Raising Hope for the 2022 Monarch Migration- Raise The Migration Results

204 comments

• This was my first year planting milkweed and raising monarch caterpillars. I live in Orleans/Ottawa, Canada.
  I successfully released 4 females and 2 males.
  I planted milkweed, got 5 plants thinking they would be useful only next year. To my greatest surprise, one day I found a molting 4 instar caterpillar. I was not equipped and had to borrow a cage. This was a success and I released a beautiful female in mid August. The other 5 monarchs were raised from eggs, one found on a milkweed plant in a ravine next door, and the other four, on my own plants. One butterfly was released on September 5 and the four others on September 15, all tagged for migration. This was such an amazing first experience but also stressful as I knew practically nothing about raising monarch caterpillars.

  I ordered several cages and other items from Monarch Butterfly life, read all the information possible and had the help from two amazing neighbours with lots of experience.

  I kept the caterpillars in the same cage with IDs then separated them in each their own cage as they were getting close to pupating. I wanted to follow the complete development of each one since I had only a few. It was perfect.
  Looking forward to raise as many butterflies as I can next year.

  Denise Denis on September 30, 2022

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• I am in Stony Brook, Long Island. Last year I released 41 butterflies and this year I released 71. The increase was probably mostly due to my milkweed
  plants becoming more robust and increasing as well. I had four deaths….two
  shriveled chrysalides and two whose wings never opened properly and died
  soon after.
  I have had a problem with aphids this year. I learned how good a strong hose is
  for getting rid of them.
  I took many more eggs in this year and only found two cats on the milkweed.
  There seem to be many more insects around than last year. I suspect many
  eggs were eaten because of that. I have learned to handle the eggs in a better
  way this year. My great-niece who lives further East on Long Island found
  four fat cats on her milkweed just last week. She took them in.
  I scattered my milkweed seeds in the wooded but sunny areas between houses
  in my area. Maybe some will germinate. My experiences with butterflies was
  written up in a local paper and I will be speaking to a garden group next spring
  about my experiences.

  Terry Germaine On September 29,2022 on September 30, 2022

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• Here in Grand Marais, Michigan, we had another year of low monarch population, at least as bad as 2020 – though 2021 was a great year for them. I started raising them a month later than usual, too, so I didn’t raise as many as most years. Still, I released 78 healthy adults; 44 were male and 34 female. We had more failures than usual, with 2 emerging deformed and one never emerging at all. About a third of those released were the migratory size. Living where I do, I have an enormous supply of fresh, healthy, pesticide- and herbicide-free common milkweed, which grows all over the place here. I do also grow butterfly weed and showy milkweed, but the monarchs seem to prefer the common species. I don’t grow any tropical milkweeds. I do plant lots of perennials and annuals that supply food for adults all season long. Monarchs gather every fall on the Stonington Peninsula, on the south side of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; I live on the north side of the UP. Our last release, on September 18, was in good time to join that gathering. :0) Nancy

  Nancy McDonald on September 30, 2022

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• New Haven, CT – This is our 2nd year raising Monarchs. August of 2020 we started a community project to support the Monarch life cycle, Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed and Butterfly Weed along with 100 native perennial plants providing flower and nectar all summer and fall. Last year we collected eggs from Common & Swamp milkweeds ending up to release 51 adult Monarchs. In 2022 we hoped to double this. Connecticut now requires a permit for rearing in captivity so I/we got a permit to raise up to 100. Although we started seeing an occasional Monarch in late June, first eggs were 2 on July 24th. They were released August 17th. We collected only eggs. Some didn’t hatch or appeared empty. No known caterpillar deaths.

  As of Sept 28, we have tagged and released 50 with 10 more chrysalides and 1 J-hanger, so we will net 61 which is a slight increase. It was much harder to find eggs and we missed a lot by the evidence of munching on the leaves. This year our cats strongly preferred the Common Milkweed. Sept 16 we found 2 on butterfly weed at 5th instar (still in Chrysalis). They are the only cats we brought in and keep in separate cage. We group about 5-7 days of hatchlings together through all their stages (8-10ish per eventual cage). We had one chrysalis awkwardly turn dark and never mature (in over a week past the due date). We had a couple early ones spend only 8 days in chrysalis. Our last cat has been more than a week in 5th instar, now J.

  We had a hot summer, dry but often humid. We take water from the creek to water the plants. Our milkweed stayed green and tender much longer than other places around town. We have perhaps more than 20 Common, less of Swamp and about 10 small Butterfly Weed. My lesson for this year was more cages so we could keep smaller age-group batches easily and using food containers for the eggs, then hatchlings (1-2 instar) and a salad tub for the 2nd-3rd … then at 4-5th move them into a tall mesh cage. Also, continuing to learn from Tony, FB groups and Mr Lund Science. Oh yes, I didn’t want to invest in a microscope to do OE inspection & found U of Georgia has a Project Monarch Health where I can take samples and send to them for determination. This is satisfactory to the CT Dept of Energy and Environmental Protection. I hope to further document my experience, process, procedures, lessons learned & thus be able to educate and encourage others next year to get the permit and raise Monarchs. We do educate our volunteers and celebrate our anniversary success. We try to have others attend when we release 3 or more in a day. I am thankful we had as many as we did this year after all the disappointments I’ve read from others around the Eastern states and provinces. We hope for a bigger and better 2023!

  Kat Calhoun on September 28, 2022

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• 9-28-2022:
  The last time my post appeared on September 9, it seemed our Monarch raising was done for 2022. But two days later, we found 6 more caterpillars on Common Milkweed that was well past being fresh. In fact, seed pods were almost done forming. This was our 3rd batch of caterpillars to raise.
  All 6 caterpillars formed healthy green chrysalis. Unfortunately, after a few days, 2 of them started turning brown and had to be removed. We experienced this in the past with the Tachinid fly larva.
  Luckily 4 remained until they each emerged on different days between September 22nd thru the 27th. All 4 Monarchs were males. In the five years we’ve raised and released Monarchs, this was the first time the butterflies emerged late in the day, and we had to keep them overnight in the enclosure until releasing them the next day.
  So now, since I last posted, our totals increased by 4 more.
  From the time we collected our first 2022 caterpillars on July 29th to releasing the last Monarch today on September 28th, we had 11 successful Monarchs released – 8 Males and 3 Females.
  It was still a small count compared to other enthusiasts, but to say the least, always exciting.
  We use the baby cube enclosure which works well for our small numbers.
  Take care until we start all over again in 2023.
  Diane A.

  Diane A. on September 28, 2022