How to Prepare Milkweed Plants for Monarch Eggs

206 Comments

1. I have tropical milkweed that I grew from seed collected from last year’s plants in about a dozen different places in my yard. I found quite a few eggs and even a few that hatched but never had one caterpillar any bigger than ¼” all summer. All my caterpillars (about 15 this year) came from my two swamp milkweed plants. Last year we had more than twice that many and even left a lot of them outside. We do see a lot of wasps but it doesn’t seem like that’s enough to prevent any monarch caterpillars at all. Any ideas?
   Kansas City area

   1. Hi Mokey, it’s hard to say for sure….

      Weather patterns, pesticide use, predation, and habitat availability that can all negatively impact monarch activity. When there are multiple contributing factors, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact issue(s) and know how much each factor is contributing.

2. Tony, This is my first year raising milkweed. They are located in a raised bed in a community garden (zone 9, Mojave Desert). There are several varieties and I am wondering when I should start to cut them back for the winter. Varieties include fascicularis, speciosa, speciosa Davis, curassavica, and asperula.

   1. Hi Jerry, for local gardening questions, I suggest facebook groups to network with others with first hand growing experience in your region:

      Facebook groups

3. I have milkweed plants in my yard and I have monarchs all summer. I don’t let anyone cut them down.. I live in southern nh.it is september 6th now. are they all hatched and gone I haven’t seen any in a while. can I cut down the milkweed now.. it grows back in the spring. or do I just leave it?

   1. Hi Corinne, you can cut back milkweed in fall or spring.

4. Hi Tony,
   1st I want to thank you and your team for getting my orders out so fast
   What I want to know, do you or should we be checking for OE before we release, or does mother nature deal with it ?
   Thanks

   1. Hi Ernie, the process I go over over in raise the migration helps to prevent monarchs from ingesting OE spores and becoming heavily infected. We would only euthanize a heavily infected butterfly that was weak and/or deformed and unable to take flight.

5. I raised 11 monarchs last year from my milkweed plants. I have been doing this four 5 years. 2019 this year i have not had any eggs/ cats at all. Last year i had them by aug 11th. Hope this changes, i really enjoy them.

6. Wanted to let u know Tony I have raised 109 Monarchs so far this year and counting. Some in chrysalis and some r not and I have babies too!! It’s been work but love doing it. My neighbor also is doing it too!!!0

7. Tony,
   Was intrigued by your observation that you get many eggs from potted milkweed. You said you need to prepare the potted plants one or two weeks ahead. I wasn’t sure of the process. Were you digging up existing plants (they have long taproots as you know), or were you buying some plants and repotting?
   Thanks for your help. Have been reading your website for many years and find your tips and suggestions incredibly helpful. Can’t believe the volume of emails you answer; sorry to add another one!
   Mike Griffin (North Fork of Long Island, New York).

   1. Hi Mike, we typically pot our milkweed in the spring…we also have a couple perennial swamp milkweed in our raised beds which I count as potted plants. You definitely don’t need to pot milkweed, but it’s easier to monitor single plants away from the an entire milkweed patch. Just focus on your healthiest plants for egg retrieval…usually, those are the ones the females will visit first.

8. I’m in northwestern South Carolina. I had many visits from Monarchs last year in July, resulting in dozens of eggs and subsequently, some fantastic adults to release. I more than doubled my milkweed plants and nectar sources since then, but mid-August is here and not a single egg! Is it too late? The swallowtails, buckeyes, painted ladies, and many other types of butterflies have been here daily since June. I’ve seen Monarchs in the area, but none at my house. Would they lay eggs this late in the year? I hope so. Thanks for any comments.

   1. Hi Teresa, in Minnesota, we’ve gotten eggs as late as the first couple days of September…still lots of opportunity left for you further south. Happy hunting!

9. Hi Tony,
   I am an elementary special ed. teacher and have been collecting monarch eggs and cats for my students to watch. I check my milkweed daily to get new leaves for the cats and I found some tussock moth cats. I am wondering if they can happily co-exist with my monarch cats, or is that a bad idea? This has been a very exciting unit of study for my K-2 students. Thank you for your wonderful and informative website!

   1. Hi Tamera, good question. I have never raised tussocks before, but they also feed on various species of milkweed. I would raise them on separate cuttings or plants if they are in the same habitat…good luck!

10. I recently bought milkweed and parsley for my monarchs and black swallow butterflies. I had about 30 black swallow Catapillar‘s and about 50 monarch Catapillar’s . They all died due to pesticide on the. Is there anyway to clean the plants? Or should I just throw them away? For the future is there a way you can clean the plants to make sure there is no pesticides. 🙁

    1. hi Vanessa, the pesticides are only effective for a short period. I would cut back the plants so fresh growth can emerge. Plants treated with systemic pesticides can not be rinsed. I would find a new local vendor or check out our Suggested Milkweed Stores to find pesticide-free plants.

11. Hey Tony, Everyone,

    So last week we released 135 monarchs mixed with a few Queens. We set our milkweeds outside to regenerate and the leaves are returning nicely. I am wondering if there is a season in Florida and if so when it ends. There were 2 monarch and 2 queens assaulting our milkweeds yesterday, all day. So I am thinking we could have another wave like the last one, we released 58 in one day, it was crazy. Does anyone know the answer to my question?

    1. Hi Marco, in central and south Florida there is a year round population so you can potentially have monarchs any time.

12. I golfed today Aug 23rd on a course just outside of Green Bay Wisconsin. I noticed that the ground crew had cut down almost all of the areas that had milkweed ! I felt sick thinking that this is going to hurt the Monarch population, should they have waited till late Oct/Nov ?

    1. yes…October would have been a much better time.

    2. Many Golf course are leaving or plantingMilkweed and other pollinator favorites. I would contact the golf course and complain/explain your concern.

13. Hello All, Tony,

    Well yesterday was a good day, we had 25 hatch and 24 flew away, one was damaged and 28 the day before with one damaged. Today however has blown away all other days, so far we have 39 hatched and it’s like bedlam lol

    1. This turned out to be 58

14. Hi!
    It’s great to do what we can to increase the monarch population..I started planning swamp milkweed this year : ). I’m not sure why you’re promoting Tropical milkweed though… Even here (https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/is-tropical-milkweed-killing-monarch-butterflies/) you state that more studies need to be done to understand the “safety level” of this plant. Why not promote native species until more is known (especially for those who won’t read enough to know to cut it back as you suggest)? I understand your points in the article, but am just worried… as we have seen with honey bees – disease can be devastating to insect populations.

    Just a thought…

    Thanks for the article

    1. I have planted tropical milkweed for many years in central Florida and have seen no damage to monarchs in any form. I cut mine back this June due to an infestation of spider mites. They came back healthy.

       My problem is wasps & lizards which kill most of the caterpillars. This was my first time raising them in Tony’s cages. Released about 20 which flew strongly. Two had malformed wings and one was too weak to fly even after feeding her for several days.

       Will raise more next time since I now have a second cage.

15. Hello All, Tony,

    Well I got home from work yesterday to find 29 beautiful Monarch’s ready to be released. Unfortunately we lost one, he had part of his chrysalis attached to his face and his antennae and proboscis and front legs were attached, I tried to remove it and was successful, however he was not in a condition to be released or to survive at all. He was damaged and I did not see a way to help him survive the poor little guy. I am a big ole baby and couldn’t do what needed to be done, so my wife had to put him in a container in the freezer. I knew he would starve to death otherwise, I was saddened by this.

    But on the bright side we released 28 beautiful strong butterflies of varying sizes, though that part i do not understand. Some are very small and delicate and some are very large. So fare today I think we have another 8 to release, they keep hatching daily. Overall I think our survival percentage has been pretty good. If anyone has any advice about helping ones with crumpled wings or chrysalis attached to their head please let me know. I wish we had a way to re-dampen their wings so they they could re-dry and maybe flatten out.

    1. Hi. This is my 2nd year raising and releasing Monarch’s. I have saved wings from some that didn’t make it and used those wings for the ones that have a chance. I very carefully cut some of the crumpled wing from the monarch and attach the new wing with a few small dabs of super glue using a q-tip. Seems to work fine. Also if the wing is crumpled on the very tip, that can be cut off with a small pair of scissors and that usually helps them to fly.

       1. I had one with a crumpled wing on the end and a bit of a bulge in the middle. He could fly short distances and spent lots of time on the flowers so I just left him do his thing. He seemed happy enough – if butterflies can feel happy 🙂

16. Hello Everyone, Tony,

    Well since my last posting we have almost 80 chrysalis’s and I am happy to say that today 28 hatched and were all perfect, we were worried about one that had crumpled wings, but he hung longer and all is good now. We will have a mass release tonight, we typically release them around dusk. We have more on the way. There has been a female flying around our milkweeds and laying more eggs. I am supposed to go on vacation next month and I am worried that I may not get to go lol.

    We decided to put all of our milkweed plants in our garden and let nature take it’s course. Though it will be on my mind the whole time we are gone. I just hope they will be ok, my wife says they survived before we came along, but for me they are my babies and I am a worry wart. I do have a web cam in the cube, I named it Butterfly cam, and can watch what is going on with my phone from anywhere. I felt this was a worthwhile investment, I can take a peek anytime, take pictures and videos also. I know you all are thinking this guy is losing it, and I may very well be lol. But I am going to lose it and be happy! Call me the crazy Butterfly Man

    Thx for giving me a place to post my crazy lol!

    1. By the way, we will go back to housing our milkweed plants upon our return to protect the little guys.

       1. I did the same thing as you, minus the cam. Worried about them the whole time I was on vacation and checked them out the minute we got home 🙂

    2. Marco, I’m with you. I may be crazy too, but I’ll go out a happy crazy woman!

17. I am watching a monarch laying eggs sometimes on milkweed pods. Is this normal? Can a caterpillar survive being laid on a seed pod?

    1. that’s a normal place for monarch egg laying Sandy, please see the egg post for more info:

       Hunting for Monarch Eggs

18. Dear Tony, We moved into a new home on Long Island, NY 5 years ago. Since then, I’ve been planting flowers and other plants to attract pollinators. We mainly get cabbage moths and lots of all types of bees with the occasional butterfly. This year we have been seeing 3-4 monarchs. It was exciting as it has been years since I’ve seen more than 1 a year. Yesterday, I was checking my orange butterfly weed and there were/are 3 monarch caterpillars on it.!!!! One was munching on a medium size seed pod. A smaller one was just hanging out and the third is curled in ball where 2 leaf stems meet.

    But now I don’t know how to proceed. I have ordered milkweed but it won’t arrive ’til fall (I think) (and I’m not even sure where to plant it. It takes me quite some time to prepare my soil so I have to do everything in stages) Anyway, how do I proceed? I don’t want to ruin their chances so should I bring them in and use one of your kits, or do I “let nature take it’s course”?

    1. Hi Denise, if you’re not prepared with milkweed or raising supplies, probably best to focus on fall planting milkweed and nectar plants, and start raising next year. You will have a much better experience when you are prepared…

19. After the rains a big female Monarch flew around my waystation in front and deposited over a hundred eggs throughout the day. I videotaped a few times to show the frenzy… she flew into me , on me, around me , nectared and fluttered around depositing eggs inches from me . She tilted her head and looked at me while depositing eggs on the Asclepias incarnata. She deposited eggs on young Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias tuberosa and the incarnata. It was amazing to see her laying eggs , soaring, nectaring and not being fearful of human presence.

    1. Can you post the video??!! I’d love to see it!

20. This year we planted an 800 square foot “butterfly garden”, Four different milkweeds and hundreds of flowers. We released to date, 82 Monarchs, 43 females and 39 males. We have 35 chrysalides and another 38 cats. We are down to 11 eggs. I’m pleased with what we have done so far. We have many places nearby to get common milkweed cuttings. We have 191 on our property. I’ll be collecting seed pods again this year. Perhaps we can share
    I have video taped eggs hatching, chrysalides forming and chrysalides opening with butterfly’s. Great fun!

21. I have seen an abundance of monarchs this year in Michigan, compared to the last 3 years its an amazing year m

22. Please help with your thoughts! My instar 3 cats have been doing well. One little guy has stayed still on the leaf for about 6-7 hours now and hasnt moved. Should i seperate him from the rest in my butterfly cage? He looks okay…no discoloration. Please help tony! Thanks

    1. Hi Nancy, caterpillars don’t eat/move before they are about to molt, so that’s a possibility. If you think there could be a disease issue, it’s always best to separate and monitor…

       1. Good news! They were molting! They were twice the size today!!! Soo excited!!!

23. We have been raising monarchs for the last 13 years. After the last three years of little or no monarch activity in N. Illinois, this summer has surpassed my best years in numbers. Currently have a Zoo ….. Started the summer with good numbers, but soon dealt with “V” death. Very discouraging, almost threw in the towel. Went back to the starting line, this time using bleach as a daily habitat cleaner. Purchased a large metal rearing cage I saw in Door County, also picked up 4 of the expandable large mesh cages as well. Changed the food daily, needing to or not, which really seems to help. As of today, plus 50 chrysalids, over 60 cats, and another 30 eggs. Released a couple dozen thus far, all very healthy! Been very rewarding to have minimal fatalities and healthy cats! As I write this, watching two monarchs outside feeding. Great Day in N. Illinois.

    1. I’m curios about the metal rearing cage you bought. Wondering if you’d be able to post a photo of it – if it’s allowed. I used to raise my cats outside until some critter tore it up and had a feast. Switched to metal screening and it happened again. Stopped rearing outside which was more convenient.

24. Hi Tony, I’ve been raising monarchs for 3 yrs now. My outside survival rate is so low but my inside survival rate is 90% + with too many to count that I have released. I purchased pop up mesh laundry baskets from Walmart for two dollars which works well. I live in Southern California. The tachinid fly kills almost all of my outside caterpillars. Any advise you can give ??? Also, last year around Nov – Feb all of a sudden I have a large amount of eggs. I covered all my milkweed every evening with sheets. I brought some inside and released about 40 but I don’t know if it was too cold for them. Should I try to save them this late in the year? I wish I could share some pics but I don’t see where to attach.

    1. Hi Carolyn, you live in a region that has a year round population. As long as you’re cutting back milkweed stems/foliage a couple times a year to reduce pathogen build up on plants, you can raise any time. Raising limits are a good idea so you can focus on raising healthy monarchs.

25. What is the difference between potted milkweed and milkweed container plants?

    1. Hi Joan, I use those terms interchangeably…sorry for the confusion ?

26. After reading this, I took your advice and double checked the smaller milkweed plants that sprung up in my garden this summer, and I found an egg and a tiny day old caterpillar! I was hoping for a few more Monarchs for the migration. Thank you so much!

27. Hi Tony, Just wanted to let you know that southeast Connecticut is booming this year – the best I’ve ever had. So far; I have released 31 Gen-3 butterflies with 6 more to go (not hatched yet). Have started on my Gen-4 eggs. Gathered 36 from regular Milkweed in about 45 min. Friday evening. Have a plot of swamp Milkweed (in bloom) going to take your advise and cut the flower tops out of about a third of it (checking the heads for eggs, of course). And folks should be sure to check the seed pods on the regular Milkweed too. I found 6 or 7 eggs on those.
    Hope I have enough food for all these “cats”.. May have to go scouting the countryside on my motorcycle.
    Everyone… Good luck and RTM!!

28. I’ve been raising monarchs here in South Georgia for about 20 years. I’ve only had one year where I had eggs before late August and that was a June and August year. I’m assuming I get migrating monarchs. Does that seem right?

    Also, this is the time of year right before we see monarchs when the red mites and aphids attack in full force! This year I’ve managed to keep the aphids down but the red spider mites are relentless! I’ve resorted to misting practically every leaf on ever plant daily! This is especially time consuming since I have tons of plants! I sure wish there was a better way!

    1. Hi Wanda, your migration egg laying will commence as the population starts moving further south…you still have lots of season left.

       Here is a collection of short and long term strategies for dealing with Oleander Aphids

       1. Hi Tony! I finally spotted my first monarch today! I couldn’t stay home this morning but late in the day when I came home I could see where she had deposited eggs all over the milkweed in my yard! I saw her around dust sipping nectar for a long time off of my Mexican Sunflowers and then she laid some more eggs and probably went to roost, I’m one happy Georgia girl!

29. Hi
    I enjoy your website very much ! Been saving Monarchs 5 years. I currently have 11 chrysales, 37 cats and 17 eggs. Most of the eggs are on dead milkweed leaves but I’ve kept them ..hoping. Will they ever make a baby cat ?

    1. I like Tony’s suggestion to place leaves on a paper towel, separated from each other. Place this in a closed tupperware-type container. You can open in once per day to allow fresh air and two puffs of water mist over the container before re-sealing it. This way your leaves will not dry out. My egg hatching success skyrocketed with this method. Also, I take out the tiny baby caterpillars and put them into a new container so I can keep an eye on them. Just suggestions.

    2. I cut the part of the dead leaf that the egg is on to a very small part and then put it on a healthy leaf that I mist once a day. That works. When the cat moves I just remove the dead part. Good luck 🙂

30. This is my 3rd year at trying to raise Monarchs. I learned a great deal but my success rate is abysmal. This year the worst and I’ve seen everything. I have lots of common & swamp milkweed that I cut back in early July to be fresh. Central PA saw more rain this summer so it all was fresh and green. Since mid-July, I took in cats of all sizes as well as eggs. Milkweed molded easily in containers (laid with dry paper towel completely dried) which in turn new cats molded even overnight. So I started making mesh lids. Then cats died, fell off leaves, vomiting green so I started bleaching leaves (1:19 ratio) & drying & refrigerating. Even afterward, cats spew green and die. I had several J-ing cats go straight and ooze brown; now I see strings which I know are tachinid fly. I’m ready to quit but thought I’d throw this comment out first to solicit any advice. I have successfully raised several kinds of swallowtails (overwintered 50 last winter, 40 which were successful releases this spring). But Monarchs need help the most. Should I get my soil tested?

    1. Hi Kendra, sorry to hear of your raising woes…if you utilize the tips in ‘raise the migration’ and start with eggs, you will see more success. If you’re not signed up to receive the free raising emails, you can sign up here…post any questions relevant to that specific page:

       Raise the Migration

       1. What about the mold? Is it bad for cats?Kristin

          1. Hi Kristin, I would transfer caterpillars to the healthiest leaves/cuttings you have available.

    2. I am having the same problem! I have gotten four out of many dozen eggs to eclose but all were weak or malformed. I am sure there might be Oe involved but worried about neighbors spraying Roundup. Feeling at a total loss to meet with success. Local patches of milkweed seem to also be poisoned with sprays. So frustrating to see some cats die after just days and others go through the entire process only to eclose in bad shape. I will try bleaching leaves but really worried about that process. Any other suggestions? Potted plants don’t seem to be fairing well either. Ugh! Tearing hair out! Wish I could have my milkweed plants tested for toxins to verify if Roundup is poisoning my plants (and then give me a very strong talking point for conversation with neighbors).

       1. Hi Donna, sorry to hear you are having issues with OE and/or pesticides/herbicides. If talking to your neighbors isn’t successful, potted plants at least give you the option to move plants out of harms way if they let you know before spraying…some people also cover their plants before spraying. More info about OE parasites here:

          Monarch OE and prevention

31. I have a Cope’s gray tree frog living in the patch of common milkweed. Should I relocate him or is he eating monarch predators. There is a picture of this frog on what appears to be a milkweed leaf in last month’ Mn Conservation Volunteer inside the front cover.

    1. Hi Jennifer, if it eats caterpillars, relocation sounds like a good idea…not sure if it would eat any monarch predators? Here’s some info: Cope’s Tree Frog

32. Hi Tony. I’ve just found your site and am so grateful. Need your guidance! I’ve been raising Eastern Black Swallowtails the past few years. I happened to pick up a few Butterfly weed plants in the Spring and planted them in a large pot on my deck. not realizing this was actually Milkweed.
    One morning I noticed what appeared to be a Monarch spending alot of time near tbe plant. Sure enough, eventually I had about 20 cats. Since then I’ve been doing battle with lizards, grasshoppers and birds.
    Have moved those thst are left to a few terrariums and now have 7 chrysalis. But my Milkweed plants are mostly shot. I do have seedlings growing but what happens if these babies hatch and lay more eggs? Worried there won’t be enough food for them. Have looked everywhere for viable plants – none. What should I do? Thanks for this site!

    1. Hi Phyllis, when you don’t have enough milkweed to support monarchs, it’s a good idea to concentrate on growing milkweed. Some gardeners even cover plants with netting so the females can’t lay eggs…they can fly many miles and will be able to find milkweed elsewhere while you are getting your garden prepared…

       If you can’t find plants/seeds locally, there are viable online options that will ship to your door:

       Suggested Milkweed Stores

33. I’m up to 25 healthy releases so far in August. Finding a few eggs each day. Mostly on one particular swamp MW plant. What I plan on doing differently next year (5th year raising) is not to start ALL my tropical plants in April. By this time in August, they have seen better days. I will stagger early seed starting next year. And also to plant as many as I can in the ground instead of pots. The In ground plants look MUCH better than the potted plants. One thing I will whisper…..no aphids…..this year. Don’t ask me what I did right, but after fighting them year after year this is a big deal. I have my Monarch Watch tags at the ready…..I love this hobby. Thanks Tony for all you do.

    1. Hi Dorothy, congrats on no aphids! As your butterfly garden evolves, it naturally attracting more aphid predators, and this can be the glorious result. Yes, having seedlings this time of the year is good for attracting eggs…we have swamp and tropical coming up in our raise bed trails and I expect there will be more than a few eggs on these in the next couple weeks…if you don’t have natural seeding, starting some later is a good idea.

34. I am on my second mass monarch egg batch. My first batch of 25 have been emerging from their chrysilids all week. This second round, all the eggs (30) were found on potted plants that I have scattered throughout my yard away from my main plots. This is definitely the way to go! Hope every else is doing as good as we are here in Michigan!

35. I always cut my milkweed back to 3 to 4 inches from the ground in mid to late July. The new growth in all the plants is tender and the plants regrow quickly.

    1. Do you cut back the common milkweed? That was my plan but the blooms were still feeding so many and when I started looking close, too many eggs were attached . Now it’s August and all that is left are a few leaves at the top with yellow/brown leaves dropping off daily. The patch also came up so thick and tall, I couldn’t walk through it! Next year should I thin it out early, so it gets better air circulation? The aphids, I assume, are the major problem but the black specks throughout make me think fungus? Sorry if this isn’t the appropriate spot to be asking but just found an egg and a newly hatched cat on a fallen leaf!

       1. Hi Lital, we cut back a lot earlier in the season as we’re feeding cuttings to spring and summer caterpillars. Even with some fresh common growth, we rely on other milkweed varieties to feed the final generation of caterpillars. If you have an egg on a diseased leaf, I would just cut off a small leaf piece with the egg and place it on a healthy leaf inside a sealed food container…

36. Just released our sixth Monarch. The score is three males and three females. Three to go.

37. Yesterday I released our fifth Monarch butterfly. Two females and three males. I put the butterfly on my wife’s geraniums A short time later I check on it and found a 20″ garter snake within five inches of the butterfly. I wasn’t sure whether the snake would bother it but to be safe I removed the snake from the garden. We have two chrysalides and one cat left. I still check every morning for eggs and cats.

    1. Monarchs were very slow to appear early this year. But now they are everywhere! So many eggs we had to stop collecting them for now, 35+! It’s amazing to see … we now notice mw plants being left in flower/shrub gardens everywhere we go-restaurants, stores, etc. And now,
       here in western NY anyways, they all seem to have eggs and or cats. We keep a container in the car! I think we are all getting the word out.
       Just a thought though… has anyone ever looked into what effect it may have if we shifted the natarual balance of butterflies by a very large amount on their own ecosystem?

       1. Yea another WNYer maybe you can help a novice? I fought off the aphids and now have eggs on my milkweed. What do I do now to protect them?

          1. Michelle,
             I don’t have a good answer for you on the aphid eggs. Either physically remove them or cut that portion of the plant off. They’ve been tough this year, indeed. Just remember to fight the urge to spray them with insecticide!
             Keep up the good work!

          2. If you have Monarch eggs, see Tony’s tips on collecting them, allow them to hatch in a small covered container.

       2. The opposite happened here in Ohio. Monarchs came 5 weeks earlier than usual. I’ve released over 300 Monarchs this summer. I guess the major egg laying was earlier because I haven’t found any eggs lately and usually now is the time. It’s been a weird year.

38. Question re: milkweed. Is there a way to prevent or partially prevent the rust colored bumps/spots on the underside of leaves of milkweed? I have it on swamp mw, tropical, prairie. The common of course by this time of season is large and tough even though I have cut it down it does have some decent looking shoots. I have 5 plots of mw in different places. Having a hard time finding any decent looking leaves from the swamp ones to feed the cats. The tropical is almost as bad. Have cut them back and only the shoots are okay looking but the leaves are small there. I have one balloon mw but it hasn’t grown very fast and I had a hard time starting it indoors in early spring. It looks okay but would only support one cat at its size. I usually water from below but sometimes with sprinker. When do so, I do it in early morning so plants have chance to dry off. Had a lot of aphids earlier but now mostly black gritty type things on stems/leaves that I’ve heard is aphid mummies or mw weavel. They (the used to be bugs) are dead. I live in Northern Indiana. Any suggestions appreciated.
    Pam

    1. Hi Pam, sorry to hear your milkweed is taking a beating this season…do you have any seedlings coming up in the garden, those might be your best option…tropical milkweed grows back pretty quickly, but cutting back mid July would have been a better idea…you still have a chance to receive eggs, but a better chance with some fresh milkweed. If you get a few eggs on your balloon plant, you can still use other milkweed to feed your caterpillars…good luck!

    2. My milkweed this year is pitiful. My swamp is dry and purple, my tropical won’t grow and the balloon mw is slow growing too. Common was great and I’m still salvaging some from cutting it back but new growth is mottled green and yellow. I’ve always had great luck with tropical milkweeds but I don’t know what happened this year. I noticed also that egg laying was mostly on common mw which usually isn’t the case for me.

39. Have been trying to get milkweed plants for 4 or 5 years now, tried starting the plants from seed, didn’t work. This year I purchased four plants at $15.00 each and they have survived in a garden bed. Actually I’m very pleased. They won’t do anything this growing season, but I’m hoping next year. My son has wonderful plants and also the Monarchs arriving. It took several years for the plants to get large enough to interest the Monarchs. I find the articles a little confusing. Are people sending you the eggs? I plan on hopefully have the Mothers lay eggs and letting Mother Nature take her course. I’m in Cape Breton Island, Canada. Our season is short compared to the U.S.

    1. Hi Sandy, I don’t sell eggs/caterpillars but link to vendors that do for those who don’t have established gardens, just aren’t seeing monarchs, school teachers, or those that need them for specific events. Yes, getting them to come to your garden is the ultimate goal for most, and oh, so satisfying…good luck!

40. I collected three leaves with an egg on each leaf. The leaves are virtually dad even though I have stretch them lightly with water and kept the Stamms and wet Kleenex. What do I do now? The egg still look healthy. I collected the eggs immediately after the female lead them. It’s been 10 days. We keep our house at 67°. What do I do now?

    1. Hi Catherine, 67° F is too cold and slowing down metamorphosis…eggs generally hatch in 4-6 days. Do you have a room in your house or a porch that’s warmer? 75 to 90 would be a much better environment…I will be posting more on this next week.

41. Its the end of September and temps are dropping. When is it too late to order Monarch Raising Kits?

    1. Hi Guy, if you are in New York, your last releases should be around mid October. Sometimes you can release later if the weather is favorable.

42. I have 11 second/third instar cats that i brought in as eggs right now and im afraid of running out of milkweed as they are starting to consume quickly. I have eight or nine 4ft. Plants will this be enough? Will they eat the stalks if need be? Or should i try to get more plants?

    1. Hi Ali, it’s always better to have too much milkweed in my opinion. They will eat the stalks if there’s nothing else left. Good luck with your caterpillars!

       1. I’ve been driving along the street finding common milkweed and snatching the clean stuff up and leave in mind intact. I have been fortunate enough to find a lot of Little Gems eggs teeny caterpillars and I found a large caterpillar today

43. Please stop recommending Tropical Milkweed, it’s giving monarchs a disease.

    Read:
    Plan to save monarch butterflies backfires | Science | AAAS
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/01/plan-save-monarch-butterflies-backfires

    Science
    Jan 13, 2015 – Tropical milkweed is pretty, easy to grow, and monarchs love it. “If I were a gardener, I would have done the same thing,” says Dara Satterfield, … turns out that year-round tropical milkweed presents an even more direct threat to the butterflies. Milkweed hosts a protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE). As caterpillars, monarchs ingest the parasite along with their normal milkweed meals, and when they hatch from their chrysalises they are covered in spores. “It’s a debilitating parasite,” Satterfield says. Infected monarchs are much weaker than their healthy counterparts and don’t live nearly as long. In fact, if an OE-infected monarch tries to migrate, it will probably die long before it arrives in central Mexico, Satterfield says.

    1. This information isn’t relevant to the majority of those in the US living in regions where milkweed dies back in the winter. Articles like this are false and misleading…

       1. If OE dies back in Winter then Southern States such as Florida should not grow this type of milkweed? Correct?

          1. Hi Larry, I’m new to this, but live and raise Monarchs in So. Ca. Here, it’s important to cut back our Tropical Milkweed twice a year. We rinse our Milkweed offer as well, when it’s blooming.

          2. https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2015/04/30/tropical-milkweed-ok-for-monarch-butterflies-just-cut-the-dang-stuff-down/

             and

             https://nababutterfly.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Tropical-Milkweed.pdf

44. Thank you for this great movement to raise the monarch population. I look forward to each email and all the invaluable advice. My first monarchs visited my Charleston, WV garden last Sunday. Today I have 28 tiny cats in their “hatcheries”. We are traveling to the mountains today and I am going to be taking these little guys with me as they do need attention.

45. Hi Tony,
    My husband and I started to raise monarchs this year. We spotted the first caterpillars at the end of March in San Diego, CA.
    Since then, it has been an indescribable experience to see the beautiful transformation.
    At a point around June we had over 30 instar 4 and 5, and were able to identified around 10 chrysalis in our backyard.
    Some of these were however attacked and did not make it.
    After a month of no eggs, last Monday I spotted around 30 eggs in my milkweed and decided to bring some with me and raise them indoors.
    I collected 3 cats, instar 1-2 and collected around 8-9 eggs.
    Mother nature can be brutal! Sadly I have spotted wasps eating my caterpillars, among other predators.
    Do you recommend us to bring all eggs we spot indoors? I was trying to give them a chance to grow outdoors but lady bugs are constant visitors
    on my milkweeds.
    I love your posts, recommendations and the website in general. It has been of a great help for amateur monarch lovers like us.
    Thanks 🙂

    1. Hello Blanca, congrats on a successful first year raising monarchs. Sorry you are learning about the predators too…they can be relentless! You can’t (and shouldn’t) save all the monarchs in your garden if you want to promote a healthy ecosystem and keep your sanity. Raise a few and raise them well…and don’t look for monarchs when you don’t want to bring more in. Good luck!

46. Hi Tony – Thanks for this site – it’s so helpful! I live in Upstate NY and have an “accidental” milkweed garden. (i.e. a bunch of milkweed started growing in one of my garden beds and I just left it there.) I don’t know if we’ll get any Monarchs – but I wanted to leave it for them rather than pulling it all out. My question is about removing the seed pods. Since this is a pretty invasive plant (I’m finding new plants in unwanted locations) can I safely remove the seed pods before they dry out and spilt open, spreading seed in my whole yard? And by safely I mean without harming any potential butterflies or the plant itself? I don’t know the variety as it was a volunteer in my yard, but I’m guessing it’s common milkweed. Thanks!
    Laura

    1. Hi Laura, you can certainly cut off pods prematurely if you don’t want them to seed. The plants will be fine. Keep in mind, common milkweed still spread through underground rhizomes…removing seed pods will make a difference though:

       Common Milkweed Info

       1. Thank you so much!

47. Hi,

    I have a wonderful Hayfield that has common milkweed growing in it. The monarchs have been laying eggs this week. However, the field is scheduled to be cut in 6 days. Do you recommend cutting entire stalks of milkweed? Or should I work on harvesting eggs/cats? I have not raised indoors before. Thanks for your help,

    1. Hi Cynthia, if you want to raise them indoors, milkweed cuttings keep milkweed fresh, and save you extra work. Here’s more info:

       Prepare Food for Monarch Caterpillars good luck with your field rescue!

48. Hi Tony, How necessary is it to bleach milkweed leaves? I’ve started doing it on common milkweed with the thick leaves with no problems. Is it safe to bleach thinner leaved milkweed like red or tropical? Also, how do you keep tropical and red milkweed from wilting in the refrigerator? I use ziploc bags, but the bags seem to generate a lot of moisture.

    1. Hi Suzie, I don’t bleach milkweed…just rinse it with water. I put extra milkweed leaves in ziploc bags (after rinsing) and the excess moisture has not been an issue. If I store milkweed in the refrigerator, it gets used within a couple weeks. If you have an ample supply of milkweed, you don’t need to store the leaves.

49. Hi Tony,
    My monarchs came a little early this year, which is good but my milkweed is already starting to decay(black spots and yellow leaves dying off). This happens every year and I thought it was just the short life cycle of the plant, but it’s happening earlier this year. Do you think it’s a fungus and what can I do about it to save this years milkweed crop? I’ve got common, swamp and tropical. Common looks the worst and I do have cats on the plants now. Lastly can I feed the plants with miracle gro even though there are cats on them?

    Thanks so much!
    Sue

    1. Hi Sue, miracle gro won’t hurt caterpillars, but not sure how much it will help fading common milkweed. Typically, we use more swamp and tropical for raising migration generation monarchs. Here’s more info on milkweed disease:

       Milkweed Diseases and (not-so) Fungus

       1. Great info and links Tony! I have tropical and swamp mixed in with the common and hoped the fertilizer would give it a boost, since the common looks so bad! How do I know if the death of the common is the time of year for it to die, or if it’s a fungus? It’s been looking sickly for several weeks now.

          1. Hi Sue, if you want to use common milkweed later in the season, it’s best to cut it back early (right after it flowers). Other species like swamp mw and tropical mw have viable leaves later in the season, and are better options to feed migration generation caterpillars.

50. My milkweed, which we dug up in the country, has grown to over 5 feet. It has not flowered, do I need it to do this in order
    to attract monarch’s?

    1. Hi Jan, it’s usually more effect to cut back native milkweed earlier in the season. Tropical milkweed can be cut back any time because it grows back quickly. Monarchs typically opt for laying eggs on seedlings and fresh regrowth, but they’ll also lay on pods in the coming weeks. good luck!

51. Hi Tony,
    My monarchs came a little early this year, which is good but my milkweed is already starting to decay(black spots and yellow leaves dying off). This happens every year and I thought it was just the short life cycle of the plant, but it’s happening earlier this year. Do you think it’s a fungus and what can I do about it to save this years milkweed crop? I’ve got common, swamp and tropical. Common looks the worst and I do have cats on the plants now. Lastly can I feed the plants with miracle gro even though there are cats on them?

    Thanks so much!
    Sue

52. Hi Tony,
    I have a follow up question regarding the life cycle of Monarchs-What happens to the butterflies that I release at the end of July-Do they stay close to my house and fly south in the fall? Do they lay eggs here and then die? How long does a butterfly live? I’m still learning!!

    1. Hi Sandi, monarch watch recently started doing digital tagging with monarchs…this should give us more info about the behavior of the non-migratory monarchs…much is still a mystery. Starting in mid-late July we have a growing population of monarchs that live in our yard/garden, so it’s definitely possible some stay in your area. They will live for a few weeks.

53. Hi Tony,
    I live in Wisconsin, near Madison. This is my first summer raising Monarchs. I did order a dozen cats from a website (eggs laid July 2), but found about a dozen eggs myself soon after. All but 6 butterflies were released at the end of July. Five will be turning into butterflies in the next few days and one will be in a “J” soon. Will these butterflies go to Mexico or die here? Reading your latest email, I didn’t realized I should be looking for “migration” Monarch eggs- I’m still a bit confused on the life cycle of these amazing critters!

    1. Hi Sandi, they take environmental cues for migration including amount of daylight and temperature. It’s probable the chrysalises you have now will be the parents of the migratory generation. In Minnesota, I typically see mating through the end of August. Good luck with your butterflies!

54. Hi Tony,
    I was saddened to see so few Monarchs this year, in Michigan (Ypsilanti area). Last year, I released 209 Monarchs and was looking forward to another good year.
    So far this year (2016), I released 16 beautiful healthy Monarchs during the last week of July. I have all kinds of lovely milkweed (Common, Tropical, Balloon, poke, and butterfly weed), They are looking good except for some of the butterfly weed. I had a wonderful surprise today, of all days, August 6. I was able to see a Monarch spend a couple of hours laying eggs, in all places in the gardens around my yard. I was fortunate to find 32 eggs. I was so excited to finally get back into raising and releasing. I really like using the stem cutting method, in floral tubes, for feeding the caterpillars. It works great! Thank you for the tip. You are the best!
    Oh, I am not too fond of the balloon milkweed. The leaves are so narrow that it makes it hard to find the eggs on them, especially when the plant grows so tall. Any thoughts on this?
    Have a great Butterfly season.
    Daisy

    1. Hi Daisy, congrats on all your eggs! It sounds like you have plenty of fresh milkweed waiting for them. Balloon plant is not one of my preferred species for raising, but if your other milkweed has faded, it stays viable through the fall. I will continue to feed ours common, swamp, and tropical since they’re all in good shape.

       1. I am sticking to the common and tropical milkweed for feeding too. This is the first year that I tried the balloon milkweed and will not be planting that one again. I have plenty of common and tropical to sustain my monarchs, thank goodness.
          Thank you, Tony, for all your help and for sharing your experiences. Now I need to find more eggs, saw a Monarch flying around the gardens again this morning….it will be a happy day.
          Daisy

55. We are having great success in fact too much with monarch eggs and cats. We can’t keep them fed!! I just bought yet another new plant and more baby cats and eggs than I can count. We live in gulf breeze Florida. We have probably taken over 50 cats to our local butterfly house because we ran out of milkweed. They strip a plant each day. Even out seedlings we are trying to grow. We out today and found nubs. It is fun but frustrating.

    1. This is great news Jeneane…I’m happy to hear you are able to bring excess caterpillars to a local butterfly house.

56. Looking for a suggestion to manage my milkweed. To raise generation 4, someone has to raise 1-3.. Gen 1-3 seems to take all my milkweed. The milkweed I don’t use, needs to be cutback, since it looks so poor, tall few leaves. The other situation with using cuttings from my outside plants, plants start to come back but get eaten right away by the next generation and never give the plant a chance to grow.
    Seems like one needs to protect the milkweed when its trying to come back, which seems to take about 2 months time in the summer in Florida.

    1. Hi Don, these are common problems for continuous growing regions like Florida and California. Covering plants with netting or having protect enclosures to grow them seem like good options to consider. Good luck!

57. Tony,
    How do you tell if an egg has been sucked out? Is it flat or something like that?

    1. Hi Pam, a normal monarch egg is cream-colored while a ‘sucked-out’ egg appears transparent.

58. Hi Tony,
    I potted two Tropical Milkweed plants a year ago in the spring into huge pots which I overwintered in my garage with grow lights. Aside from the aphids finding them, they appeared healthy when I moved the pots outside this spring. I had cut the plants back to about 2 feet high in the spring. They have had full healthy growth and bloomed. However, I have noticed that there are a few deformed leaves and some splotchy in color. I know from last spring that even in pots if we had a lot of rain that some leaves would turn yellow and fall off. The splotchy leaves are turning yellow at the center along the spine of the leaf. I have had a lot of insects this year being in Tulsa, Oklahoma and have had some Milkweed beetles on them which I have removed. My concern is that these two potted and overwintered plants even with some healthy looking leaves may not be suitable for eggs or cats. I really can’t remember if I had the same splotchy leaf issue last year. Any suggestions? Thanks.

    1. Hi Susy, just remove the affected leaves (and stalks if necessary) so healthy new growth can emerge. Here’s more info:

       Milkweed Disease and Treatment

59. This has not been a good year for my milkweed. They are all yellowed and feel parched. It has been a very hot and dry summer here in Garden City MI ( suburb of Detroit), but I have been watering regularly. I’m not sure what I should do. I have not seen one monarch only a couple of swallowtails. It is a sad season for me. What would be the best as far as light for the milkweed?

    By the way thank you for doing this newsletter. It is so appreciated.
    Thank you
    Theresa

    1. Hi Theresa, it has been a very slow season for most of the eastern US. If you have been watering regularly and the leaves are turning yellow, overwatering could be the issue.

       Most milkweed can be grown in sun to partial shade. The best way to find out what works in your region is try planting the same milkweed species in different microclimates of your garden and see what conditions it prefers.

       Milkweed can also develop disease and fungus. Here’s more info:

       Milkweed Fungus and Disease

60. Some of my common milkweed plant leaves are cupping, and some are coming out deformed. I have not been able to find out what is happening. I keep them watered. There are aphids and a few milkweed bugs, but not necessarily on the affected plants. What could be the problem, and is it harmful to the monarchs?

    1. Hi Rita, you could be dealing with a milkweed disease or fungus. Here’s some info on how to deal with those issues:

       Milkweed Disease and Fungus

61. Hello Tony. Quick question ? How can I get my cut milkweeds to stay fresh longer. I cut @ a 40% angle and put in a fresh canning jar filled with water. Some get so wilted I have to throw out. Luckily we have an abundance of milkweeds. I’ve been doing this on & off for over 40 years. Milkweeds are so temperamental after being cut ? Any info is much appreciated. Thanks again !!! ?

    1. Hi Lesley, try nicking the sides of the cutting with your pruner/knife so water can enter the cutting in more places. Also, you can try using smaller cuttings. Good luck!

       Preparing Food for Monarchs

62. Is it ok to cut down the Milkweed plants in the late autumn without harming the Monarch’s life cycle?

    1. Hi Clifton, I’m not sure where you’re located. if you’re in a warm region with a continuous growing season (and year round monarchs) you can always stagger your cuttings so that some milkweed is always available for monarch visitors.

63. I have a LOT of milkweed seed & how do I cut away the seed without making a fuzzy mess? I am in Minnesota, so too cold to do outside. Sorry, but I didn’t have time to read through all the comments, in case u already addressed this.. I love monarchs & have milkweed growing, bit now my neighbors are interested, so I want them to have successful plants!

    1. Hello Julie from your Minnesota neighbor! It’s best to separate seeds when you are harvesting but you can still get the job done indoors without making a mess. I just added #7 to this list which should work for your situation:

       How to Separate Milkweed Seeds

64. Hello,
    I have had milk weed since last spring. I did good. I live in Houston. I saw just 2 days a go 6 caterpillars. I’m afraid by end of dec when they are butterflies it may be cold. What do i do?

    1. Hi Lisa, your climate can host monarchs year round, so they should be fine.

65. Hi, I’m really new to this whole new butterfly garden hobby and I’m still learning. I bought a milkweed from a local nursery and it had orange and yellow flowers blooming on top and looked very healthy. And then I bought another one when I was at Home Depot that had no blooms but was very green and full and healthy. I have had them for a week but haven’t repotted them yet but after 2 days of having them I read up on them and found that they are drought resistant. But I thought they needed full sun. So for the past week they have been looking bad wilting looking and some leaves everyday are turning yellow and falling off , so i had stopped watering them and they still look bad. What do I do???
    Please Help
    Becky

    1. Hi Becky, I would plant them or repot them. It’s possible they are root bound and need more space. Before you make decisions on how to care for your plants, I suggest you find out which species they are since that will guide your decisions going forward. It sounds like you probably have tropical milkweed from your description:

       Ascelpias curassavica- tropical milkweed

66. All I have available in my little yard is a 40 X 40 foot wildflower garden – mostly coneflowers and black eyed susans – wasting my time and money to just toss a ton of milkweed seeds into this field in spring and see if any of them come up and win the competition? Frankly I don’t have the time and energy (motivation) to grow them up in pots and transplant them.

    1. Hi John, if you don’t want to mess around with seeds you always have the option of buying plants, which are a quicker more reliable way to get things growing. You sound like you are just starting your garden so you might find this post helpful:

       How To Start a Monarch Butterfly Garden

67. I live in SE TN and have about a dozen milkweed plants which have done well all summer. The pods are splitting with seeds, what should I do with them. Can I plant the seeds? Also several plants have small caterpillars that bunch together, a re these monarch caterpillsrs? I have a pic but don’t know how to send it to you. Thanks.

    1. Hi Mary, as soon as the seed pods start to split open the seeds are ready to harvest. You can plant them in fall or wait until next spring. Most milkweed varieties will require a cold moist stratification before planting for a high germination rate. Here’s more info about harvesting seeds:

       How to Harvest Milkweed Seeds

68. hi. we just found 9 monarch caterpillars in our backyard. we planted some milkweeds a while back but actually thought that they were dying. can we turn the sprinklers on? Not sure how to keep them healthy.
    thanks!

    1. Hi Kate, I’m going to assume you are talking about tropical milkweed…if it’s all that’s available I would use it. After they have all pupated, I would cut the plants back to about a foot so healthy growth can emerge for next season. If your milkweed doesn’t look healthy, you could try buying from a nursery, but if the milkweed has been treated with pesticides it will kill the caterpillars. good luck!

       PS There shouldn’t be any issues with watering tropical milkweed with a sprinkler. If your region is humid, you could always hand-water at the base of the plant.

69. should I cut off all the flowers on my milkweed tuberosa to foil the orange black big and little bugs and if I do will it discourage the monarchs from coming to tthe plants?

    1. Barbara, if the flowers are heavily infested with aphids then you can cut them off. The monarchs generally avoid laying eggs on aphid infested plants. Aphids mate and lay eggs in the late summer/fall so disposing of them now should cut down the numbers for next season.

70. Hello, please help? What fully grown potted plants can I purchase to put on my deck for the butterflies. I noticed butterflies searching along my back fence for the milkweed plants my condo ‘cleaned out’ (wiped out) along a fence. Butterflies (including monarchs) have been stopping by here for years. I’m a newbee but would really like to help these beautiful travelers find what they’re looking for in southeast Michigan in August. Looking for a quick easy temporary fix. Over the winter I will research something more permanent for next Spring.

    Thank you.

    1. hi Tami, you are most likely to find potted tropical milkweed in a nursery. Please make sure the plants have not been treated with pesticides. The butterflies would likely use them as a nectar source, but you are getting down to the final days for receiving potential eggs. Good luck!

71. Hey Tony I had my first issue with an indoors cat. One crawled up top yesterday and proceeded to hang in the J which I found a little surprising as I have a couple a couple that are much bigger. But then this morning we saw a white larvae exit his body on a string. Tachinid? We killed the larvae and tossed the dead cat…are my others at risk somehow from that one still? Not sure when the fly would have laid the eggs on it either; we brought them all in quite young.

    1. Hi Derek,

       I’m not sure where tachinid flies are most prevalent, but most of the caterpillars I bring in Minnesota (over 85%) have not been parasitized. Don’t worry about the caterpillar you discarded making the others sick. This only happens when a fly lays eggs on your caterpillars. You are usually safe bringing in small caterpillars (instar 2 and smaller) but sometimes it happens. I hope the rest are ok.

72. Hi Tony,
    I filled the bottom of my mesh pop up with mulch to help stable and control poo-poo. It’s too heavy to bring inside when the temperature drops, I live in Michigan and we did have a low of 55 . I thought it was ok for them outside, because they would be outside if I didn’t collect them. Will the lower temperatures slow down their growth and lengthen their time in the chrysalis? Thanks, Stephanie

    1. Hi Stephanie, a low of 55 should be no problem, but it could delay them slightly…nothing to worry about. Monarch metamorphosis can take as little as 20 days and as much as 32…or more! Much of this is temperature related.

       How often do you clean with your mulch set up?

73. Well I didn’t lose one yesterday as I thought I may have; miscounted is all. But I may have when we first brought them in as they were so small and we had like ten.

    However then this morning I found one relatively large one on top of a cutting I was keeping alive in a jar of water! Yes, thankfully he did not fall and drown. I can’t believe it as we checked it again and again. They are really good at not being seen, I tell you, and the lesson here is never throw away any milkweed cuttings, wilted or not, period. I am just putting them aside in some other container until they turn to dust from now on.

74. Hi Tony,
    Thanks so much for this site. It is really informative. My question is: 2 of my cats have just left the milkweed plants (I am keeping them in my home). They traveled to another plant nearby and now are just hanging and relaxing there. I put bridal netting around them and the plant so they won’t escape. Are they ok to be on another plant and what do I do now? I am new to this and a bit nervous.

    Thanks so much! Jeri

    1. I would leave them alone for now as may be trying to molt but after a day or so you may need to help them back to the milkweed or at least put some leaves near them there so they can eat. One of ours outside earlier in the summer ended up on some sage in the garden but found his way back to milkweed eventually.

       Tony may have more experienced advice…

    2. Hi Jeri,

       so I’m understanding, you are raising monarchs on potted plants inside, but they are not in a cage? What plant did they crawl on to?

       If they are large cats and ready to pupate they are fine. If they’re smaller, I would move them back by gently picking them up between your thumb and forefinger, using a small soft-bristle paint brush, or the side/tip of a milkweed leaf. Caterpillars need to be raised inside an enclosure or they will eventually crawl away…many times before they are ready to form a chrysalis.

75. Well I knew that and the containers are generally secured (two overlapped layers of cut out old window screen on top of a plastic container). I can’t rule out that one got away but it’s also possible that I just missed one or two on a dying leaf I needed to get rid of. Though I took my time and was very careful. It would be overall better to not have to mess with the milkweed when they are this young.

    Also, though it’s not the norm, I have discovered that sometimes they will fall off the leaf at the slightest nudge. Maybe all legs not secured at that time or something. I dropped one this way in the garden planter box the other day. Hope he found his way back to a plant, sigh.

76. Wow the itty bitty babies are hard to deal with and keep track of. I think I have lost one or three out of twelve during container cleaning and fresh leaf/cutting swaps. 🙁 Potted plants in a mosquito net or something would definitely be better.

    But I do know that even less would have survived had I left them all outside as it seemed many of the earlier generations this summer did not (predators and disease).

    1. yes Derek, they will crawl away from an unsecured cage as early as DAY 1. All of the cage options on the supply page will prevent that from happening. Good luck with the rest!

       Raising Supply List

77. I love your passion Tony, thanks so much for sharing this adventure. Early this summer I had my first experience . . . I brought 6 caterpillars inside. No cage, just a plant in an open basket. They all transformed into butterflies while I watched. Such fun! Since then I’ve tried again twice with quite a few small caterpillars and they have all died at various stages. It’s very sad, the only consolation is that if I had left them outside in the patio they probably would have come to the same end, as none seem to survive there either, they die or just disappear.

    I’m not sure what the problem is. The last milkweed I bought was raised by the nursery themselves from organic seeds. Along with questions about the cause, here’s a more specific one: if I start new plants from cuttings and the original plants have been treated with systemic chemicals, will the cuttings also be tainted? I presume that new plants from the seeds of treated plants would be OK? (I’m in So Cal and have tropical milkweed.)

    1. Hi Gaye, and welcome to Raise the Migration! Congrats on your early success. You had VERY well-behaved caterpillars your first batch if none of them crawled away. That is not common, but I’m glad to hear it worked for you. Caterpillars can die because of pesticides, diseases, and more commonly predators. Since you are in southern cal you have plenty of time to raise. You might try cutting your milkweed back to about 6 inches and let it grow back. If the plants have been treated that should greatly reduce chemical levels if not eliminate them. Follow along with Raise the Migration 2, then use the tips and techniques after your milkweed has grown back….the advantages of living in so cal!

78. This is the first year my common milkweed has had so many eggs. I just have to go right into my backyard and pluck the leaf off. I keep them in a tupperware container with small holes at the top and keep it moist by putting moistened paper towels underneath. I have hatched 18 cats so far. When they hatch, I move them into another container with fresh milkweed. I think some of them will spin late enough in August that they can be tagged. I am very excited since this is my first year tagging!! My kids are excited, too 🙂

    1. fantastic news Dawn…Raise On!

79. I have 4 potted tropical milkweed plants and I have noticed that some of the leaves have been turning yellow and falling off. Also, I have noticed black spots on the underside of some of the leaves. Is this something I need to worry about?

    I currently have 3 cats that I have taken off the milkweed and brought in the house. They are still in the first instar – should I find other milkweed to feed them and save my tropical milkweed for new eggs? I don’t have any other milkweed in my yard but I can find some in a field near my home.

    Thank you.

    1. Karyn, this is not uncommon for tropical milkweed later in the season. If you pull off and discard spotted/yellow leaves and cut back unhealthy sections of the plant, that’s usually enough to solve the issue. The spots may be a leaf fungus caused from overly moist conditions. Try watering at the based of the plant to prevent the fungus from coming back.

       If you want to save your tropical milkweed, pick the healthiest leaves you can find in the field. Rinse them off, and then store them in a plastic bag in your refrigerator. When you want to serve your baby cats, take out a leaf, rerinse and serve!

80. Hi Chris, glad to hear your swamp milkweed is still pushing out new leaves. With the tropical, I think the most important thing to remove is the blooming flowers because if there are a lot of other pollinators on it the monarchs will probably bypass it for one with less traffic. Leaving smaller ‘buds’ is good because they like laying eggs on/in those. Even pods will get eggs every now and then. Good luck!

81. Fascinating ideas on preparing the milkweed for the migrating monarchs. Fortunately, here in Ohio a couple of my swamp milkweed plants are still pushing out new leaves. I’m going to give it a try with a couple of the tropical milkweed plants I have.

82. Hi Tony ~ it has been a great summer for me with the monarchs until this last week. I have already raised and released over 350 monarchs here in Central Wisconsin, but this last week I started losing the cats when they were getting to the chrysalis stage. They would begin to make the chrysalis but then would die. It is not the tachnid fly because there is no white string hanging or maggot.

    1. Hi Kathy, you are dealing with a monarch virus, bacteria, or OE. At this point, I would try to take a short break so you can disinfect your cage with a 5-10% bleach solution. Allow the cage to thoroughly dry, and then make sure all milkweed going in has been thoroughly cleansed. Congrats on all your success this season!

       1. If you have tropical milkweed in ground what is the best way to disinfect the plant to prepare it for the next season? We are going strong here in so cal but I just had a cat in a j position die out. It was in a horrible spot (screen door) so I’m not sure if OE or stress did it. I usually cut down the plant in September to within a few inches but was wondering if there was anything else I should do

          1. Hi April, other than cutting back plants, I’m not aware of any safe, effective solutions for getting rid of spores in a garden setting…

83. So excited, I found 3 Monarch caterpillars last evening in my butterfly weed. Any special things I should be doing to help with success of 3 beautiful butterflies? I live in Central Pennsylvania.

    1. Hi Karen, I will be covering more about caterpillars in upcoming posts. For now, make sure you are raising them in a secure enclosure. Here are the cages I currently use for raising:

       Monarch Raising Cages

       If you need a step by step guide, check out my recently revised raising guide which will be $7.99 through the end of August:

       Raise More Monarchs with Less Effort and At Least a 90% Survival Rate Good luck with with 3 new babies!

84. I’m new to the raising of Monarchs. I live in So Cal and I currently have 7 chrysalises, that I have found. I had 14 cats. My question is how do I know if the butterfly is male or female?

    1. Hi Linda, I hope you are enjoying raising your first monarchs. The photos on the post illustrate the differences between male/female:

       Differences Between Monarch Males and Females

85. I am new to butterfly gardening. I checked my milkweed plant yesterday and found a lot of tiny orange eggs on the underside of a couple of leaves. Are these aphids or monarch eggs?

    1. Hi, If you look close and they are moving, they are aphids. I will be discussing eggs and what they look like in the next post. You will typically only find one monarch egg per milkweed leaf.

86. I find your comments about releasing Monarchs when inclement weather is a possibility interesting. There is a slight chance it may rain/thunder showers this afternoon but almost a certainty tonight and all day tomorrow. I have one who eclosed at 9:10 am today and wonder if I should release her this afternoon or hold until Tuesday? It also looks like I will have two more tomorrow. To date I have released about 65 with 14 more to go. I haven’t had any new eggs for almost two weeks. Also, I gather the eggs as soon as I see them (and check about twice a day) and have had an almost 100% success rate the last few years. The only casualties I have had were with cats I found outside that were affected by the tachinid fly. Thanks for all your tips! Waystation 7021 (Thunder Bay, Ontario)

    1. Tony,
       Yes , I collect the eggs on milkweed leaves and place the leaves in the ziplock plastic bags and leave the ziplock partially open and have had a great hatching rate and leave the little guys in them till they get bigger to handle and advance them to other containers that they can’t squeeze their way out of and have lost just a very few in the process.
       Brian in Ossian

    2. Hi JoAnn, I worry more about cold than rain. I had the sprinkler on for 45 minutes yesterday and a male monarchs sat on a flower getting sprinkled the ENTIRE time. I went up to him to see if he was ok when I turned it off and he took off to the sky immediately. Once a monarch can fly, it will have no trouble finding shelter from the rain.

87. As far as ordering eggs, I ordered from the Butterfly Lady in July. Still waiting for them, e-mails have gone un-answered. In the meantime my MW is looking pretty sad. Did buy some cats from a butterfly farm in the area. They were healthy and fat. Released 4 Monarchs this week. An amazing experience. Can’t wait till next year, plan on breeding.

    1. Hi Dorothy, if you are on facebook you can try contacting her through Butterfly Lady facebook page. Suzanne is on a peace corps mission currently, but her husband is still filling orders. Congrats on the monarchs you released and good luck with breeding…

88. Dear Tony,
    We live north of Detroit. We have released three of the monarchs we raised from eggs in aquariums inside a net enclosure we bought for butterfly rearing. We’ve been putting the tank with the eclosing chrysalides on the deck and it’s been warm and sunny. It’s going to rain the next two days and we have 17 chrysalides that could possibly eclose then.
    What do we do? How long can they go without feeding? I don’t have a lot of cut flowers to put in the tank. Do we buy a plant of lantana and put it in the tank? How does the sponge feeding work?
    Thank you!
    Linda
    ps We also put pots of fennel, parsley and rue in a cluster on the deck after the female black swallowtails laid eggs and enclosed it with screen to protect the cats from yellowjackets. We have about 20 black swallowtail cats and one monarch chrysalis we found in the milkweed garden inside of that. Yay us!

    1. Sounds like things are going well in the Motor city Linda!

       If you have chrysalises in the sun in a glass tank, make sure they aren’t getting too much direct sun or they could melt. This started to happen to one of mine in our 3-season porch when I had the transparent plastic side of the mesh cage turned toward a south facing window.

       Monarchs typically don’t hatch on days when they can’t be released. I always say they should hire monarchs to do the weather! There will likely be a window of opportunity to let them go if they do hatch. Otherwise they will be fine without food for 24 hours. If you have them longer, take cuttings of nectar flowers and put them in a vase. I will be covering adult feeding in detail later on.

89. Had my first and second Monarch come out this morning ,both males. Will release them when it’s sunny tomorrow .
    Also my grandson found six eggs while we on vacation,just tiny little fellows right now .
    Hope to find a lot more eggs soon.

    “Flutterbyacres ” My Waystation is ready for all the Monarch’s to lay their eggs .
    Judy

    1. Hi Judy, can’t wait to hear more about your raising adventures, and hopefully some monarchs will flutter into Flutterbyacres Soon!

90. Tony,
    Went out and found 14 eggs. Using the hatching them in a plastic bag and feeding til they get to a bigger size as I did last year with good results. I have found only 3 cats all season long, 2 were visible and the other almost microscopic. Have released 7 already and here is hoping to lots more.
    Brian in Ossian

    1. Hi Brian, 14 eggs is a nice bounty from your treasure hunt. Remind me again, are these ziplock bags you seal shut and they hatch ok…they get enough air? Did they all survive using this method? Thanks for sharing. I enjoy hearing about what works well for others in the community.

       1. Brian, I saw your note and decided to answer. I have successfully raised eggs on leaves in a small baggy. I just make sure it is puffed up with air and open it at least once a day. You could use another more successful method by gently removing the egg from the leaf with a wet finger and then place the egg in a small plastic bowl with lid. All you need to do is put in fresh leaves as needed and when the egg hatches, the caterpillar climbs onto the leaf to eat.

91. I have maybe 40 cats getting ready to go into chrysalis now. Are these migration cats or will they be laying eggs yet?

    1. Cheri, many of the monarchs that hatch over the next two weeks will still be mating this year. In Minneapolis, I typically see mating through the end of August. Monarchs that are in reproductive diapause will head south. However, not all monarchs go into diapause at the same time.

92. How can get rid of aphids without harming the monarchs?

    1. Hi Thomas, the best way to make sure aphids don’t take over your milkweed patch is to have several scattered around your yard/garden and try to plant a few different species if possible….they won’t find them all! If they still try to take over your butterfly garden, this post that reveals 7 ways you can stop them:

       How To Control Aphids on Milkweed Plants

93. Dana, that’s fantastic. I have actually been bringing in lots of caterpillars this season (as opposed to eggs). While the success rate has been good, there are more unexplained deaths and those parasitic tachinid flies can get to the caterpillars and you’ll never know until they’re about to pupate. Thank you for joining us, and I hope you have lots of success raising migration monarchs!

94. I’ve seen several females laying eggs this week on my A. currasvica and A. physocarpa. So exciting! I’m anxious to read your upcoming post about raising cats from eggs. I normally wait for the eggs to hatch and then bring in the cats because I find it easier. But I’m going to bring in eggs this year to prevent loss to predators. Hopefully your instructions will help me be successful.

    Thanks for what you are doing. Hopefully we can make a significant impact to the Monarch population.

95. I live in central Michigan, and have about 15 milkweed plants growing in my yard. They are at this stage , tall plants with no indications of further growth. Can I attach caterpillars. or whatever,to those plants to attain butterfly growth?
    Thank you.

    Charles Ruffing

    1. Hi Charles, if you are growing common milkweed (asclepias syriaca) it’s probably too far past its prime to attract egg laying or sustain monarchs. Swamp milkweed is a native that usually has more viable leaves if you have had normal to above rainfall over the summer.

       If you aren’t able to find viable milkweed for this years raise, consider fall planting swamp milkweed plants or seeds to get a head start on next season. You could also plant tropical milkweed plants next spring or start seeds indoors over winter.

       1. Thank you for your reply, but I still have a question. Is there anyway that I can use my 50, 4′
          asclepias syriaca plants? I read where they are the best plants to attract Butterflys. I would like to do something with them, since I have nursed them all summer.

          1. Charles, I love common milkweed and it’s an excellent plant for monarchs through the beginning of August. After that, the leaves start to get extra leathery and also develop leaf spots. If these are first year plants, they might still be fresh enough. The only common milkweed we ever get eggs on at this point are ones that I cut back earlier (that put out fresh foliage) and plants that were growing in shade and are behind in their growth cycle.

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