Attract Monarch butterflies and caterpillars to your garden: Feeding, then releasing the butterflies

Friday, October 15, 2010

Feeding, then releasing the butterflies

After the butterflies emerged from their chrysalises, they perched to expand their wings. They didn't eat on the day they emerged; most Monarch butterflies don't eat for the first 24 hours after emerging. On the second day I transfered the butterflies and their perches, stems of milkweed in water, to a "Ladybug Lantern", a portable insect house. On the floor of the house I placed two tiny shallow dishes: one filled with nectar, the other filled with water. On October 6 I released the butterflies.

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If you plant Asclepias curassavica, they will come

Asclepias curassavica, or Tropical milkweed, is a favorite plant of Monarch caterpillars. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the plant. The caterpillars munch on the leaves, building up toxins in their bodies that makes them distasteful to predators. Asclepias tuberosa, or butterfly weed, is also a preferred plant of Monarchs, although I have seldom seen a Monarch caterpillar on A. tuberosa. In previous years, however, my A. curassavica plants were teeming with Monarch caterpillars.

An annual in West Virginia, Tropical milkweed is a hardy, drought resistant plant with attractive bloom clusters in colors ranging from yellow to red. In May 2010 I tried to find Tropical milkweed at Charleston area nurseries, but my efforts proved fruitless. Eager to create a Monarch waystation, I purchased the plants online from Live Monarch (see my link to the store below). This year I ordered 30, with a goal of establishing enough plants to create a Monarch Waystation habitat.

I planted twenty milkweed plugs in mid-June and shared the rest with friends and neighbors. By August my butterfly garden had enough milkweed plants to sustain Monarch caterpillars, thus qualifying my garden to be registered as a Monarch Waystation through Monarch Watch. I spotted our first Monarch caterpillar on August 17 (see photo below).

Caterpillar terrarium

I decided to relocate a few Monarch caterpillars to a controlled environment in my dining room. A Victorian-styled terrarium salvaged from my attic served as the perfect home for the caterpillars. I cut a few stems of milkweed, rinsed them off, patted them dry, and arranged them in small jars filled with water. Relocating each caterpillar required removing the leaf it was clinging to and gingerly carrying it, leaf and caterpillar, to its indoor house, placing the leaf and clinging caterpillar on top of a fresh milkweed cutting.