unable or unwilling to grow some of the more unruly milkweed varieties in smaller spaces. I also want to give this plant a big thumbs up for its great service to late pollinators, including the Monarchs. Too bad if you are a late larvae and have no alternatives. Is that a good idea? Thank you in advance. Because the Monarchs here in So. But that is going to take years, years that we may not have if we do not work together, now. Hi Ana, check out some of the milkweed options on the link below. If you believe this, then I invite you to plant tropical milkweed to see the truth with your own eyes. Are you saying that two wrongs make a right? FACTS- Are you looking for plants that add purple flower power of to your butterfly garden? I have the Tropical Milkweed and it worked great last year and I had a lot of Monarchs emerge from it. With great adaptation they can likely get more flexiblewhich is why you see more reproduction in the southern U.S. and now in San Francisco than we did a decade ago, said James. Go Figure. OE Disease Spores Build Up on Overused Asclepias curassavica plants. I mean, theyre not embedded, theyre not glued on with superglue, and theyre not kryptonite, right? There is such a thing as plant diversity and offering choices, more important than any one single plant. James concedes that OE on year-round milkweeds can build up and cause problems. ps My memory might not be right but it seems that we see monarchs months before we get any caterpillars. This year I purchased over a dozen native milkweed in 1-gallon pots to start the switch from tropical to native. Watch for sprouts within two weeks. (probably wrong to do, but I culled small larva, leaving only one or two per my few plants. Thank you. or was it because they were unfamiliar with this non-native milkweed and didnt know to search for caterpillars? Please show your EVIDENCE , PROOF, so we can peer review your findings. By growing tropical milkweed responsibly, youll be helping more monarchs in a time when monarch support is crucial to the survival of their storied migration. So explain to me why it is okay to have monarchs on the natives at this time, which have been just as occupied throughout the season with cats, and NOT the Tropical? Last fall I had tropical milkweed growing and had a monarch lay a lot of eggs on it. Like what youre reading? Today I saw a very large caterpillar eating a hole in a green milkweed seedpod. We have a few of those white nylon mesh butterfly habitats (the Caterpillar Castle) and sometimes the milkweed leaves or branches touch the mesh walls of the enclosure and the caterpillars just climb up the branch and then keep on climbing. As such, milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. At least some, perhaps many, of the monarchs moving northward in the southeastern states appear to be coming from southern Florida, where the population uses Tropical milkweed, said Glassberg recently via email. The population here in the West coast is in such a decline and we in the Monterey Bay area are known for the Monarchs, it is intrinsic to our culture and it is in a sad state. They often bypass tuberosa for milkweed with more substantial foliage in other parts of the country. Leaf spots on milkweed plants are usually red, brown, or black. Theyre going to be extinct. I dont want this to happen again, so I have several species of native milkweeds planted and hope they come up this spring. I dont ever have problems with first instar caterpillars, perhaps because I rinse of all my leaves or spray plants/cuttings daily. I feel that if it is not perfectly dry at egg hatching time the eggs do not hatch and that may be part of the problem with our silkmoths also. good luck! This year the Monarchs were later than usual and I had to feed with tropical early on and must say there was some mortality of young larvae but no more than what Ive seen in years past. I bought 50 plants. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2020 Texas Butterfly Ranch | All Rights Reserved Tropical milkweed is a large, showy milkweed with lovely yellow and orange flowers. OE is spread by the deposition of spores from the butterfly typically attached to the egg not by the plant itself. Thanks so much. Adult females lay eggs only on milkweed leaves. Re-cut the milkweed every few weeks as leaves re-sprout. No, I do not. Do you have any advice on which species might cause feeding caterpillars to be unappetizing to lizards? I am moving and will not plant tropical at my new house. I do actually have a question, though (climbing down from my podium, here). Do I cut back the milkweed plants or do I let them remain as they are? Right now, mid-November 2021, Im seeing peak migration, with 14-15 caterpillars, up to 4th instar. This years Thanksgiving count of only 1,914 butterflies was hailed as a near-extinction event by pollinator advocacy organization, the Xerces Society, a claim echoed by many media outlets. Hi Dan, sometimes they crawl away to molt (they shed their skin 4 other times before forming the chrysalis). Then on the website someone in the neighborhood who was a retired docent from a local wetlands sanctuary started posting objections to my seed distribution, same issue, about growing non-natives. There was no OE epidemic nor any disruption of the annual North-South migration cycles or the winter clustering phenomenons. The A. syriaca was great for the monarchs, but it looks untidy. University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology, article published on the NABA website in 2015, Tropical milkweed OK for monarchs? Since lots of people are still growing tropical milkweed, discussing how to grow it (without potentially harming monarchs) is an important conversation to have. It seems like the best option at this point, to provide them with the best chance possible) Are there other 1st grade student approved options? Theyre reproducing. Tropical milkweed might pose fewer problems in the northern monarch breeding range because it dies back naturally when it freezes. A few days later I had 2 monarchs to emerge. I try to give them a variety. The fungus spores that cause leaf spot are airborne or waterborne. Technically not native to the United States, Tropical Milkweed is widely popular in butterfly gardens. Sevin is one of synthetic pyrethroids that was structurally optimized for a long half-life and high toxicity, as compared to the very short T1/2, modest toxicity, pyrethrin chrysanthemum constituents it was based on. 2. Zone 9b. The rationalization is that if monarchs find no milkweed, they will not stop but will continue their migration. The butterflies seek out milkweed, but what is already the most common type of milkweed in the southern U.S. will eventually kill them. Its been a warm winter but only so. I find this subject very interesting and worth more study. I agree 100% with your comments, and Ive never suggested that planting tropical milkweed in roadside ditches is a viable option. Remember, being reproductive is not conducive to migration. In zones 8-9 it will die back to return in the spring. Non-native plants wont support the ecosystem. The key is this: You must plant milkweed native to your area. As to the Californian above asking how far you should be from the coast before planting milkweed, what the pros here in the Bay Area teach us locals is no milkweed with 5 miles of the coast or over wintering sites. The whole tone & the writers bad attitude for people who may have a different view point, is a turn off. Have a fantastic season! There should be enough leaves left for the caterpillars to munch on in the meantime. Spores on milkweed dont move to new buds and shoots. Hi Lani, what and amazing first season raising 300 monarchs! Purple is the color of juicy plums, stunning sunsets, or a sparkling glass of wineSteven Spielberg even made a classic movie about it! I am currently reading Monarchs and Milkweed by Anurag Agrawal.. If youre going to compare tropical to another milkweed, compare it properly. 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