Date: 06/16/2020
Number: 5
Five deceased Chrystalis out of 7 viable ones as of yesterday hanging feom garden wall previously reported. The five has web like strong hanging feom them.
Cause of death is postulated as either red eyed fly injecting their own larvae into Monarch as caterpillars, spiders in area that somehow kill Chrystalis (there are lots of spiders that we sweep, clean manually to avoid chemicals) or other unknown reason.
All these Chrystalis were 100% raised in wild in our garden with planted in ground Silky Gold Yellow milkweed surrounded by dill, thyme, Zinnias, Plumerias, Icelandic Poppies, Misty Salvia, Candy Tuft, King Palm tree, Elephant Ear tropical plant. The soil is from commercial nursery Evergreen, Oceanside, CA.
Caterpillars either travelled via 1) concrete patio or 2) atop Flagstone garden wall or 3) via the soil, or 4) a combination. This same Chrystalis area last year also had mostly deaths.
Carlsbad, CA
Latitude: 33.1 Longitude: -117.3
Observed by: Maize
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