Saving the Monarch Butterflies

I was outside grabbing some milkweed pods to figure out when to sow them to help provide food for the local Monarch Butterfly population (they only eat milkweed).

I noticed the bigger ones were just popping open the other day meaning they are dry. Here is a great series of videos if anyone is willing to please plant some of their own. They have the same kind of timing that outdoor cannabis plants in Michigan of being sowed in April to be ready for outdoor transplanting in June.

Pick in the winter:

Start seeds in April

Plant outdoor in June. The cool thing is they are perennial (return every year).


The cool thing I want to try this next year is when I find a monarch caterpillar to capture it and feed it so that it is not in danger while it fattens up on the milkweed leaves that I can feed it in a jar. Then release it once it leaves it cocoon.

no need to sow let the seeds fly an don't kill the seedling its very invasive if left alone.

thumper60 said:

no need to sow let the seeds fly an don't kill the seedling its very invasive if left alone.

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I have about 2 acres that I am turning into a bird/pollinator sanctuary and want to help them get a jump start after being kept mowed for decades. I had 3 or 4 volunteer milkweed plants pop up this last year that I want to help propagate over the area. Otherwise if they just blow throughout the neighborhood, which is mostly manicured lawns, I am not as confident that they will land in a spot that won't be mowed down continually.

I am happy to hear that they should be pretty easy to get going though.

hanimmal said:

I have about 2 acres that I am turning into a bird/pollinator sanctuary and want to help them get a jump start after being kept mowed for decades. I had 3 or 4 volunteer milkweed plants pop up this last year that I want to help propagate over the area. Otherwise if they just blow throughout the neighborhood, which is mostly manicured lawns, I am not as confident that they will land in a spot that won't be mowed down continually.

I am happy to hear that they should be pretty easy to get going though.

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i remember seeing them at my aunts house. kinda hard to come by these days. best way to help anything grow from seed would be to tear up the soil in certain areas and bury shredded dead plant material, seed pods and branches they are on. would be good if you opened the seed pods if they can survive that.

The Monarchs have bigger problems then jusl planting Milkweed. It's not that the adult butterflies that require Milkweed it's that the Caterpillar of the Monarch eats nothing but. If your going to plant Milkweed make sure you try to plant nectar producing flowers as well. I'm not sure if all Monarchs fly to Mexico every year but the small patch of of forest they migrate too is being destroyed for firewood. Does anyone know if the Monarchs use Asclepias Tuberosa in the same way as the common milkweed? Side note.. I've been planting Bronze Fennel for the endangered Northern Black Swallowtail and hot dam if they don't utilize them regularly.

We can plant acres of milkweed and it still likely won't save the Monarch which is really sad. We can't save the Monarch from it's biggest threat which is man. The Monarch is destined to go the way of the Rhino and other species that man has and is destroying at an alarming rate. The human race is a blight on this planet.

Rottedroots said:

The Monarchs have bigger problems then jusl planting Milkweed. It's not that the adult butterflies that require Milkweed it's that the Caterpillar of the Monarch eats nothing but. If your going to plant Milkweed make sure you try to plant nectar producing flowers as well. I'm not sure if all Monarchs fly to Mexico every year but the small patch of of forest they migrate too is being destroyed for firewood. Does anyone know if the Monarchs use Asclepias Tuberosa in the same way as the common milkweed? Side note.. I've been planting Bronze Fennel for the endangered Northern Black Swallowtail and hot dam if they don't utilize them regularly.

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That is 100% my goal is to make my little slice of America a pollinator/bird dream.

I have about 3 acres that I am converting from manicured lawn to a beautiful mess: https://www.rollitup.org/t/straw-bale-gardening.1002573/post-15221572. You can see the difference, the top post too all that field I let go wild and am getting lots of volunteer trees/flowers that I am going to add to as I can.


This year I am adding some more fruit trees/nectar vines (hummingbird vine, Morning Glory that I had volunteer, and Nasturtium), and plugging in perennials and other flowers I bought seeds for (and milkweed that I got pods from last winter).

I have a lot of summer/fall wild flowers/perennials so far, now I need to figure out the early season plants to add into it.

xtsho said:

We can plant acres of milkweed and it still likely won't save the Monarch which is really sad. We can't save the Monarch from it's biggest threat which is man. The Monarch is destined to go the way of the Rhino and other species that man has and is destroying at an alarming rate. The human race is a blight on this planet.

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It does suck, and is very scary, but we are getting better, it is just we have polluted so hard for so long it is going to be a mess for a long time.

I understand it helps to stratify the seeds prior to planting.

It also helps to get the correct strain for your area, ours are narrowleaf.

At only a couple dollars for a pack of seeds it's a small price to help the Monarch. I wish I could do more.

I bought these for our area. I might get a bunch started and sell/give them away.

I'm fortunate enough to still see Monarchs here. Unfortunately haven't seen milk weed in years. I do grow clover in my lawn and let it flower for the honey bees. Finally saw them again last summer.

MICHI-CAN said:

I'm fortunate enough to still see Monarchs here. Unfortunately haven't seen milk weed in years. I do grow clover in my lawn and let it flower for the honey bees. Finally saw them again last summer.

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I remember when I was a kid in Santa Barbara the eucalyptus trees would be so covered with them you couldn't see the trees, and they were moving around on them. It's sad what has happened.

raratt said:

I remember when I was a kid in Santa Barbara the eucalyptus trees would be so covered with them you couldn't see the trees, and they were moving around on them. It's sad what has happened.

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I buy those cheap wild flower box mixes for about .10 cents on clearance. Then I hand them out to the neighbors and toss them out as the dog and I wander. I'm truly concerned about bees. And now that I'm aware of milk weed seed I'll be adding it to my native cover and hole filling routine.

They love Butterfly bushes (we have 3 just for them) and they flower for 4 months. I like the red milkweed. We raised 5 monarchs last year.. my wife and kids..pretty cool to experience.. funny..i grew up on the west where they migrate up to BC in canada..moved to southern ontario..the only other migration path..life is weird.. seen them my whole life..

Monarch caterpillars have a terrible survival rate for me, I’ll have 40 of them in my milkweed and then a couple days pass and the ants attack them. I’ve been picking the caterpillars off my milkweed and letting them grow inside, survival rate is much better

crittertime said:

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These came in today. It's not too late in the season to get started from seed, yeah?

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Yeah I think it is just about perfect timing! I will need to order some varieties next season. I have a tray going now of ones I picked.

poundofyourfinest said:

Monarch caterpillars have a terrible survival rate for me, I’ll have 40 of them in my milkweed and then a couple days pass and the ants attack them. I’ve been picking the caterpillars off my milkweed and letting them grow inside, survival rate is much better

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I'm going to start doing that as soon as I have a stable enough food source for them. I had a small number of plants last year and I am afraid I wouldn't have enough to feed them in captivity yet.

On April 7th I put the seeds I picked in the winter and kept in the fridge in soil. I was getting really bummed that one sprouted pretty quickly, and a couple days later a second one popped up, but nothing else. After lingering in my clone room for a couple weeks those two died.


But the cool thing is after I gave up I put them out on my porch with a humidity dome on them and they started all sprouting a couple days ago!



And walking outback this morning I really noticed the original plants are all well on their way to sprouting now too

I had planted both milkweed and purple verbena here in the community garden. The orange and purple flowers were pretty to see together. I salute you guys for helping our native fauna with plants they forage on. You guys rock.

I messed up and planted them in this tray, and it is proving to be a pain in the ass to get them out of the cells.



This is going to be a nice little flower bed, the one plant in the back looks rough, but that is because my dog decided to dig a giant hole in my back yard and dug it up. I am surprised that it lived.



At least she made it easy to dig it out though.



At the base of it I transplanted a bunch of the milkweeds. I figure I will put the rest of them here and in a spot by my tree cutting bed since the dogs can't get to those spots they should be safe.



I can't wait for my backyard to start to bloom.

I save most of my milkweed in my garden and plant my cannabis amongst it. You'd be surprised at how many monarchs will come to even a small plot.

Plus the flowers smell awesome and mask the pot smell. I will bring some inside on the cut milkweed stems when in their chrysalis, make nectar for them to allow them to carb load, then watch them fly away.

Let the plants self sow, and always get plenty the next year.