How You Can Help The Monarch's

GROWING INSTRUCTIONS FOR MILKWEED

The seed we send to you can grow almost anywhere in North America. When you are ready to plant, place seeds 1/8 inch below the soil surface using a deep pot, since most milkweeds have a long roots.

Don't plant the seeds too deep, because they need plenty of light and warmth to germinate and grow (70 degrees).

Keep the seedlings moist for the first three weeks after they sprout, then transplant to larger containers with good soil if necessary.

You can lightly fertilize them once a week after the seedling stage, using a regular flower fertilizer.

Cutting off the top of the plant creates more stalks and more leaves. It takes about two months before the plant is large enough for caterpillars to eat.



After the leaves have been eaten, simply cut the plant off about one inch above the soil or lowest branching of the stalk and the plant will grow back fuller.

Warning: one caterpillar will eat 20+ large leaves so make sure you have enough plants to support the number of caterpillars you have, or they will starve.

When to plant depends on your location.

It takes a minimum of 60 days from seeds to have a plant large enough to support caterpillars' food needs. You can raise tropical Milkweed in pots inside your home or greenhouse, and it should survive the winter.

If you live in a northern climate and see snow, then request the Speciosia variety of milkweed seed, as it survives the winters cold. You can save your seeds till next year and start them early inside, then transplant outside when the weather warms up.

Your goal should be to create a refuge of lush milkweed for the migrating Monarch. Once you have a good supply of milkweed, you can also purchase eggs, small caterpillars or chrysalis and ensure there are butterflies in your area immediately.

Just one mating couple and a good supply of milkweed could produce many healthy fluttering friends for your community. Check with your local plant nurseries if you have questions about when to plant seeds or when to buy plants or transplant.

~ Mark O'Lalor

Source: www.livemonarch.com

Monarch Butterflies to Be Protected From Illegal Logging

Canada, Mexico and the United States are cooperating to protect and conserve the monarch butterfly, which environment ministers of the three countries say has become a symbol of North America's shared environment.

Each year millions of monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles back and forth from wintering grounds in Mexico to their breeding locations in the eastern United States and Canada.
In the fall, the orange and black monarchs return to just 12 forested mountaintops in central Mexico, where they form colonies in which millions of butterflies cluster on the trunks and branches of the trees. Despite the creation of protected areas and reserves, illegal logging has been shrinking this unique, critical monarch habitat.

Although the monarch butterfly, is not in danger of extinction, its unique multigenerational migration spanning the continent is considered an endangered biological phenomenon.

Monarchs have up to four generations each summer, each one traveling a little further north than the last. The last generation of the year migrates south.

Because monarchs depend upon a wide range of habitats in Canada, Mexico and the United States, conservation of the migratory monarchs requires trilateral cooperation due to threats to the butterflies' habitats throughout the flyway.

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~ Mark O'Lalor