Planting Milkweed Part 1 - Collecting Seeds (Help The Monarch Butterfly)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- This is Part 1 of a four part series on one way to collect Common Milkweed seeds, germinate them, and plant them at home or in the wild. All of this is in an effort to help out the Monarch Butterfly populations, and give them the needed food for their caterpillars. Milkweed has significantly been reduced along their migration paths due to development and the use of herbicides. This is one species that you CAN help directly from doing some very easy, affordable things in your own back yard!
Live Monarch's Free Seed program has a new address: www.livemonarch...
One trick I learned for collecting seeds..... open the pods and drop in a brown paper bag (lunchbag). Put a few pennys in the bagand bunch the top. Shake shake shake....... cut one bottom corner and seeds come out, Fuzzies stay inside. I got that from anoher Monarch site. Works very very well.
just planted ball milkweeds , swamp milkweed, and mix of them. all doing in in central fl. monarch are everywhere i have chrysalis on my roof, fence and tool shed lovin it.
The previous owner of my house and I are in touch. He moved down to Florida, and has enjoyed raising Monarchs, here and there, all year. Doesn't seem like they stop laying while down there.
No they dont i also planted fennel for the swallow tails.
Good to have you on board! Thanks for doing what you can!
Im wondering of i can create a salt lick for them or how too?
First I've heard of that. I think you've reached a forefront of my knowledge!
I am happy to report that the single narrowleaf milkweed I grew last year has spread by seed to a nearby field. Saw over 6 clumps on short walk and monarchs were flying around them as I looked. The amazing thing was that while my milkweeds are invaded by millions of yellow oleander aphids, none of the wild narrowleafs down the road had any at all! I need to figure this out.
A little bit here or there can start to go a long way, and within just a few years. For myself, planting milkweed in my yard was never about having a food source for the monarchs I raise. I still go out and take one or two leaves from other plants in my area. Instead, my milkweed at home is there for me to have seeds. Each year, I'll have a few students interested in planting milkweed, and I'll have seeds on hand for sure.
Did you ever figure out the aphid problem? I have a huge problem here in northern CA that seemingly is impossible to even keep under control. I had a beautiful narrow leaf milkweed that the aphids positively killed!
@@MuscleMaxZ1 removing them or using horticultural soap in water is my method.
Next time, try common nettles to draw pests like aphids away from other plants. Nettles are pests' favourites, so that will leave milkweeds free for monarchs.
How timely it is that i found your channel yesterday! I used to raise monarchs all the time when i was a kid. As your videos have pointed out, the monarch population has dropped significantly and while I still see the butterflies, it has been years since I have seen a caterpillar. Just 2 weeks ago while walking through my neighborhood i passed a bunch of milkweeds and wouldn't you know it, there was a monarch caterpillar! I grabbed it and a bunch of milkweed leaves and brought it home. It is currently a chrysalis with about a week to go until the butterfly hatches. Let me tell you, i feel like a kid again, all that old excitement I had missed is back with a passion and I am thankfully passing that onto my very interested children. Over the last week or so I have been compelled to begin a milkweed garden with the hope that next year i could find and rear more monarchs. Low and behold, i find your channel with all of this incredible information on ways to do just that and more. I will gladly accept your challenge and do my part. I am keeping my eyes out for any other possible 4th generation caterpillars but at the very least perhaps i can locate some eggs next spring. Anyway long winded over excited comment aside, thank you for this and I look forward to more videos!
Very cool Matt! I didn't ever raise Monarchs as a kid, yet they certainly make me feel like a kid again too. To be honest, I think just about all aspects of Science have the potential to make us feel like the humbled, wondering kid we were, and hopefully can maintain to be in our adult lives. Good luck on your new found (and highly addictive) quest!
MrLundScience Hey Rich, just wanted to pass on that my daughter and I just released the butterfly, my daughter of course named her 'flower' since we set her on a flower. Amazing what a sudden burst of joyful inspiration would do, i have since found 3 more caterpillars and they are happily munching away at milkweed leaves in their meijer bought terrarium. Just waiting on the pods to start opening up to store the seeds until spring. Thanks again for the direction and inspiration!
Nice job. I planted a native garden a few years back to help Monarchs among many other animals and insects whose populations are decreasing. It's a great project to do and we should start considering it to be a necessity to our backyards.
Last year I let go 500 and it was all because of u this year I find the eggs and help many others raise them thanku
You're very welcome!
Thank you for posting these videos, I really enjoyed them. Last fall I was given two milkweed pods that had dried and split open. I put them in a zip lock bag and in the refrigerator over winter. To get the seeds collected, I rubbed the seeds off the silk and let them collect at the bottom of the bag. Then held onto the pod and silk and shook the bag to get all the seeds into one corner. Carefully cut the corner end of the bag and let the seeds fall out into bowl, then tossed the bag. I was able to get many plants started indoors and moved outdoors in May. In mid-June I still had them in pots out in the sun. I did see a monarch one day flying around my garden and milkweed. I figured it was time to get them planted. After getting about 10 plants in the ground, I was looking over the rest and when lo and behold I found already hatched monarch caterpillars! I really did not expect monarchs to find let alone lay eggs this season. I am now on the third set of eggs with successfully caring for a total of 10 caterpillars and 9 chrysalis. The last of the first 6, emerged this morning (male) and has flown away. Another 4 chrysalis should emerge in about 5 more days. I have learned so much in the last couple of months about monarchs. I have posted pictures and videos on Facebook. My family, friends, and co-workers have been amazed as have I. Without a flower on any of the plants I am still unsure of what I have, it is either common, or butterfly milkweed. I was hoping for butterfly as what I have read the common can overtake your garden and butterfly blooms very pretty orange flowers. So far I have been keeping some potted plants on a patio table on the deck outside my living room/kitchen. They don’t see to venture very far to start their chrysalis. One even stayed on the plant! I may take some of your suggestions and get containers like you have to keep the eggs and raise the caterpillars. Thank you again, now I will finish watching the last two videos. Jody
Jody N Hope things have been going well this year! Any updates?
+MrLundScience
Hello MrLundScience! I have lots of updates. To date I have raised and release 141 monarchs. I converted a small greenhouse with zippered front and 4 wired shelves into a Waystation. I have used storage containers from the small lunch meat types to large 28qt rectangle under-bed types to keep eggs and larva. I also kept some caterpillars on potted plants until they had stripped all leaves. When my potted and in-ground common milkweeds leaves were not enough, I headed to ditches on country roads to harvest common milkweed plant, which grow in abundance. I cut off healthy leaves, rinse, dry, and wrap the stem in wet cotton ball then foil. The leaves are layer on damp paper towels in airtight containers and keep in the refrigerator. This keeps them fresh for up to a week. It also keeps the leaves from wilting or drying out when feeding the cats. When I find a 5th instar wandering around, I know he is in search of a good spot to form the chrysalis. I will offer him a stick to climb up on and put in the aquarium or a container which I wrapped the lid in mesh screen. For my area, migrations are from 9/3 to 9/19. I thought things would be winding down until I found 72 eggs on September 6&7th! Today I have 38 caterpillars and 28 still in chrysalis. This has been so much fun! Jody
+Jody N That's TOTALLY awesome! Nice job! You're making quite a difference there!
Just ordered some seeds, thanks for the resources
I am a hobby beekeeper and am always looking for bee friendly plants and the milkweed is a real winner with my bees. My back field is thick with milkweed (I have one grow right at my back door this year) and I intend to try to raise Monarchs this year. I loved your video series and it looks straight forward enough. Wish me luck!
Great to hear! I definitely wish you luck, but having raised bees, I'm sure many skills are transferable to this!
Thank you for the series! We will be doing this on our farm to help our beautiful monarch butterflies
You're absolutely welcome! Thanks for choosing to get involved and help them out!
I have given seeds to a local farmer that grows produce and flowers, he has had several requests for milk weed.... He's baffled....so hopefully we will spread the joy for the Monarchs !!! And I am growing some myself ...tbc
Thanks! My child and I watched your other videos about the monarch butterfly. We've had pods, but I didn't know what to do with them so I let them fly where the wind blew them. We have a few dried out pods left, and they still have seeds! Going to watch parts 2 & 3. Thanks again!
Glad you found them, and found them useful. Luckily, this time period of germinating (or just, getting ready to do so in April for some locations) can be done in doors and in back yards. Stay safe! Stay sanitary!
I soo appreciate your videos!!!
Thank you for your videos. It is very helpful to see. This all started with a little guy I found on the ground in my backyard. I put him on the plant and left him out there overnight. I saw you with the easy tutorials and thought I can do this. Pulled out a nice plastic container and screen for his new digs. Went out to get more milkweed for him to eat and found his buddy. They are at the 4th to 5th stage based on their body type. The local nursery had some milkweed that was really full so I'm going to be planting those tomorrow. Thanks again.
+A DEMON Hey, thank YOU for having the confidence to do it! WARNING: It gets addictive. You might find yourself looking for eggs next season! (Check the "Raising Monarchs" series on the same channel if you haven't yet. Lots of info there too!) Good luck!
We have 5+ caterpillars and maybe two or three adults in our small front yard garden. We keep running out to buy more milkweed plants to feed the caterpillars! Seeds are now germinating in a plate, ready for planting in a short while. Next year we will have a section devoted entirely to the monarch and swallowtail! Plans are underway as we speak. Thanks for your valuable info, Rich.
+Jm Blackie
That's awesome! I appreciate the thanks, but the info I have is mostly what I've found from some great people who have it on their websites. I just knew I wanted to put it into video format to try and reach others. Great to hear more milkweed is out there, and especially next season, you'll get to see the fruits of your labor!
Thank you for this information. I now know what i can do to help bring back the population of the butterflies!!
+Laurie Filatoff
Very happy to help! If you have questions along the way this year, I'm "at the helm" answering them as best I can here in the comments.
I planting my first milkweed this Friday! Im sooooo excited!
Thank you for these series of
videos! We were given a milkweed plant by a client and collected its seeds. This spring 2021, we designated a part of the front yard as a monarch butterfly garden in Dallas, TX. I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 12 years and rarely saw Monarchs. The first one we saw, I gasped and said “Hi!” And over the summer we’ve seen several and know that some came from our own garden! It’s so wonderful they found a way station. Hopefully they will know they will have a food source here on the way to Mexico from now on. It is fascinating the mini ecosystem within that patch of milkweeds and the bumblebees and other migrating butterfly species share too! (We noticed the caterpillars come out at night, or at least that’s when we can spot them.) Recently we’ve been collecting the seeds (the fuzzies are good for other animals habitats and it’s fun to see them float around like snow) and will be sharing the many seeds with friends and family. They’re excited to help the monarchs too! Thanks again for all the information! The Monarchs bring us such joy! The kids are loving all the new things their learning about butterflies too! 🤗
I've been watching your very informative videos for a few years now. Have learned a lot and continue to. Thank you for you'r dedication .... and great taste in music 😉
I'm pleased to hear that you've found them useful. Thank you for not only jumping in, but continuing to do so to help out this animal. And it's good to hear you enjoy the music in some of these...not everyone does!
Planted a native garden this year. We have over 20 monarch butterfly caterpillars. We already had three emerge and be released. While we still have 9+ getting ready to go into chrysalis. We have bought 4 swamp milkweed plants total and have grabbed some of the wild milk pods and are letting them dry so I can't plant them for next year!
Very awesome. Sounds like quite the work load, so I'm glad you're already seeing fruits of the labor!
MrLundScience my baby cousins are enjoying watching them as well.
I have tons of buds on the two swan milkweeds here in early autumn, but I think I may have missed the boat. Not a monarch in sight, sadly. Plenty of other butterflies (Australian native butterflies) in the garden. So far they have not shown any interest in the swan milkweeds. Yello aphids by the thousand have shown a lot of interest. I have to hose them off at least every two days. There are tiny black things near the aphids with some half-covered in aphids. I don't know if they are ladybirds or other aphid-eating beetles. Hopefully they are not tiny caterpillars from Monarchs as they are regularly hosed off with the aphids. I can't see any eggs on leaves. It's way too hard for me, this business of growing milkweed to get Monarch butterflies. Hats off to all you successful folk! :)
Awesome video man!! Loved the mr bungle at the end too!
I think Mike Patton is a musical genius. I'm not saying that loosely either. I'm dead serious. Genius. I wish I could hear what music he creates and plays for himself in his own mind. I know that Mr. Bungle and his many other projects only give us a *taste* of what is going on in there. I truly think he's at that level.
Yes, that is correct! Thank you for clarifying!
I brought dill fern for them last year. and this year I also brought a milkweed plant. I am so scared to plant it and am glad I found this. on to part 2.
I'm glad you found it as well. Have you found that the Monarch caterpillars eat the dill fern? This is the first I've heard of that. I'm interested to hear if they find it to their liking.
they eat our citrus leaves. I read that also somewhere on the internet recently. I'm in Melbourne, Australia. So butterflies are laying their eggs on our orange tree and lemon tree (Pipsqueak variety) leaves. in mid-summer. I have seen a few Monarchs flying through our garden this summer. You can see the citrus tree named Pipsqueak on the video of a lemon tree in a container on my channel.
It's a mad world when I can't find one seed pod left over from last year but I did find a bumper crop of milkweed for this year. I also seen 1 Monarch not a (Viceroy) here in Michigan too.
Yeah, they're definitely here. My wife even told me she spotted one. I've yet to see one, but have heard it from many now.
I bought 2 grown plants here in LA, had 6 "stripeys" and got to see 2 of them fly away. I have no idea what happened to the other 4 :( I just collected a ton of seeds and am ready to plant a ton of milkweed in my yard. Thanks for the videos!
Within the last 4 or 5 years, my husband, daughter and I have released 350-375 Monarchs. We order caterpillars, both spotted lady monarchs and monarchs, through sites such as Insect Lore, and a few others. We order "classroom sets" that consist of 33 caterpillars, as well as educational info for young kids (we do order classroom kits), and we release 3-6 groups each year, depending on spring weather. There have been times when my husband has accidentally double, even triple ordered, so I may have received 33,66, or 99 caterpillars at one time. We have been turning our giant backyard into a butterfly sanctuary. A handful of different species of milkweed, numerous butterfly bushes, etc, everything we plant, annual or perennial is for butterflies... and honey & bumble bees (their population is dwindling also).
Sounds like plenty of work and commitment. Cool to have your daughter involved and exposing the younger generation to conservation efforts.
I found your videos after Binging 'how to reattach a caterpillar cocoon' ~~this was after one of my cocoons fell off the lid of my aquarium. Thank you. The cocoon is now alligator clipped up to a branch in my aquarium.
I would like you to know that I'm not simply raising and releasing. I'm also providing the further-along part of the cycle by making my front field into a monarch habitat. I've been planting milkweed seeds that I've harvested from the existing plants.
Once the pods start cracking open, I pick them and scrape the seeds out and scatter them. This way they stay in my field instead of blowing away into neighbouring lawns and fields. Most people around me mow their lawns and their fields are being harvested for crop, so the plants would get mowed down anyway. SO its best to keep as many seeds as possible in my field in hopes of getting more milkweeds here.
This is my second or third year raising caterpillars, and about my 4th year harvesting milkweed.
Just want you to know there's another one out here, doing what we can.
Very awesome, #1! And what you're doing with the milkweed and the rest of any flowering habitat is the best way to help them long term. Great to have you aboard!
Nice video.
the Monarch has arrived in Pittsburgh, PA!!! She always goes to the Common Milkweed 1st, hmm:-) You know I think the Monarchs sent out a scout the other day bc the Swamp Milkweed next to my front door has been chewed. We know that VERY few insects can tolerate Milkweed. The Tussock moth follows the Monarch and uses it. The Russians are VERY resourceful! One lady came to get a (4) yr old Hollyhock that I've grown. The colors didn't go with my Kordes, German roses and Hollyhocks get rust so it needed to find a happy home and it did. She said that in Russia they boil Common Milkweed and eat it for greens. It is amazing how cultures learn to survive:-) The Monarch spent all the time on the Common Milkweed bc the Swamp Milkweed flowers have not opened yet. I really didn't see the females bending their abdomens. They seemed VERY hungry for the nectar. They fly away BUT of course they just circle bc no one else is growing Milkweed for them in suburbia, smh.
Great to hear you've found some in PA! So it begins!
@@MrLundScience Yes, I'm not as vigilant as I was last year. I'm doing it the lazy way and looking for eaten leaves:-) I am saving my energy for August 1st and beyond when the "stickering" begins:-) A word to the wise is order more than the minimum number of stickers bc I ran out of stickers, tags, last year.
Since the milkweed is a wildflower, doesn't it require cold stratification? At least 1 month in the fridge? I bought a package from everwilde seeds and plan on planting them around the border of my garden. Milkweeds are also a blessing to the Honeybees.
Well done, Mr. Lund! Helpful videos.
Much appreciated. Thanks for having concern for this animal!
I raise monarch butterflies with my daughter here in Hawaii. I will post some videos on my channel soon. love your videos very informative.
That's quite awesome, getting your daughter involved in it as well. Do the Monarchs in Hawaii lay eggs all year round, or do they have a non-breeding season? I don't know much about that population.
MrLundScience
Yes sir year round, it was so neat yesterday I was at my daughter's school and there is this giant tropical milkweed tree just outside her class room. A butterfly landed on the back side of one of the leaves, her little tail just touches the leaf and she is gone, I went to take a look and sure enough an egg, I mean it was a split second and she was gone, I collected the leaf with the egg. We just released our 1st butterfly yesterday. I will post some videos soon. keep up the good work, and I will be in touch soon. I am going to do more research to confirm the year round thing, but I believe they do breed all year.
Yeah! Two summers ago, I was fortunate enough to see a female lay several eggs at once. She laid 17 or so in one "dump", and it was so cool to see just what you described. Just a touch of the abdomen, and the egg is there, and well attached.
I'll certainly check out your videos when you send word that they are out. Feel free to leave such a comment here so we can all check out your work, and/or contact me through Twitter: @MrLundScience
Mr Lund: if one cracks the pods and place the flosh and seeds in a gallon baggie with two marbles and slowly shake, the seeds will part. Cut the corner out of bag. Seeds will fall out, floss will be left in the bag. Beats taking them off one at a time.
Seed germination tip, soak in 1 cup of water and 1 drop of dawn dish soap. Within 3 days the seeds will germinate in the water and can be immediately transplanted. This greatly increases germination success in my experience because the dish soap break the water tension and allows the water to enter the seed coat more easily.
What time of year is best to plant them? In Florida can you plant them year round?
It's tough to answer the question, as it depends upon how you are defining "best". A default answer would be that the best time to plant them is likely when nature "plants" them, which is around the time that the seed pods naturally disperse the seeds. Now, that doesn't mean you can't have success with them at other times of the year. And if you're in Florida, I would have to assume just about any time of the year can still be successful. I hope that helps!
Lund i have a serious problem/ question one of my crystalist is very dark like black almost been day 3 like this now and not sure why or what to do i have other crystalist hanging near this one in my box I made for them. So far my wife and I have gotten 1 butterfly and set it free after 24 hrs resting and drying this is our first time ever doing this and we love it so much ty for all your education and help on all of this.
Thanks so much for showing your experience with the butterflies! You helped us so much!
Well hey, thank *you* for showing the interest and checking these out!
I have to say... I planted a pot of Dillweed outside my backdoor this past year and Monarch caterpillars ate through the whole batch.
If the caterpillars were eating dill ~ they were most likely black swallowtails caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars will ONLY eat milkweed. I raise both ~ they are both beautiful!!!
No, definitely Monarch caterpillars... there was a milkweed vine not eight feet from the potted dill weed, Dillweed. facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010576786653&hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf
The caterpillar in the picture is a black swallowtail caterpillar.
scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/14107825_10210666226675874_3125498284337668379_o.jpg?oh=390f04fd4daab700835191adb900675d&oe=59571C90 This is a monarch caterpillar. They do look similar though.
I just started this year and thank goodness! I collected 6 caterpillars before the neighborhood MOWED it all down. I've released 3 girls and 2 boys so far. I have collected fresh milkweed pods. can I plant them this month (in the fall?) I know perennials are difficult but if they go in the fridge, they will get thrown out.
Good job with the rescue! Welcome aboard!
I know this video is a couple years old and I have raised and released close to 50 monarchs 2017 and was my first year learning how and growing milkweed.. I bought some milkweed plants from a nursery and I’ve also sprouted some seeds I purchased.. sprouting the seeds I purchased I used the hydrogen peroxide method to get my seeds to sprout.. just wondering why this method wasn’t mentioned.. I soaked the seeds in 75% water 25% peroxide in a paper towel saturated with the solution and placed them in a container with a lid and placed them in a sunny spot till they sprouted roots through the paper towel then transplanted the sprouts to ground when they grew second set of leaves. The seeds I grew didn’t quite make it through a growing season as my husband butchered the plant when mowing the yard! There was practically nothing left but a few stems! But I’m happy to say already this year it is growing like a weed. It is I believe a northern variety aka common milkweed so I am anxious to see how big the leaves grow on it as I live in extreme north Florida and most of what we get for milkweed here is tropical currasivica! Will keep you posted!
Thanks for the info, Cassandra!
Why didn't I mention the hydrogen peroxide method? Two reasons and the first is the most important one: I didn't know about it! The second being, if I did know about it, I probably still wouldn't have mentioned it in the video, as I'm always trying to make helping the Monarchs as affordable as possible. I'm of the opinion (and it's not fact, just opinion) that if helping the Monarch is presented as something easy and cheap to do (and it is!) then more people might come along for the ride. There's so many things vying and competing for our support and attention. If helping the Monarchs can be shown to be something that doesn't need to take a lot of time or cost much money, those who are on the fence about whether to get involved or not are more likely to choose the former.
A third reason, too, might be, I'm definitely no gardener. I don't know a whole lot about gardening practices and methods. I fully admit that. However, people were often asking for help with milkweed growth and had many questions about it after I posted the first five "Raising Monarchs" series. Those first five are the core of the series, and all "Raising Monarchs" vids since should be seen as extra supplementary details. Anyway, as many were asking questions about milkweed, I had to make a decision. Should I make videos about how to grow plants, knowing it's not at all my area of expertise or even close? Or, should I leave that to someone else? For quite some time, I was choosing the second option. Not being very knowledgeable about something makes me feel like making a "How To" type of video as being pretentious. I don't want to be pretentious. But, as questions kept coming in, people wanted to know what I was doing to grow milkweed. Eventually, I decided that I should make some videos covering this aspect of helping the Monarch, and that it could be seen (hopefully) as non-pretentious if I'm up front and honest about it the whole way, and make it clear throughout those videos, I'm definitely not a gardener. So, I made this four part series on just what I was doing, how I collect seeds, and how I grow the plants from them. Most definitely, there's many other tips people can gleam from actual gardening sources, and if they want to do the extras, like the hydrogen peroxide treatment you mention, or things like fertilizer, etc., they can. I'd just prefer not to be the source in those avenues since I don't know much about them, and, because they would cost money and aren't required to still accomplish the mission: Grow milkweed.
I hope that makes sense! Thank you so much for your efforts in helping out the Monarch butterflies! It's very awesome to hear from the many who have decided to lend a hand to help out this wonderful species!
This is awesome! Thanks for the great vid!
You're definitely welcome.
Oh, and the ambigram logo got me interested to check out your channel. Love the music you guys do. It's intense and awesome!
@@MrLundScience ahh!! Thank you so much! This is great to see. I told the band about these vids after practice last week and they loved the concept. Let us know if there's anything we can do as a band to help the monarchs! 🤘🤘
35% increase this season compared to last🦋🦋
birds like the whispies for their nests
More truth!
Thanks to you and your amazing videos my kids an I enjoy raising Monarchs every summer! It has been 3 yrs now. For the very first time we have a crysalis that has fallen to the bottom on the container they were in. It helped just after the crysalis was made. Should I just leave it down there?
Hey Sharon! So cool that your kids are involved in this with you!
I have some videos shot and soon coming out with these very such chrysalis issues that can be experienced. If the chrysalis fell before it hardened, it may have now a flat side to it. That can lead to half of the wings (or all of them) being malformed. However, I've also had these "flat" chrysalides on more than one occasion produce a perfectly healthy butterfly. I would put the chrysalis aside in its own container. The chrysalis does not need to hang to develop. When it gets close to coming out, you can set something up like I do here to have it emerge: th-cam.com/video/kxCzr89Ck3E/w-d-xo.html
Just be ready for it to possibly not be able to fly. But you gotta give it that chance to surprise you. Again, I've had some come out of this perfectly fine. And if one side of it isn't flat, and it did harden first, as long as it didn't fall far or hard (or both) it has a great chance of coming out healthy and ready for flight.
I have a question - hopefully you can answer - is the bloodflower milkweed bad for caterpillars and butterflies ?
Greetings!
"Bloodflower Milkweed" is another common name for "Tropical Milkweed", also known as Asclepias curassavica. Does it have negative impacts to the Monarchs? This depends. If it is a plant that is native to your area, there's little to no controversy. But planting it where it doesn't naturally exist has many areas of controversy about it in this hobbyist world. I have mostly remained neutral on the subject, but am hoping to weigh in on it this season. Still, a good idea is to stick with plants native to your location.
I hope that helps!
On the back of the package “Save our monarchs.com” it says to put the seeds in a container with damp paper towel and put in fridge until ready to plant. So I’m done Nguyen one container of seeds on a heating pad (I live in Minnesota). The other seeds will go into fridge. A little experiment! We will see! My name is Leslie from Minnesota
I'm definitely a fan of experimentation. We don't know until we try. Good luck with it, and come back and let us know what results turn up!
Good morning! My grandson and I are into monarch butterflies and have totally enjoyed all your videos! I bought a milkweed plant but it has a yellow flower on it.However, at the time I did not realize that there are differences between milkweed! Is the yellow flowering milkweed OK for monarch butterflies?
I don't know of any milkweed species that isn't okay. That said, my own personal choice is to only plant milkweed that is native to my location. I'm not ever telling people what to do in this regard (or really any), but for me, native species makes the most logical sense. I hope that helps!
MrLundScience Thank you!!!!
What is the url of that graph in 1:38. I went to the website but could not find that graph. Thank you for these videos.
Rather than just the url, let me give you a quick walkthrough on how to find it now, and how to find it in the future.
1) Go to www.monarchwatch.org/
2) In the upper right hand corner, there is a link, "Monarch Population Status". Click there.
3) Once there, you are where Dr. Chip Taylor talks about the population of the Monarchs east of the Rockies. When new graphs are available for the new season's results, he posts them there in a blog post. That's where the new ones show up, be it as early as February, or as late as March or April. (I think one year, it was in May...can't quite remember, though).
I'm just starting with the milkweed/monarch world. So far I've purchased 3- 1gal Narrowleaf MW and some seeds. It's the first week in April here in San Diego and so far only 2 seeds have sprouted. My concern is the quantity of MW I will have to feed cats if they show up. Would it be best to cover the plants to let them get a year of growth before exposing then to the cats. Narrowleaf is native however the leaves are long and narrow and produce a lot less than other varieties, would it be ok to grow non-native MW if kept confined to my yard? A few years ago I lived in SE Kansas and worked on some pasture land to return it to native prairie, it was 600 acres and I have first hand knowledge of the difficulties removing invasive plants and trees while trying to save the native plants.
Thanks for your videos, extremely helpful !
Greetings Jerel! Great enthusiasm! Sounds like you've taken quite to this.
I would agree with the idea that your new plants might not get a healthy start if they are used as a food source. It all depends upon what your goal is. Have you decided your goal for your plants? If they are to be a one year food source primarily, then you could let the caterpillars have a nice dining session. If the goal for them, though, is to become healthy plants that are long term sources of food, then I would let them be for at least a year. Give them a chance to grow and develop a healthy root system. Then, they can survive amounts of leaf loss due to caterpillars.
As for non-native plants, it will always be my position that if it can be avoided, it probably should. Invasive species can be devastating to ecosystems, and in unpredictable ways. We don't know which ones will become invasive, and we don't know what problems they will cause until they do. And it can depend upon location too. Something that hasn't been able to become invasive on one area could become invasive elsewhere. And since milkweed is very tenacious, it definitely has the potential. We wouldn't want to cause an ecological problem as a side effect of trying to help solve a different one. Even if there is no plan on allowing it to go beyond your yard, that doesn't mean it will stay confined. What's the saying? Man plans, and God laughs? Milkweed doesn't just reproduce by seeds. Root systems are far reaching, and can sprout up plants away from the main plant. And in the end, it only takes a few seeds to make it out into other areas, not under your control. In the end, it's up to you, but due to invasive species risks, I'm always on the side of caution, and take the position of keeping things native.
Good luck!
Should I poke holes in my container? Just wanting to make sure I avoid mold growth.
Thank you, I will review your videos and hopefully eradicate this parasite to eliminate further populations from OE. It was too painful to euthanize a creature I’d raised from an egg to butterfly. Thank you for the information you provide! I’m a Michigan girl myself and transplant to Florida. Therese
Just to be clear, the goal isn't to entirely eradicate the parasite. We don't fully know what that would do to the ecosystem. We just don't want to help it, either, and if we are raising Monarchs, helping more make it to adulthood, and they have OE, they could spread more OE than naturally would be, and thus, those Monarchs should be euthanized and not released. What we wouldn't want to ever do is catch wild Monarch adults and euthanize them if they are carriers. I'm sure you didn't mean that, but I wanted to just put this here for any others who might read through these comments.
I have some milkweed here in my garden and it is starting to give seed pods do I wait for it to dry out or when do i take it off?
Have you ever heard of placing seeds on a wet paper towel in a ziplock baggie and putting them in the fridge for a month? I live in Florida and I'm wondering if this is a good idea.
I have not heard of this, but certainly that doesn't mean it can't work. Just hasn't been "field tested" by myself personally. I wonder what the reason is for keeping them in the fridge.
I believe it's due to seeds sitting on cold ground when they first fall off. I'm just wondering if this is a good idea down here in Florida. I did collect the seeds from the milkweed I have planted around my house. Hate to see those seeds fall on the grass and end up getting mowed down.
Jay Foulk yes..we have done that here in southern Cali. It tricks the seeds. We have over 100 milkweed planted and do more everyday. It's great!
SoCal here, so does it germinate them fast? How long did you stick them in the fridge for?
Hi mr.lund idk if u remember me but I’m ready to plant my milkweed and I’m so excited
Absolutely! Great to hear of your excitement! I wish you luck with your milkweed. Should be rewarding!
You can also take your seeds and put them in a metal container and lite a match. Ignite the fuzz and watch the fuzz disappear and you are left with just the seeds.
So I've found a pod full of seeds. I've opened it and picked all the seeds out. Can I plant them in the fall or better in the spring?
Last year I bought three milkweed plants to go in my garden as they're not as tall as the common milkweed. One of the plants was Ice Ballet (white) swamp milkweed. It developed some seed pods but within a couple of weeks the whole plant including the seed pods was totally destroyed by some animal and I think it was deer. I did protect the plant with a hardware cloth cage, which has kept it safe so far this summer. ;) Will deer destroy the pods of common milkweed plants? I found where I have the common milkweed behind our fence and unprotected.
From my experience, deer will destroy anything, and here in Michigan, that especially goes for vehicles.
In all seriousness, though, I'm willing to bet that those guys will chomp on anything. Before I had a fence, they would actually be some complete jerks, and stomp all over, munch, chew, destroy, and poo on anything and everything. Bambi is a nice idea, but true deer, in my opinion, are like that crowd at the party that you really wish would leave. Hey, I need to calm down. They are just some animals trying to make it with us pesky humans developing this and that on their turf. But yes, I'm willing to bet, they'd chomp on a seed pod. Whether that's to actually eat it, or just out of curiosity of what it tastes like, I wouldn't be sure. Nothing is safe in your yard around deer...
Hey just ball up the fuzzball in your hand and "grind" your hands the seeds will release and gravity drops them down or put the fuzz in a bag and shake it the seeds will work their way to the bottom. I used to pick the seeds out like you but then got sick of the fuzz lmao
I have had my milkweed seeds in a paper bag in my freezer. I want to start the germination process soon. Can I take them right out of the freezer and start the germination process or do they need to sit out for a few days in room temperature?
You are really awesome keep working. You are a great help.
Alone, I'm not awesome. This is all nothing without people such as yourself, taking the information and doing something with it. So, I won't accept that I'm awesome. But I'd be willing to say, with the information out there, and with people using it, together, we can do some awesome things.
Thanks for showing an interest!
I live in kansas city. I think you are primarily working with Common milkweed in your presentations . Is that correct? If so, can you help me with planting of Balloon milkweed indoors. Also Swamp Milkweed. These are annuals here, so may need different treatment.
It is correct that these are Common Milkweed plants in the videos. As for helping you with the others, I don't know that I'd be much help. When it comes to my areas of expertise, or even just amateur level knowledge, I know where I stand with many things. Want help with Chemistry or Physics? I'm your guy. Want help with raising Monarchs? I know enough to feel I can lend a hand, and thus, have made these videos. For Milkweed, I am not a gardener nor a botanist of any kind. I know enough about Common Milkweed (and tried to learn much) to show how I was collecting and germinating seeds to get them started. I don't claim any expertise here, and only felt comfortable making these videos about Common Milkweed with the understanding that I'm not claiming it is the best way, only a way that I myself have had success with.
As I have no experience with the other species of Milkweed you refer to, your guess is as good as mine. I'd assume that they would work out with germination similarly to how Common Milkweed does, so that's what I'd start with, but I could be wrong.
My recommendation would be to consult a gardening forum to see what they have to say and if any have grown your species of Milkweed.
Sorry I couldn't offer more help, but I like to be realistic about my level of knowledge in various areas.
Yesterday and today I had some monarchs come out of the chrysalis but they both put there wing in front of there face and it looked like they had a seisure and die, do you know what it is and is there a way to prevent this?
Should the common variety be preferred over the ornamental variety?
Is there any economical source for bulk (pound and higher) seeds?
Where did you place your Milkweed seed container? did you place them in the refrigerator?
Not in the refrigerator, no. I mention it quickly, so it may have been missed, but right after I put the date on the container, I mention to keep them "someplace warm". That could be just room temperature. For me, I have a turtle who has a heat lamp, so I placed the container under there. Cooling them in a fridge will slow down the chemical reactions needed to get the germination going. It'll still be successful, but would take longer.
If you haven't yet, you can see more of this in Planting Milkweed Part 2: th-cam.com/video/lCjZk9wbDa0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the info. I'm wondering why you can't just drop the seedpod somewhere and let it grow on its own? That's what I was planning to do. I have a ton of plants on the side of my house and I want to spread them to the backyard.
You can certainly let the seeds just grow on their own, for sure. I don't know about dropping the seed pod in the ground itself. I mean, likely there's potential some could grow, but as they are more something that naturally disperses, it would seem like a waste of the rest of the pod. The germination I show in this series is optional. You could certainly just throw a few around in some natural areas, or your back yard, and hope for the best.
On our way home we seen state mowers. My son was worried about them being mowed down. SO we collected 60esh eggs. We decided to go back and all the milkweed next to the road was mowed down. This explains why we never see monarch 🦋
This is worrisome to myself as well, and there are plans to make a video about it. Some studies have come out about what many hobbyists already suspected: Monarchs seem to prefer to lay eggs on younger, fresh stalks. And when it comes to the median strips of highways, here in Michigan, much milkweed is there. As it's mowed about every four weeks, or once a month, this gives an incredibly short window of time for a stalk to sprout up, a Monarch to lay an egg, and that egg to make it to an adult. Depending upon temperatures affecting rate of growth, it could be no time at all for success to happen. So, when they mow those areas, I can't help but expect, they are mowing down a high number of Monarchs for that area. And cutting back the milkweed encourages new, young stalks to bud up, which encourages females to lay eggs on them, dooming them from the start.
What's the earliest time you can collect pods and be sure you're not collecting seeds that would have dispersed on their own?
I tried transplanting 10 common milkweed from the back of the yard to our hummingbird flower bed. I didn't realize they all had a connected root system even going into the neighbour's yar. When I planted them they all wilted. Any chance they will survive or are they dead?
There is a chance it could survive. The roots are tenacious. Only time will tell, though. I've had a similar experience with transplanting, though, and since they don't usually make it, I stopped trying. Seeds are usually the way to go.
it would be shame if killed 10 milkweeds when I was trying to help the monarchs, the hummingbirds and the American gold finches who eat the seed.
I live in the north east, so we get cold winters. Is it too late to plant some seeds? Will they grow next season or do they have to be planted every year?
It's not too late to plant seeds. Technically, nature will be doing this in the next few weeks. However, a new seedling that sprouts up, if it hits a frost, that could kill it. If the root system is established, it will still come back the next year. But, time's getting tight for that. If you only have limited seeds, I'd wait until spring. If seeds aren't an issue, you could give it a shot.
@@MrLundScience you're the best.. ty so so much!!!!!
Wow, you don't even cold germinate them! All over the internet, instructions for milkweed seed is stratify, stratify, stratify!
Well, in fairness, as I'm collecting these in the spring, and they are seeds that didn't disperse in the fall and stayed all winter there, these seeds in this video were cold stratified by nature.
That said, I'm doing a cold stratification experiment now. It's been running all of June. I've never had problems with germinating seeds, whether they were cold stratified or not...so I haven't paid it much mind. And I have seen similar to what you have...everyone saying stratification should, or even *needs* to be done. As my experiment runs, there's data coming in, and spoiler alert...right now, it doesn't look like cold stratification has done much of anything. Still too early to give the call, but I'm not impressed by cold stratification so far.
@@MrLundScience Thx, can't wait for the follow-up!
@@MrLundScience Holy sheet, I just checked my native pregerminating thistle seed and it has sprouted! Another seed that supposedly necessitated stratification! ☻
Question. Some places say to germinate the seeds pr them in the freezer. If I want to collect the seeds in the fall And start the growing at home. Do I have to keep the seeds in the freezer for a certain amount of time?
I've heard similar before. It may depend upon the species. From my experience, though, I've grown plants from seeds that were out for the winter, but also seeds I collected in the fall and kept indoors at room temperature the whole winter. In those cases, I did not notice any difference in the seeds that were not cold stratified. I would expect there's some truth to it, but at the same time, I didn't find this to be true in at least the times I didn't do it. It's something I plan on actually putting to the test next year.
@@MrLundScience thank you vary much😊 I watch your butterfly and milkweed videos all the time. Their not only educational, but vary entertaining👍you're love the butterfly whisperer 😁THANK YOU!!!
Whens the best date to start germinating some milkweed seeds in ontario canada? I don't want to start too early or too late!
when you are germinating do you have to mist the seeds everyday?
Okay, Thank you!!!!!
My apologies if you discuss this elsewhere, but have you ever made milkweed seed balls - with clay and compost and milkweed seeds - and distributing them that way? Does it work?
Great series, Rich. We're growing milkweed now, too. But that music in your piece is haunting andno one here can identify it. Cane tell me?
+Jm Blackie At the beginning is a piano cover of "Mad World", which is originally by Tears For Fears, but was then slowed down in a more somber way by Gary Jules and made popular from its use in the film "Donnie Darko". This slower piano version is from an independent artist, and it's at the tempo of the Gary Jules version. At the end of the video is "Sweet Charity" by the band Mr. Bungle, on their "California" album. Mr. Bungle is the brain child of Mike Patton, who is a musical genius, and was the lead singer of Faith No More. Hope that helps!
+MrLundScience Great. Thanks for responding!
Mr.Lundscience, What kind of cage do you use too raise the catapillars? I noticed it has a green lid. Thank you.
I like monach caterpillar and monach
butterfly 🦋😀
I have 2 caterpillars on one leaf. The younger one looked like it was hitting the older one.. I hope It was ok to move the older one. .
I started crying in the intro 😭
i been having a problem finding out if my butterfly is pregnant do you have any chance of helping me with that all i know is that it is a female and is a tawny emperor ,love your channel thanks
Greetings David. I'm sorry, but I don't really know a lot about other species of butterflies outside of the Monarch. I'd be hard pressed to tell you much of anything about the Tawny Emperor other than what is true about most butterflies in general. What I can say about Moanrchs, though, is that if a female is found in the wild, there's a high likelihood she has already mated. Male butterflies are pretty good at finding females, and quickly. Some species will even find the chrysalis of females, and mate with them when they are emerging before they even have their wings dried. This may be true of the Tawny Emperor as well. I don't really know, though. Sorry that I'm not able to be more helpful.
Thanks
You're very welcome.
Hi MrLundScience! The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative would like to use your videos on our Facebook page. We love these videos and we think they'll be a big hit on our page.
+Ohio Pollinators You have my full support! I've made all of my videos able to be embedded on other websites, should anyone wish to use them for educational reasons. Feel free to spread the word, and help the cause!
+MrLundScience we have this first one coming up on April 4th, you should check us out! We promise we don't mind you're from Michigan ;]
Can I plant the seeds right away in pots?
***here's the 2019 updated address
Live Monarch - 2019 Seed Campaign
PO BOX 1339
Blairsville, Georgia 30514
Thank you for sharing!
You are most certainly welcome!
My plants have a ton of pods but I'm not sure if they're too young. When can I start collecting? Is there a color or dryness, hardness the pods have to be before opening them up?
Watch "Planting Milkweed Part 4", as that one describes when the seeds are mature. Short answer, the pod should split on its own. After that, it will open up fully within a day or two. Prior to that, they are still developing.
MrLundScience Thanks. I woke up today to 3 pods split open with only 4 seeds left collectively :( The rest have blown away. Maybe I could put small plastic bags around the unopened pods?
Again, please watch "Planting Milkweed Part 4". Here's the link: th-cam.com/video/pb0VCKR5Aec/w-d-xo.html
It shows you a method of using rubber bands to save your seeds.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot!
hello! so right after you collect the seeds you can start to germinate them? thanks for sharing this
+Melissa Lim Some have said that they need to go through 2 weeks of a freeze, minimum, but I have had success with seeds collected in the fall that I kept indoors throughout winter, never freezing.
oh shoot, I accidentally planted the milkweed seeds direct in soil without vernalizing it. Can it still grow.
Help! I know this has nothing to do with seeds or planting...I've been harvesting monarchs successfully, however, I have a monarch that I call "Nemo," whose right back wing is crumpled and she cannot fly. I've been feeding her Gatorade and honey/water mixture. I've kept her alive for 3 days. She cannot fly. Is it humane to euthanize her or is there a possibility to rehabilitate her?? Thank you for any support!
If I were in this position, I would say you have three options, and unfortunately to my knowledge, rehabilitation is not one of them. You could either euthanize, or, you could continue to do what you have and allow her to have some pleasure of feeding, and keeping her warm in whatever enclosure you have for her. A third option would be to release and let nature take it's course. It's also possible that if released, a predator may eat her, and learn to avoid that color pattern due to the poisonous taste, which also does provide some benefit to the overall population, as there's one more predator that is less likely to dine on Monarchs. Sorry that there isn't a better option that I'm aware of. Thanks for doing what you could for this one!
MrLundScience Thank you for your response, My husband and I have researched monarchs and found that in the area of Florida where we reside, The is a parasite called OE that causes wing folding and eventual death of the monarch. If the butterfly is able to lay eggs on the milkweed, it can spread the parasite. I made the decision to have my husband euthanize “Nemo” last night. So, something new to learn about Monarchs. I currently have 20 crysalisis in various stages and 6 caterpillars left. I’m hoping that the OE is an isolated incident. Thank you again for your response!
Yes, OE is brutal. I have three videos on it (so far). This first one details what it is and how it works (please excuse that I call it "bacteria" during this one. Not sure why I did. Brain fart. I knew it wasn't bacteria, but that word just kept coming out of my mouth and I didn't realize it until after it was edited and posted).
th-cam.com/video/kkZTfeFVMiE/w-d-xo.html
Here's another on how to test for OE on adults:
th-cam.com/video/pxXkAL1h2pw/w-d-xo.html
And finally, here's one on how to bleach treat both eggs and leaves to prevent it:
th-cam.com/video/oZYzzcGiZRA/w-d-xo.html
Good luck!
I want to plant milkweed on my balcony in pots. I read I can use 10 to 12 inch pots, but how many seeds do I put in each pot? I want to put them in late November early October so I don't have to do the whole freezing of the seeds part. Can someone help please? Thank you
I'm hoping someone can answer this for you, as I'm not experienced with this much at all. I gave up trying to grow them in pots. It didn't serve me much of a purpose, and at the same time, I was terrible at it anyway, killing many a plant I tried it with. I place them in the ground, and let them go from there. I'm definitely no gardener. The plants have rebelled against me often.
I wondered the same thing. Having healthy plants now, and it is fall, I know that they reseed as they did last year, but thinking I should also just get some of the seed pods and share them plus plant more around our farm and other's. When do you plant the seeds?? Thanks. I am thinking you will say...help! It's ok, I think since the plant does it now and they came back double it is ok either way. I will try a test of saving some for early spring after the last frost!
You can plant seeds (five in each pot) in autumn, thin out any emerging seedlings, and keep the small seedlings in pots over the winter, then plant them in the ground (or a very large container) in mid spring. Over winter you have to keep the pots out of the cold, wind, and rain, under cover. An issue with the budding milkweed is yellow aphids. I keep hosing them off but they keep returning.
@1:55 Where is this chart on the monarchwatch website?
guys i have started to begin with orchard swallowtails as well
Can you talk about diffent kind of milkweed?
Allow me to answer that question with another question: Do you want someone who doesn't know that much about other types of milkweed to make a video on other types of milkweed?
I'm not ruling it out, that I'd never make a video on other types of milkweed, but there's some issues with that currently.
1) I won't make videos talking about stuff I don't really know. I think that's pretentious. I also think it breaks some trust people might have with TH-cam channels that are meant to be educational. I had a problem growing up when you could tell your teacher was not very well informed about what they were trying to teach you. It didn't happen all the time, but when it did, you could smell that they were out of their element, and it broke trust.
2) I'd have to learn plenty about the many other species of milkweed that are out there, or even just maybe a few other species for an episode, but I haven't done such yet.
3) I know I'd be more comfortable making a video about other species if I, myself, had some experience with actually growing those other species. Thing is, though, that's in conflict with something else I personally feel is important: I won't plant things in my yard that aren't native to my area. That's my own personal choice. I'm never out there telling people what they should and shouldn't plant in their back yards. That's their business. I have my own opinion on it, sure, but it's not my place to tell people what to plant. That's up to them, their assessment of the information out there, and of course, their local laws.
What I can say, though, is that there may be a video in the future about Tropical Milkweed. I know it's a hot button issue in the gardening/Monarch world, but as I learn more, and as people ask about it more, I'm starting to come to the conclusion, some things about that plant probably should be discussed.
a strange thing did happen with the very 1st caterpillar that we had it hung in the j, and it unfortunately died right there, the only reason I knew was because another one hung a day later and it was a crysalis the very next day and this one just never pupated. do you know what might have happened?
This could be OE bacteria, or NPV virus (the "virus" is redundant, as that's what the "V" is in "NPV"). It's much more likely to be NPV, though, as it would take a pretty heavy OE bacteria infection to not allow it to pupate.
Some websites to check out to try and diagnose it would be:
monarchbutterflygarden.net/common-monarch-diseases-prevention/
and
monarchparasites.uga.edu/parasites_in_monarchs/
If I can add something, it could also be a the Tachanid Fly which implants it's larvae into the Monarch caterpillar which will kill the caterpillar. If you find a caterpillar that is shriveled, please put it inside of a ziplock bag and freeze it before disposing of it. That will kill that larvae. Thank you for caring!
What's (instrumental) song at the beginning of this video? Title?
"Mad World" which is originally by Tears For Fears, but this is the Gary Jules cover of it.
So if you live in a northern climate do you have to stratify the seeds (cold storage for a period) before planting or is drying the seeds indoor enough?
I've been told this. However, I've been able to successfully grow milkweed from seeds I stored indoors during the winter that were never cold stratified. I've never seen any difference in growth or success with stratified versus non-stratified seeds. I trust that there may be some difference, but again, I've never witnessed it in my experience.
Would you have to do this with seeds not dried out?
Greetings Big Blade!
I'm not sure what you mean as far as "this" when you ask if I'd have to "do this with seeds not dried out".
Collect them? Yes. Start germinating them? You can, or you can just plant them in soil and hope for the best.
The more specific a question, the more specific an answer I can give. I hope somehow, that helps.
I have 1 acre, I can help by planting. I see a lot of butterflies on my Lantana, so they visit me.
Planting milkweed is definitely the number one way to help them. Thank you for reserving some of your land for the Monarchs!
i think i see you have holes in the top of the lid should i do that
+Libby Family
The holes are not 100% necessary, but ventilation is always a good idea. I have the holes for the caterpillars I had in those containers the year before, and knew I'd have in there again that year.