Date: 09/16/2017

Number: 7

I released 7 (including one eastern black swallowtail) over the last three days and have 5 chrysalides remaining, one of which is likely damaged. So far I have released 51 healthy monarchs and euthanized 6 because of OE or deformities. Throughout the season monarchs would visit episodically and eggs would likewise appear in batches. Successfully-reared Monarchs from these batches would range from 5% to 60%. I would guess that the overall success rate was 25%. (The swallowtail was the only one of 8 swallowtail larva that made it to pupation--they were on nursery-purchased dill when they died).
Overall,though, this 25% was probably a higher success rate than each of the last two years.

This autumn I'll be planting the potted milkweed that I purchased this year and moving the seedlings around so I should start next spring with at least twice the plants that I began this year with. And perhaps we'll have a good hard freeze this winter that will kill off any lingering OE spores and NPV.

Evanston, IL

Latitude: 42.1 Longitude: -87.7

Observed by: Michael
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