How to Raise Monarch Butterflies the Easy Way
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Plants for a Small Butterfly Garden
Passion flower vine (purple only) - larval host plant for Gulf fritillary and zebra longwing
Milkweed (with yellow flowers) - larval host plant for monarch and queen
Fennel - larval host plant for Eastern black swallowtail
Pentas - a butterfly favorite with flowers full of nectar that blooms from spring to fall
Zinnias - nectar plant that everybody loves, easy to grow from seed
Dill or curly leaf parsley - also a larval host plant for the Eastern black swallowtail
Lemon tree (and other citrus trees) -larval host plant for the giant swallowtail
American wisteria (amethyst falls) - larval host plant for the long-tailed skipper
Salvia - nectar plant, perennial, a favorite of butterflies AND hummingbirds
10.) Vinca - nectar plant, will reseed
Things NOT to plant EVER
Red passion flower vine - it is poisonous to butterfly larva
Butterfly bush - it is an invasive species
Lantana - it is an invasive species, unless you plant the native kind and it is hard to find
Organic soil formula for pots or in the ground (from the book The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible)
1 20 quart bag of compost
1 20 quart bag of planting mixer (sphagnum peat, vermiculite, limestone)
⅓ cup blood meal (nitrogen)
⅓ cup soft rock phosphate (phosphorus)
⅓ cup greensand (potassium)
1 tablespoon azomite (for trace elements)
Places in Baldwin County and the surrounding areas to buy plants and supplies
Racine’s Feed, Garden, & Supply, Inc. in Robertsdale
Magnolia Landscape in Summerdale
Lowe’s in Foley
Old Tyme Feed and Garden Supply in Fairhope
Elberta Farmers Co-op in Elberta
Biophilia in Elberta for native plants - email Carol to make an appointment
Corner Copia Gardens in Fairhope
Kim’s Nursery in Wilmer, Alabama for native plants
Abbott’s Greenhouse in Foley
That’s it, I’m going to raise butterflies now! You’ve made it appear so simple, great instructional video Rachael
LOL! Yay, Cheryl!!! You are going to have so much fun raising butterflies!!!!! I can’t wait to hear how it goes for you! I will be cheering you on the whole way!!!
Great video. Your garden is so beautiful!
Thank you!!!
Your garden is beautiful and a dream!!! 🦋
I have several videos of caterpillars transforming to chrysalis and even emerging from chrysalis. You may use some if you would like.
I used to have 100’s of butterflies until a cat adopted my porch, now I don’t 😪
Oh, Ana! I'm so sorry that you butterfly population has been decimated!!! I never thought about the damage that a cat could do to the butterfly population! And I do have random cats that come to my garden! I haven't seen any shredded butterfly wings...yet.
The Swallowtail butterflies will lay their eggs on the tulip poplar tree, our state tree of Tennessee.
How cool is that! I love that the state tree of Tennessee is a larval host for butterflies! I wish that I could grow one, but they grow from 80 to 120 feet tall. Wow!!!
Could you show us your setup? Are they indoors? Or outside? In the shade? Thank you for your encouraging words and video.
Oh, D S! I’m a bit chagrined to admit that I have my caterpillars on my dining room table. That’s kinda icky. Right?!? LOL! But we rarely eat at the table and I clean it really well before we do eat at it. I think some people keep their caterpillars on a screened in porch, but I don’t want to risk predators being able to get to them out there. Ants can get at them especially easily.
Oh wow! We loved the zoo and seeing all the butterflies there and the botanical gardens. I’d go to the gardens on my lunch break. Your garden has exploded! I can’t wait for mine to grow and fill in more.
I'm so glad that you got to go to the botanical gardens on your lunch break!!! What a treat!!! I have so many good memories of the botanical gardens in Birmingham! It's the absolute BEST place for a picnic! - Oh, your garden WILL grow in very soon, I'm sure of it!!!
What a great video,I have been raising Monarchs here in Christchurch New Zealand for a couple of year's now for the same rason as you,,they are nearly extinct here in the South Island of New Zealand,,as you say it is frightening because you would like them all to survive,This year 24, I'm growing my own seedlings to try and keep up with these caterpillars do they eat and grow so quickly,I'm moving those butterflys into a Butterfly castle here, These castles look like a box made of tight see through netting with a zip to allow you to put plants inside for your caterpillars to keep eating until they climb up onto the top of that castle and change to that next stage,they cannot get out until you open that zip to allow them to fly away,,thanks for the idea of taking pieces of milkweed and place it into water,,I have been doing that also as cuttings to grow new plants from but will now leave those caterpillars on some of them in my castle...Love your Garden too and the advise for what plants they love I know they LOVE my Dahlias,,I also have several Buddliahs they Love those,,will plant some Salvia too..
Oh, yay, Lynn! I had no idea that monarch butterflies were in New Zealand, too! That’s so cool!!! I hope you can grow more milkweed! I let it grow wherever it wants to grow in my garden and I feel like I could always use more. LOL! Something fun that I have done recently is to send containers with monarch chrysalises home with friends of mine who have darling kids. I’m letting them “foster” them for me and release them when they emerge. It’s been so rewarding to share them with the kids!!! Thank you so much for all that you do for butterflies!!!!!!!
@@gulfcoastbutterflygardening thanks for your reply,,I'm trying to breed Red Admiral too,,those butterflys hang around alot more,,as you say Monarchs turn to butterflys,,dry their wing's out and head off into the air over the fence to start their lives,,I normally manage to release just over a hundred,,start of summer to autumn, the last ones head off and shelter high up in the trees of one of my neighbours or down at our local park, it's nering spring here in Christchurch my bulbs are already flowering even though it's pretty cold here,,-1 in the mornings up to 9 degrees C during the day,,I've seen a couple of Monarchs in my garden already,,can't wait to start the process again,,it's quite addictive helping something survive,,thanks again,,I never get sick of watching other people enjoying the same things i do and always learning something new from every one I watch :0)
It seems a lot of your plants are in planters? Your garden is GORGEOUS
Thank you!!! Yes, I have to have most things in containers since I have a terrible armadillo infestation. But thank God it works out because I can never decide on where to plant anything permanently, and this way I get to play musical plants all of the time!
Those little stinkers love to make their chrysalis in the most inconvenient places! I have literally raised my very first monarch caterpillars this week, and the first chrysalis in my whole career as a monarch butterfly midwife is attached **to the actual zipper** halfway down in my little zippy enclosure. #ThanksILoveStickingMyWholeArmInLikeThisToPutNewMilkweedIn🤨
#It’sSuperConvenient😑
I love that you were able to get a shot of him, making the little silk button! That is so awesome.
Omg that is such a gorgeous butterfly!!!
YES!!
AN EMBARRASSMENT OF BUTTERFLIES! I love that so much.
Oh my goodness, I hope you’ll go to my community tab and see the picture I put up of that black swallowtail butterfly we’ve been waiting for! And also look at the shorts- I put up a video of him after I carried him around for a bit and then put him on penta!
Thank you so much for such a great video! You are such an inspiration to me. I don’t think I would ever have tried to raise any butterflies if I hadn’t seen one of your videos last year about doing it! You are my butterfly mentor! And a Godmother to all the butterflies I raise. ❤
LOL, Jo! He made a chrysalis in the middle of the zipper?!? It’s like they need to find the MOST unlikely spot for it, like it’s the LAST place anyone would ever suspect for a chrysalis to be. And so it kinda makes perfect sense that he WOULD put it there. Haha! - I did see you pictures of the swallowtail!!! I’m so glad that you got to hold it for so long! All your hard work paid of! - Oh, but I didn’t see the short! I will have to watch it!!! I hope YOU will have an embarrassment of butterflies soon! You will have to tell visitors, “Oh, you’ll have to pardon my butterflies. Just gently fan your face with your hand and they won’t land on it! And please, do not inhale abruptly! You wouldn’t want to choke on one!” Hmmm. Now that I think about it, maybe one CAN have too many butterflies.
Lol 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Absolutely awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing 😁❤️❤️
Thank you, Vicki!!! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!
A truly beautiful video. what a lovely surprise. You do a wonderful job, the creatures in our modern day lives need our help. People with outside spaces can do a lot with, as you say, just one plant. Many thanks Rachel 🙋♀️
Thank you, Kim!!! I hope that you will have many, many butterflies fluttering around in your garden this summer!!!!!
Your garden is absolutely gorgeous!!
Thank you so much, Stacey!
Thank you for sharing your monarch butterfly video.
I went to a local nursery and purchased milkweed and salvia, and am crossing my fingers I can apply my new knowledge and release some butterflies too.
Oh, yay, Elle!!! I’m so excited for you!!!!! Let me know if you have any questions! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!!!
That was awesome thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Grisel!!! I’m glad that you enjoyed it!
Such helpful information! Thank you for sharing! Lovely that you have a few options in your yard for the monarch! That's awesome 💚🦋
Thank you! It’s fun to see what kind of milkweed the monarchs like, and it seems like the one with yellow flowers is their favorite!
Thank you for your video. You have lots of good information in there. For all of your viewers, the tropical milkweed plants, such as the orange-flowered variety shown, should not be grown in warm climates, as they contribute to the OE parasite problem which is easily transferred, and can kill the Monarch butterfly should they come in contact with them. Common milkweed is the premier choice, as it will die off each season, and any OE spores will die off with them. In Canada, the tropical milkweed isn't an OE spore problem, as the tropical milkweed die off each fall, and should there be any spores, they die off as well. However, in warm climes, the tropical milkweed varieties will continue to grow without a die-off, and the OE spores will flourish, and spread. Moreover, experts are saying that the tropical milkweeds also contain a much higher level of cardenolides, the toxic chemical that protects the Monarch, that can be harmful to them because of its potency. So, to any Monarch guardians everywhere, especially in warm climes, please do not grow tropical milkweed, or you will be causing more harm than good. Thank you. 🦋🦋
Thank you!!! I cut mine down to the ground in October so that no one can use it past that point!
I recently started raising 2 monarch caterpillars that I found on my milkweed plant in California. They're only about a week old so far. (I just watched your video to help me learn more!) And the other day, I saw a giant swallowtail butterfly flutter around my citrus tree, landing occasionally, and immediately afterwards, I found two eggs. So I'm going to try to raise those also.
I've never raised any kind of butterfly before. It seems like a difficult task, but it's super exciting to see their progress each day! 🙂
Oh, yay!!!!! How wonderful!!! Isn’t it the most fun thing to watch them grow and change and turn into chrysalises? And it really isn’t super hard or scary to raise them! It just takes a little bit of work for a return of so much joy and amazement!
Hi I live in Orange Beach. I have a couple of greenhouses that I grow Plumeria and other flowering plants and tropicals. I am looking at ways of bringing more pollinators and have started researching raising monarch butterflies. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. I have purchased a few milkweed plants to plant on my property as well as seeding my back field in wild flower mix. What time of year can I expect to find eggs on milkweed?
Oh, yay, Greg! That’s so awesome that you are going to start raising monarch butterflies! You could start finding eggs on your milkweed at soon as you see a monarch in your garden! I have seen monarches wondering around Orange Beach all winter, so I think we have some stubborn ones that decided not to bother going to Mexico and decided to ride out winter here. In fact, I often see monarchs flying on the beach and they briefly fly over the water, then promptly turn and fly north. LOL!
Thank you 🦋 learned a lot. I’ve been raising monarchs for about 3 years in New England & currently have 5 caterpillars in different stages. Good luck and thank you again
Oh, yay, Kat! I’m so thankful that you are raising monarchs, too!!! The world needs more butterflies! Thank you for watching!!! God bless you and keep you and aid you in all of your endeavors!
Such a great channel ❤❤
Thank you so much!!!
Nice, thats what i been trying to do for years,but the birds always get them,have to try something new.I used Milkweed and nothing ever happened,dill is the only one,ill get this soon,im around Phila. just outside.Hope to be moving up north in the MNTS dont know yet but i used to have a sanctuary for wildlife in my back yard,everything i planted.Good Luck.
Oh, cool!!! I hope you will get to have another wildlife sanctuary when you move to the mountains!!!!!
Gosh Rachel what a
GREAT tutorial!!
I just love the way you talk about butterflies!
(And PLANTS TOO!! ha!)
I'm going to use YOUR video,
THIS VIDEO for my grandson's introduction to raising butterflies!
He's turning 5 in a few weeks,
and I think he's
JUST THE RIGHT AGE!!
He's a city boy, so he won't have the advantage you had as a child.
How GLORIOUS you describe having SO many around you as a kid!
I was a city kid too, in the burbs of Dallas. And one year we had a very close encounter with butterflies!
Monarch Butterflies to be exact!
There was a park very close to my house, we could see it from our house windows. And one year an ENTIRE FLOCK of Monarchs landed in the park ALL AT ONCE!!
Wait, what did you say that's called-
A Kaleidescope of Monarchs!!!
& IT TRULY WAS A KALEIDESCOPE TOO!
I was only 8 years old, and I remember it clear as yesterday!
It just happened all of a sudden.
One minute the park was empty.
The next it was so heavily packed with Monarchs you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you!!
All the neighborhood kids and their mom's came running out of their houses, me included, and we were in butterfly heaven running around with all those millions, and it literally WAS millions, of Monarchs at ground level.
They were all landing on the large grassy area, not in the trees.
We were holding them, and petting them, and letting one go just so we could hold another one!
And there were so many they were fluttering in our faces!
And crawling all over us!
Swarming is a better word!
At first we were running around arms open wide to feel this weird miracle of nature!
But soon we had to stand still so as not to step on any of the ones on the ground!
I know it sounds so surreal it does sound like I'm making this up.
But I'm not. It did happen!
Of coarse, we knew NOTHING about them as we do now.
We didn't know they were migrating.
They must've been exhausted and flying way up high and looking down, seeing the big patch of grass among all the city concrete.
What an honor they chose MY park to come down for a rest!
Unfortunately, we kids were much too excited to let them have a true rest. Which makes me feel bad now, I wish we had known more about what we were witnessing!
It truly was an amazing sight to see, and feel too.
I'll never forget it.
Nor will I ever see that again,
I'm sure.
I feel like you do, like we should ALL raise butterflies to help repopulate the world once again!
I've also been trying to do that with fireflies...
Theyre a bit tougher, since most homeowners are using poisons of some kind or another in their yards.
And all the lights at night are another cause which is diminishing their numbers.
Plus, I could never find any eggs!
Even if I wanted too!
Firefly females lay their eggs in leaf mulch, or any kind of mulch they can find.
And something thats pretty cool is the larvae eat snails!!
How's THAT for being helpful!!
I have one grandaughter who was over at my house when she was 3.
It was Firefly time of year,
and as it got dark, she saw fireflies for the first time that year!
We showed her how to catch them and put them in a jar, and then let them go later.
There were so many fireflies in the park next to my house that year, my grandaughter ran around for a full hour trying to catch some!
There had to have been hundreds!
I took them for granted too, we all did. It was like that every year with the fireflies!
Well, that was 11 years ago, and I still live in the same place where she ran around catching fireflies, that night.
But their numbers have been dwindling every year.
Dwindling so low, that last year I was lucky to see a dozen the whole night each time I looked for them.
I read somewhere that we humans expect them to become extinct in the near future.
But nobody seems to be doing anything about it!!
This year, I'm counting about half of as many as last year over here...
I don't know how to keep them from becoming extinct when homeowners are poisoning them on a regular basis, and the city parks department (of my city) constantly keeps the grass cut at a half inch tall.
Fireflies NEED tall weeds to crawl up on and flash their lights.
The female goes up on a weed stem, or flower stem, usually about 12-18 inches tall, and she just sits there flashing her signal hoping a male will find her.
Meanwhile, it's the males that are constantly flying around flashing their own signal looking for a mate.
If there are no taller weeds, or anything for the females to climb up on, their mating dance is interrupted, done.
Also, the babies grow up in mulch.
So ANY kind of pesticide, or herbacide easily kills them off in their dwindling habitat.
I've tried talking about it all over my local social media, but nobody wants to listen.
Or a few like to talk about them, but that's as far as it goes.
People aren't changing their practices of using pesticides around their houses.
Now that I have all these woodchips so close to the city park, I'm hoping I can figure out a way to get some tiny firefly flagpoles out there for those girls!
Or if nothing else,
they can all populate my yard!
I would be in heaven if that happened!!
So YAY!!! For raising butterflies!!
And here's to saving the dying fireflies!! ❤
Oh, wow!!! What a dream come true to see SO many monarchs when you were a little girl!!!!! - We used to have a ton fireflies when I was growing up, and I also haven’t seen any in a while! The edge of my grandmother’s woods were lit up by them in the summer evenings! I hope that your efforts will make a difference for them!!!!
@gulfcoastbutterflygardening
The magic of fireflies filling the air...
It SHOULD BE be part of
EVERY childhood...
SAVE THE MONARCHS!!!
SAVE THE FIREFLIES!!!
We need a campaign.
Enjoying your videos
I live in Katy TX
What’s the best nectar plant for monarch butterflies 🦋
I'm so glad that you are enjoying my videos, Kathy!!! LOL! I see your comment above this one. The butterflies here cannot resist salvia, pentas, zinnias, coneflowers, and tithonia. I'm so thankful that all of those are super easy to grow and they want to live here.
Don't touch the chrysalis it's bad for them and if it's still on the chrysalis it's not ready yet
Thanks for letting me know!!!
Great video! So glad you made it. You are filled with tips like the tape over the water to keep them from drowning and the plastic container you use inside and how to handle them. Mom told me when I was small to never pick them up by the wings as it removes some of the cells (we consider it like powder) and is harmful to the butterflies.I never knew about the wasps and am sure than is what happens to many of my caterpillars as I never collected them before - just let nature do it and realize how fragile they have become in our environment. Does a butterfly need water? I've seen them drink from wet sand but they have such short lives that I assumed they got all they needed from nectar. Maybe I need to add a wet sand watering station?
Thanks, Mary!!! Yep, I bet the wasps got to your caterpillars. They are always looking for an easy meal, but dang it if they aren't motivated enough to find all the army worms! - Oh, wow! How observant of you to have noticed that butterflies drink from wet sand!!! Yes! They do a thing that is called "puddling" where they get minerals from drinking from mud puddles and even from cow patties. Ewww! You can make a wet sand watering station. I've done it before, but it was just a messy spot after a while. I also put out some cut fruit for the butterflies, but I left it out overnight and the raccoons ate it and also made a mess. I've got a lot of inconsiderate critters around these parts. Haha!
I love monarchs
Me too!!! They are so very special!!!
I currently grew milkweed last month and it grew and spread more and I had a caterpillar the last few days till I found out it was gone today.
Yay, James, for growing milkweed!!! I hope your caterpillar made a chrysalis and turned into a butterfly!
@@gulfcoastbutterflygardening sadly my last caterpillar hermie disappeared a few days ago but I’m sure more will come.
Thanks for the information...
You’re welcome, Dianne!!!
Very interesting - new friend here.
I hope you will give raising butterflies a try!
Great to see you on Wednesday Rachel! I’m trying to raise some right now. My milkweed is dying that the eggs are on. Tomorrow I’m going to go out and snip it under the water to see if that helps. If it dies will the eggs hatch anyway?
Thanks, Kelli!!! I hope that will help keep your milkweed alive! If it doesn’t, you can cut the section of leaf that the egg is on and either pin or tape (whichever will hold) it to a fresh leaf on a stem of milkweed. The tiny caterpillar will eat its egg case when it first emerges, but it will need to be able to eat fresh milkweed leaves pretty shortly after that and not have to crawl a long way to find it.
@@gulfcoastbutterflygardening ok I will be on it first thing in the morning! Thanks Rachel!
@@kelliwebb2870 Awesome! Let me know how it goes!!! The eggs will usually hatch within 4 to 6 days of being laid, so hopefully, you won’t have too long to wait. And if it becomes necessary to have to move the super tiny caterpillars to another leaf, then you can use a super fine art paint brush.
Thanks Rachel❤
You’re welcome, Lindy Lou!!! I hope you are back safely from vacation!
No narrow leaf milkweed???
Since I made that video I have been able to grow aquatic milkweed from seed, so I’m making progress. LOL!
@@gulfcoastbutterflygardening if you’re located in California you should consider growing native narrow leaf milkweed since that’s what monarchs are used to. Other milkweeds can disrupt their migration patterns
I just started raising them here in Florida. I only have the tropical and the gigantica milkweed. I would love to get the other varieties. They love zinnias too. Thanks for a tour of your gard😊en.❤
Oh, yay, Sandy!!! Isn’t raising monarchs such an amazing experience!?! I love seeing what incredible beautiful and strength can be found in such a seemingly fragile creature! God IS a miracle worker in ALL His handiwork! I love getting to see monarchs at the beach at this time of year and knowing that they are embarking on their journey to Mexico. It’s just incredible!!! God bless you!!!!!
I enjoy your videos..always! Have a beautiful weekend!! 🦋🦋🦋💕💕
Thank you, Sylvia!!! You are so kind!!!
You can also buy the caterpillars as well. I did that when I taught school.
I ordered some monarch caterpillars once, and I was a miserable failure at raising them. LOL! They were so minuscule and I tore off individual milkweed leaves to feed them, but leaves became limp and inedible, then the caterpillars seemed to disappear. That was my first attempt at raising butterflies. I'm so thankful that I didn't let it discourage me! HAHA!
Great video Rachel! You're having amazing success raising butterflies!!! I have only seen a few flutter through my yard. I have Pentas, salvia, coneflowers, lantanas, petunias, and a butterfly bush! I have more milkweed growing this year than ever before, but nothing like you have. My passion flower vine died. 😭 Please tell your butterflies to head to northern Alabama! 🥰🐛🦋
Oh, Tammy!!! You’ve got your butterfly trap set with so much beauty to attract them!!!!! They will NOT be able to resist!!! And it sounds so lovely!!! You will have more butterflies soon, I bet! I wish there was a way to MAKE them stay! The problem is that they can fly away once they visit! I might have to get one of those screened things that goes over pools and make my own butterfly enclosure! That might be the only way to have an actual cloud of butterflies!
I just looked into the screened pool enclosures, but then I realized that I wouldn’t have the bees and the hummingbirds and everybody else and that made me sad. The garden is for them too! So forget that I said that. LOL!
I love the idea of raising butterflies 😊. I’m not there yet, still setting my garden up and establishing a good ecosystem. The previous owners made a bit of a mess out there, I suspect they’d sprayed pesticides :/. It’s getting better though!
I’m glad to know I have somewhere to learn once I’m ready 🦋🌸
Oh, yay, Jess!!! I'm thankful that you have got plans to raise butterflies once you are ready! Gardening for wildlife is such a joy!!! I'm sorry that you are having to deal with a mess at the moment, but I know that it will come together for you since you are so motivated!
@@gulfcoastbutterflygardening Thank you 😊. I’m a fairly new gardener and I love it so much. I can’t wait to have my garden full of life out there. Nature is amazing at balancing itself when we’re patient and avoid chemical intervention. I’m getting there…I’m sure I’ll be updating you and asking questions along the way ☺️🦋
Wow ; what a great video; thanks so much!
Thank you , A!!! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!
Oh you just now said… thank you ❤
Thank you, Kathy! I'm so excited that you are going to plant things for butterflies!!!