My milkweed looks bad. I have used so much of it to feed the caterpillars I had inside. The milkweed bugs, aphids, and extreme temperature changes have taken a toll on the rest of it. This is what my tiny milkweed patch looks like right now.
It's pretty pathetic. But...I found 14 more caterpillars on it yesterday! And they are good size, too!
I would bring them inside to help increase their chance of survival, but the milkweed is too buggy to bring into the house. I have had between 60-70 caterpillars this summer, though!! These caterpillars that are changing to butterflies now are part of the "super generation" of monarchs that will live 4 times as long as usual so they can complete the migration cycle to Mexico. Maybe next year we will consider tagging the ones we release so we can see just how far they make it!
2 comments:
Wow, I'm so glad you have had a big year for Monarchs - we have not and I was concerned about that. And these days they spray for mosquitoes pretty frequently, so that affects the butterflies too.
They fog for mosquitoes here about every 2-3 weeks, so it's usually a problem here, too. Thankfully they put out a schedule, so I can check my plants before they spray. I figure the caterpillars that are out there now had good timing and were probably in eggs the last time they sprayed.
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