While many butterflies require certain host plants to grow their young (a list of other butterfly host plants may be found here), no butterfly is more important to our collective psyche than the monarch butterfly. Monarch butterfly numbers have plummeted in recent decades, and an increasing number of home gardeners want to help by planting a monarch butterfly host plant in their yard.
Monarch butterflies evolved with milkweeds, and as a result, their caterpillars developed a unique adaption that allows them to feed on a plant that few other insects can. Cardenolides are poisonous chemicals found in the latex-based sap produced by milkweed plants. With the exception of a few species, most other insects are unable to metabolize these toxins, which either kills them or causes them to avoid them altogether owing to their unpleasant taste. However, monarch caterpillars absorb these toxins while feeding on milkweed leaves, making the caterpillars themselves poisonous to predators. The poisons contained in the monarch butterfly host plant actually aid to protect the caterpillars and adult butterflies against predators such as birds and other insects.
Here’s a video of Jessica Walliser finding little monarch caterpillars on milkweed in her own backyard.
Can monarch caterpillars survive on butterfly weed?
Because the butterfly weed has a big taproot that can reach a depth of a foot or more in the soil, division is difficult, but it can be done in the fall or early spring before new growth begins. Butterfly weed necessitates the identification of the optimal plant location. Plants grow more stems as they mature, and they don’t transplant well. Because of its previous therapeutic usage in treating lung inflammation, the taproot is also known as pleurisy root.
After fertilization, butterfly weed forms a seed pod. The seed pods, also known as follicles, are three to six inches long and turn brown and split, causing the seeds to be dispersed in the wind by their silky-tails. The seed pods can also be clipped to encourage more flowering and keep the plants from self-seeding. In dried flower arrangements, the seed pods are appealing.
It’s difficult to talk about butterfly cannabis without mentioning its main consumer. This notable perennial is important as a monarch caterpillar host plant. Female monarch butterflies that lay eggs favor the newer growth of the butterfly weed plant and produce roughly 700 eggs over a two- to five-week period. The egg stage lasts three to eight days, depending on temperature. Caterpillars, also known as larvae, hatch from the eggs and become ravenous diners of butterfly weed and other Asclepias genus milkweeds.
The monarch caterpillars are easily identified by their yellow, white, and black stripes. The caterpillars molt throughout this nine to fourteen-day period when they outgrow their skin. Instars are the intervals between molts.
The monarch caterpillars eat cardiac glycosides, which are toxins found in butterfly weed (and other milkweeds). This toxin is more concentrated in the caterpillar than in the plant’s leaves, and it persists through the next two phases of metamorphosis. Predators have learned to avoid them due to their brilliant warning colors and toxicity, as well as the fact that birds and other animals who eat them become sick and vomit.
The next step of metamorphism is triggered by hormones produced by the caterpillar, and the pupa stage is commonly known to as a chrysalis. Caterpillars aren’t always able to pupate on the butterfly weed. They can go up to 20 feet away from the garden in search of a suitable pupation site. The caterpillar hangs upside down after molting for the last time, and silk is generated from a spinneret at the bottom of its head. Under typical settings, this stage lasts eight to fifteen days after encasing, after which the change is complete. The black, orange, and white wing patterns become evident through the chrysalis just before the butterfly emerges.
Last year, after renovating a raised flower garden at the side of my house to contain butterfly weed, I discovered my first ever chrysalis.
The caterpillar had moved about 10 feet from the side flower bed to a column on my front porch to pupate. The wing patterns were apparent by the time I noticed it, and the chrysalis was gone in a matter of days. I’ve since discovered that they can pupate on just about anything and then live for another two to six weeks after emerging as adults. Monarch butterflies that travel south spend the winter for six to nine months.
Will monarch caterpillars eat joe pye weed?
Viceroys feed on carrion, dung, and decaying fungi in the early spring when there are few flowers available. Later generations feed on late-summer and early-fall plants including Joe-pye weeds, asters, and goldenrods, all of which have clusters of tiny blooms, and form more than one brood per year. Caterpillars sequester salicylic acid in their bodies from their host plants, which gives them a bitter taste and disturbs predators’ stomachs. In addition, caterpillars and their chrysalis stage mimic bird droppings, providing natural predator protection.
Do monarch caterpillars eat all types of milkweed?
Monarch caterpillars solely eat the leaves of milkweed, which is the only plant that this renowned butterfly species feeds on. As a result, milkweed is essential for monarch butterfly survival. They won’t be able to finish their life cycle without it, and their populations will dwindle.
Indeed, milkweed destruction in agricultural areas, as well as urban and suburban environments, is one of the key reasons monarch butterflies are in trouble today.
Plant Milkweed
The good news is that planting milkweed is one of the most straightforward ways that everyone of us can help monarch butterflies. There are many dozen species of this wildflower native to North America, therefore no matter where you reside, you will find at least one milkweed species.
It’s always better to plant milkweed species native to your area. To add to your garden or any landscape in your town, you can harvest your own seed or purchase seed or plants. Three species, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), swamp milkweed (A. incarnata), and butterflyweed (Asclepias syriaca), have particularly extensive ranges and are good choices in most regions (A. tuberosa). The latter two are exceedingly decorative and generally available through the nursery trade.
Tropical milkweed, which may be found in many retail nurseries, is not native to the United States. It has, however, become naturalized in the Southeastern United States. Its long bloom time is being discovered to have certain negative consequences on monarch migration and to be a source of disease propagation among monarch populations, according to science. If you have tropical milkweed in your yard, it’s a good idea to prune it down in the winter to help monarch butterflies to migrate to their natural wintering grounds.
What if monarch caterpillars run out of milkweed?
When it comes to pesticides, the most damaging poison to feed to hungry Monarch caterpillars is likely to be found on Certified Organic veggies. BEFORE CUTTING THE VEGETABLES, WASH THEM. Rinse the veggie and your hands thoroughly. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a bacteria that lives in the soil and kills caterpillars. It’s used by organic gardeners specifically to kill caterpillars. The knife blade might transmit Bt bacteria into the flesh of the vegetable when you peel it.
Butternut squash has been the most popular alternative for milkweed leaves among aficionados. Cucumber, zucchini, and pumpkin are some of the other vegetables that have been successfully fed to Monarch caterpillars in the last instar (the last few days).
Caterpillar frass (excrement) turns the color of the vegetable a day or two after consuming it. Frass will fall to the soil when the cubed vegetable is speared on a stem above the soil, keeping the vegetable clean and drier than if it is laying on the soil or on the bottom of a rearing container.
Less mold and mildew means a cleaner and dryer environment. Mold and mildew can quickly cause disease and death. Vegetables mold and mildew far more quickly than milkweed leaves, which is why keeping vegetable chunks off the rearing container’s floor is better for caterpillars.
What butterflies lay eggs on Joe Pye Weed?
We chose two plants to spotlight this month because they have a special association with Monarch Butterflies. As a result of all the work done to counteract their population reduction, monarch butterflies have become the most well-known butterfly. Most people now know that Monarch butterflies require milkweed (Asclepias var.) to survive. It is their host plant, and the adult butterflies must lay eggs on it. Milkweed is not as abundant as it formerly was due to the use of herbicides in the crop business and land clearing. As a result, it is critical for everyone to grow a few patches of milkweed in their yards (Plant at least two different varieties).
Planting milkweed is a fantastic start, but it isn’t enough.
Many people are unaware that mature monarch butterflies require nectar to build up enough energy to lay eggs and travel later in the season.
If milkweed is the only flowering native plant in your yard, there’s a good chance you won’t see monarch caterpillars.
Adults will be on the lookout for a variety of nectar sources as well as asclepias kinds.
So, which perennial is the best for this job?
Weed, Joe Pye!
Here at Plant by Design, we think Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium var.) is our favorite perennial.
The leaves appear in early spring and slowly expand until the summer heat arrives.
When this happens, the purple stems grow to be 5 to 8 feet tall!
Their purpleish pink flower clusters can grow to be almost a foot broad.
During the months of July and August, it’s difficult to find a plant that pollinators prefer more.
It is covered in different species of bees, butterflies, and moths from sunrise to dark. It’s for this reason that it’s critical to grow it beside milkweed. Monarch butterflies flutter to Joepye weed and lay their eggs on neighboring milkweed. When the caterpillar emerges from its cocoon, it will have access to a high-quality nectar source right away. This permits them to save up enough energy to return to Mexico and begin the process all over again.
Do butterflies like Joe Pye Weed?
The Joe-Pye plant’s moniker, weed, does not do it justice. Wildflower, decorative, herb, and butterfly plant are some of the best phrases to describe this plant. Joe-Pye Weed thrives in full to partial sunlight and healthy, moist soil. It requires plenty of room, and when numerous plants are planted together, the result is a stunning display of color in the environment.
There are significant height variances among Joe-Pye cultivars. The tallest grows to 10 feet, while the dwarf type (Gateway) only grows to four feet. Stake the Joe-Pye Weed early and pinch them back to keep them a little shorter and bushier in a garden to keep the plant contained neatly.
Joe-Pye Weed blooms come in a variety of colors and bloom from mid-summer to harsh frost, with enormous spectacular shades of purple, pink, or white cluster-like flower heads. The flowers with purple hues are the most appealing to butterflies. Joe-Pye Weed is a gorgeous flowering plant with vanilla-scented foliage that is great for gardens, landscapes, and cut flowers.
What feeds on Joe Pye Weed?
Wetland settings such as wet meadows, stream banks, roadside ditches, low woods, coastal marshes, and fallows are frequent places to find these plants. With the exception of Spotted Joe-Pye Weed (E. maculatum), which is the only species that grows in the western US, their ranges in the United States may vary from New England south to Florida and west to Texas, depending on the species. Four of the five identified species grow natively in Pennsylvania; the Appalachian Joe-Pye Weed (E. steelei), which grows solely in the southern Appalachian Mountains, does not.
Joe Pye Weeds are extremely beneficial to a variety of insects, particularly pollinators including bumblebees, bee-flies, butterflies, skippers, and moths. Joe-Pye is consumed by the larvae of the Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phycoides tharos). Joe-Pye Weeds are also used by other helpful insects like leafhoppers, beetles, and different gnats, and they supply food for predatory insects like wasps and insect-eating songbirds. Joe-Pye Weeds aid birds in general because their density and size provide vital cover and habitat for a variety of species. In late summer and early fall, many smaller bird species, such as finches, may feast on Joe-Pyes’ tiny seeds.
These plants are useful near waterways and buffer strips to avoid erosion and utilize run-off because of their vast, strong root systems. They keep our waterways clean and safe, along with other plants that share their ecosystems.
Do monarch caterpillars eat the stems of milkweed?
The ‘Just Right Goldilocks Option’ for Feeding Hungry Monarch Caterpillars is Milkweed Stem Cuttings. Why should you feed them and how should you feed them?