SEASON 3: MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Source:  journeynorth.org

Source:  journeynorth.org

Sunday, September 24 Today a female monarch butterfly is on the dockside tropical milkweed laying eggs and sipping nectar from the blossoms. I haven't seen one in over a month.

Here's an interesting way to attract butterflies to your garden. 

by Walter Reeves of the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Saturday, September 23. Diez y Ocho has become a chrysalid.

Friday, September 22, Wabi Sabi:  What I learned from the butterfly that could not fly.

I learned today that as Scott mentioned, Wabi Sabi's affliction was caused by OE, as shown in PBS Deep Look. 

Click HERE for a superb explanatory video. It dramatically makes the case for the proper management of tropical milkweed: 1.harvest, and compost the seed pods before they open and 2. Trim milkweed down to 4 inches in January so they don't concentrate OE spores to next season's butterflies. By the way, if you have caterpillars, they will eat the seed pods too.

Sunday, September 18 Monarch caterpillar (Diez y Ocho)  brought in for protection hopefully before tachinid flies have laid their eggs. 

Sunday, September 10 About 30 milkweed seeds have sprouted in just 6-7 days. 

Saturday, September 9 Ten milkweed seeds have sprouted. Wabi Sabi has emerged from her chrysalis but her legs are too weak to hold on to her perch as a result of OE.

Photo credit: Senka Dorn     

Friday, Sept. 8 Scott volunteers to take home the most recent chrysalid for release in his neighborhood. 

When wings are visible in the chrysalid, the butterfly will emerge within 24 hours.

Sunday, September 3  Chrysalid #5 is in its 3rd day.

The chrysalid stage lasts 8-12 days.

For more information, click HERE.

Saturday, September 2. a. planted 50 tropical milkweed seeds in a sprouting tray.  b. 6th caterpillar, the stowaway, (length 3cm) has died (cause unknown).

Friday, September 1, 2023 5th caterpillar entered chrysalis stage today. Let's call her Cinco.

 

Wednesday, August 30, Tachinid flies are formidable predators, causing four of the five Monarch caterpillars in the vivarium to perish as of today. Five tachinid fly larvae descended from the fourth monarch caterpillar today. I'd hoped to have brought them inside (out of predatory danger) but these energetic flies had already deposited eggs on the 4 caterpillars I'd brought in, yielding a 100% Monarch mortality rate mentioned previously. 

A sobering calculation: 5 fly larvae emerged from a single monarch caterpillar. Each fly will mature into an adult fly in few days, say 1 week when they will mate and go on to deposit eggs on unprotected caterpillars contributing to a staggering fly population increase that explains the 100% mortality rate as of today.

It is easy to take sides as these ecological relationships unfold (I'm working for more Monarch Butterflies.) If anyone has ideas on how to suppress this fly predation, we'll be able to release more Monarch butterflies into the wild. Perhaps these butterflies will migrate to a location with fewer predatory flies.

Tuesday, August 29 of the vivarium six, 1 caterpillar (A) fatality (tachinid) today. The four remaining larvae are simultaneously briefly and unexpectedly pausing their feeding behavior (all are still). (B) missing one antennae is now 10:39 am) on the netted vivarium "ceiling". Is it ready for it's chrysalid stage? No. It has descended back to the wooden deck. 10:45 am now back to the ceiling. 10:50 now at leaf level. 10:53 now at bottom. 

Monday, August 28, 2023 Monarch caterpillar census 10 (five on the deck, six in the vivarium). The 6th, too small to be noticed, maybe 1st or 2nd install, was a milkweed stowaway. Idea: this larva too young to be parasitized?  Only 5 seeds sprouted from the 40 tropical milkweed seeds from 2021. From a late start*, caterpillar activity is back in full swing.

*Later start because of wet winter, and/or cooler temperature?

Tuesday July 25, 2023 A. I found a monarch caterpillar today on the soil near the base of a tropical milkweed on the front deck (south long planter.) B. Also, planted (in a 4"X10"tray) 40 seeds originally collected between November and December 2021. C. Milkweed trimmed down to 3inches on the south side of the house have not yet come back. 4 containers of tropical milkweed (on or adjacent to the deck) are growing fast.

Photo Paul Ho

Sunday, July 23 Paul has 20 monarch caterpillars in Zone 3. They are eating milkweed faster than the plants can grow.

See photo -->

How many caterpillars are in this photo?

Friday, June 23, 2023 5th straight day of sunshine. Paul (Zone 3 on the map) reports that his first monarch caterpillar has just gone to chrysalis stage. Let's check where he is on the map. I bet it's warmer in Zone 3.         

Tom and Virginia(Zone 2) report they've spotted monarch adults in the last few weeks, but none seen here is South Laguna. Only 1 butterfly sighting (laying eggs) here in Zone 1 but I only found 1 egg.

Wednesday June 21 Third sunny day in a row following 9 weeks without sunshine here in Laguna Beach, which may explain why we haven't seen monarch butterflies as of this date.

Milkweed has sprouted from last seasons trimmed 3 inch stalks. (See Figure 1 below). So there is plenty of food when they arrive.

Almost Season 3.

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023  I have trimmed last season's tropical milkweed down to about 3 inches from the ground. This will reduce Monarch butterfly exposure to the fatal disease known as OE Ophryocystis elektroscirria (See Figure 2 below) Click HERE for more.

Spring temperatures are a few weeks away but good news has been published.(See Winter Count below)

WINTER COUNT SHOWS REBOUND FROM NEAR EXTINCTION

2020 Fewer than 2000 butterflies

2021 247,000. 

2022 330,000 

Click HERE for Monarchs Wintering in California Rebound!

FIGURE 1.  If you haven't topped your tropical milkweed, this is a good time to do it to protect next seasons monarch butterflies from OE. Ophryocystis elektroscirria, a protozoan (single celled) organism infecting monarch, queen and lesser wanderer butterflies that scientists believe evolved alongside monarchs.

FIGURE 2.  SIGNS OF OE INFECTION:

SPORES SEEN AS DARK PATCH2ES IN THE CHRYSALIS

Photo credit: University of Georgia, Athens

Click HERE for more.

OE damage takes place during the chrysalid stage. While the infected adults do not survive to migrate, they do spread the protozoan parasite.  If you see the sign of infection above, keep this butterfly isolated when it emerges, Place milkweed florets with blossoms to feed the isolated adult.

To control the dangerous spread of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), a parasite that infects monarch butterflies, I have cut my tropical milkweed plants down to 4 inch stems without leaves. (see photo below) 

 

OE is a single-celled organism, a protozoan whose spores rest dormant on Asclepias curassavica (tropical milkweed), a fast growing, non-native  plant favored by monarch butterflies and their larva.  Click HERE for more about O.E.  By cutting these milkweed plants, the protozoan parasites residing on the foilage are completely eliminated. When new leaves appear in spring, they are free of the parasites that have been linked to lower monarch migration success, reduction in body mass, mating success, lifespan, and ability to fly.