Date: 07/13/2018

Number: 1

For the past few years my wife and I have raised milkweed plants in pots outside on our deck during the summer.   If we find a Monarch larva or egg we bring the plant inside for protection as the caterpillar grows until the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and we release it.

This year we’ve had a good crop of milkweed plants start – about 60 – the majority of which are swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate).   However, as the season has progressed this year, many of the lower leaves on the plants are turning yellow (as can be seen in the included photo) and then falling off.   In the past, we have had this occur in the fall, and I have assumed it was simply the result of the plants beginning to go dormant at the end of the year.

Given that it’s barely mid-July, and we’ve only begun to find eggs and larva to collect here in central Pennsylvania, I am concerned that we’ll run out of leaves to keep everyone fed as the season progresses.   Granted, we will only collect as many caterpillars as we are sure we will have leaves for.   But if anyone seeing this has suggestions for how to reverse, or at least stop, this loss of leaves, please let us know.   Use the contact link that appears on this page.

Thanks!

            - Tim

 

Bellefonte, PA

Latitude: 40.9 Longitude: -77.8

Observed by: R. Timothy
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