Planting Milkweed - Evidence It Helps (How To Help The Monarch Butterfly)

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I respect skepticism, definitely. Some, however, are skeptical that planting milkweed will make a difference. Here's some evidence that it does. Milkweed planted in yards in my area are already receiving eggs. Could these eggs have been laid elsewhere, and by planting milkweed in your yard, are we just changing the distribution of where the same number of eggs are laid in the season? It's a possibility, sure. However, the best evidence that is available points to a loss of milkweed as the number one cause to the Monarch's decline. More milkweed is the key. It's not just about the number of plants, though. We need to keep milkweed available all along the migratory paths so that it's not cut off anywhere. If you plant milkweed, you ARE helping, as I hope this video shows.

Comments

thx

it help now i got a a+

thx for vid

Do you know if the monarch population is growing, as off 10/2016?

Planted milkweed this year first time... only a few plants grew nicely, others probably too close. I found no eggs, but all of sudden other day 5 big Monarch Caterpillars.. bought them inside and within 2 days I have Chrysalis. I thought it was a complete failure even though I saw Monarchs around the house. But it Works!!!
I found a bunch of Wild Milkweed nearby that I plan on getting seeds from later this year.. Next Year.... Look Out!

Nice

Thank you so much for making this. That person is still posting lies to so many articles. This helps!

Lo l love that last statement...

Where do I start? Apparently the purchase of only 3 milkweed plants about 3 weeks ago, now I have a nursery of cats with absolutely no prior knowledge.
Day 1 - My boyfriend and I wanted to "attract butterflies" to the yard and brought home 3 plants from our local extension's fall plant sale.
Day 2 - We had a monarch show up and stayed for 2-3 days. (not sure if it was the same one all 3 days, but I believe so).
We kept checking the plants daily just to be sure they we not being invaded by pests and that they were happy in their new ground. By about day 7 we gasped when we saw a bunch of little cats. In hindsight, and THANKS TO YOUR VIDEOS, I am confident those cats were not from eggs laid after we got the plants home but rather that there were eggs already present before we got the plants.
I found your videos while I was on a frantic mission to learn anything I could about protecting my cats after one horrible day I went out to photo the largest cat on the bush and a wasp was making a meal of it. My heart broke. I truly respect the food chain and nature's balance, and I even respect the role wasps play in an organic garden, but upon closer inspection that wasp had eaten quite a few and he was sure to make my plants a regular dinner spot. Your videos were instantly engaging as I have a huge passion for all things science and biology, but add to that..cool graphic tees and Mike Patton and now not only am I a huge fan, I have convince my boyfriend that you are happily married and of no threat, and now he is a fan as well. So this is as much a HIGH FIVE and a BIG THANKS as it is a little progress report.
Week 3 - We are now completely obsessed with and determined to find wild milkweed and even considering planting patches in our local wildlife preserves. We aren't sure if it is frowned upon, but we are a tad gangster when it comes to nature. We have 3 "chrysalides" (we agree it is better than "chrysalises") and today we finally got to watch a cat go from "J" into chrysalis completely, and your are right... it is AMAZING! We have containers everywhere with all stages and when we went yesterday to get more groceries for the kids, we enthusiastically scoured the plants of our organic grower for plants with the most eggs. You have empowered us immensely with your relatable videos and presentation. We still have lots to learn, but it is truly a passion to be a part of it all.
Now for a question..Here is a concern of mine: Before I realized how quickly the cats could devour a couple of leaves, I went out for the day and upon return I immediately check and they had run out of food. I was a little nervous that I didn't know exactly how long those few had been without or how they would react to it. I immediately put fresh leaves in their containers, but 2 of the larger ones never came down from the top and the next thing I knew they began to "J". Then I woke up to one of the smaller ones that apparently feasted all night and was out of food and had made its way to the top. The small one is nowhere near ready to pupate, but it occurred to me that being out of food may cause them to move to the next stage. Then I saw a comment in this thread to that very topic. Is it true that they will pupate too early if they are without food for any period of time? In my case it could have been 10 minutes or 3 hours. I am not certain.

P.S. Are you on Facebook?

why do I have aphids on my milkweed. I used soapy water and sprayed them all off, but still concerned they will come back.

Hey Mr. Lund, just wanted you to know that I DO appreciate you making all these videos on raising Monarchs and planting milkweed and the details involved. Wanted you to know, if I didn't tell you before, that all of the "Youtube" links to your videos are in the "Files" section of my group "Monarchs and Milkweed." I would really be honored if you checked out my group on Facebook and to ask to join. I will aprove you if you do. Your wealth of knowledge would be a GREAT help in my group. Every day I approve members to the group and we are almost up to 2,600 members and they all have a zeal in planting milkweed and in raising the Monarchs. Besides, they are also VERY HELPFUL in answering questions and you would be a valuable addition to our group! I hope you consider. Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/688389397869570/

If you plant nectar plants that attract Monarchs Mr. Lund, that will increase the egg-laying possiblities by Monarchs. :-) I recommend that to new people getting into raising Monarchs. :-)

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge of these magnificent creatures with all of us. I ventured out to my local butterfly farm today called Idlewild Butterfly farm here in Kentucky and got my first milkweed plant, it's fairly large and had two Monarch butterfly eggs on it that I've found so far, complete with two ladybugs and numerous ladybug eggs. After watching your videos, I cut the two eggs from the leaves as you instructed, placed them in a container and am hoping to raise these guys. Great thing you and your family do for these tiny beings.

You have to show the eggs produce alot of adult butterflies. Especially late summer butterflies that migrate to the overwintering sites. This video shows monarch production at a milkweed wholesale nursery is poor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Dz8X5Wb7o Therefore the nursery plants are not boosting the size of the migratory population that will migrate to Mexico.

Right on! I absolutely love your videos! If you plant it, they will come!

I do agree that if you plant, they will come. I had 5 eggs last year from 1 plant in my yard and I now have had 14 so far from about 10 plants. A couple of notes/hypotheses I am thinking are that they do seem to prefer the young plants - 1st year, sometimes second year plants. However I have found that on well established milkweed that have already bloomed and started pods, not so much. In fact, my in-laws have a couple of acres of established milkweed and have never found eggs, and there are plenty of nectar sources around the yard... I have heard some people in Ontario will cut/mow their milkweed in June in anticipation that plants will regrow for the August Monarchs that come through and lay eggs. I may try this next year to see and keep the plants "young looking".

My friends all tell me I need to find someone who loves monarchs as much as I do. Any chance you're single? =)

After watching a couple of your videos, I seeing a major difference between your Monarchs and the West coast Monarchs. I've never seen them lay eggs in abundance like you've been documenting. They rarely will lay more than 1 egg per plant. Laying so many eggs, they're destroying themselves as they would have all died if you didn't intervene. Although, I have read they will go into Pupa early if they run out of food.