Is there an entomologist in the house?

[zxcvbob]

I just got home Wednesday night from a trip to SE Texas. (was delayed there about 3 weeks because the Coronavirus thing; I couldn't stand it anymore and made a run for it)  I bought a few small tropical milkweed plants while I was there; also I have some swamp milkweed seedlings up. And lots more native MW seeds in the fridge here to plant this weekend, but anyway... I looked the milkweeds over before I bought them to make sure they didn't have eggs, but I must have missed one. Or a mama monarch found my plants while they were outside.

I wish I'd known I had a stowaway; I saw some wild milkweed growing along I-45 in a safe spot near Normangee, TX and could have transferred him to it. But I didn't find it until I got home. It's just over an inch long; what is that, instar 4? The migratory monarchs aren't due here for about a month. I have enough milkweed to feed this one (that's not what it was for, but the MW will recover.) Can I put the crysalis in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks to delay its development without hurting it? That way, I can release the adult in mid-late-May when the first of the migration gets here. Otherwise, it will emerge in early May while it's still a little too cold and there's no flowers or mates.

[lee n. field]

Is there an entomologist in the house?

<drift>when I saw the thread title, I read it as "is there an epistemologist in the house"?  Not quite the same thing.</drift>

[Kingcreek]

Not an entomologist but I’m curious about the milkweed. Different varieties?
I live in Illinois and monarch butterflies are a normal thing here. I have 17 acres of prairie grass and other woodland with natural wild MW. My father in law in Minneapolis saw a display at the arberatum and made a big deal of sending us seeds and I didn’t realize it was a thing. I have a gazillion of them already.
For years I have carried dried seed pods to bow hunt and use for wind indicators. I can easily determine wind direction by releasing some and I figure I’m seeding natural plants at the same time.

[zxcvbob]

<drift>when I saw the thread title, I read it as "is there an epistemologist in the house"?  Not quite the same thing.</drift>

Better than an episiotomist, I guess

Not an entomologist but I’m curious about the milkweed. Different varieties?

There are lots of different varieties, native to different climates.  The ones I saw in Texas were either Antelope Horns milkweed (Asclepias asperula), or Green milkweed (Asclepias viridis), I'm not sure which. 

In Minnesota and Illinois, common milkweed (A. syriaca) is the most common, but also some swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) and butterflyweed (A. tuberosa); the swamp milkweed and butterflyweed are much nicer garden plants than the common.  What I bought in Texsa was tropical milkweed (A. curassavica), which grows well up here as an annual.

[Kingcreek]

I’m sure ours is common since it’s everywhere and always has been.
I could pick bushels of pods without much effort. I feel good about using the pods for natural wind indicators when bow hunting

[charby]

I’m sure ours is common since it’s everywhere and always has been.
I could pick bushels of pods without much effort. I feel good about using the pods for natural wind indicators when bow hunting

If you get orange or yellow flowers in June, its probably butterfly or swamp milkweed. Common milkweed is usually a single stem with pods that point down, butterfly or swamp milkweed is more shrub like with pods that point up.

I grow butterfly milkweed in my pollinator garden. It is a perennial plant.

[charby]

I don't know about chilling a larvae, send a message to the university extension entomologist.

[230RN]

"Can I put the chrysalis in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks to delay its development without hurting it?"

What's the cost of doing the experiment yourself?

You might get a journal article out of it.  But make sure you have the milkweed species correct --I think you had some doubt, no?




I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

[zxcvbob]

"Can I put the chrysalis in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks to delay its development without hurting it?"

What's the cost of doing the experiment yourself?

You might get a journal article out of it.  But make sure you have the milkweed species correct --I think you had some doubt, no?

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

Hi Terry,
That's a good point about the cost of the experiment.  Worst case, the insect dies that didn't have much of a chance anyway.

The species of milkweed is Asclepias curassavica.  The one I'm not sure about is the native stuff I saw by the side of the road in Texas.  (I could probably figure it out)

[230RN]

Hey, I didn't even know there were folks who cultivated milkweed, let alone there were definable species of it.

I don't know if there's any out here  in COmmierado, but I'm no botanist.  I remember there was milkweed growing near the neighborhood back in Flushing, New York, but the only thing I was told was "don't taste the milk" and I found that the milk, when you broke off a leaf, was sticky and hard to clean off, even with soap and water.

Beyond that, I knew nor cared anything about it.

Now, in digging around with duckduckgo, I find the flowers could be pretty spectacular, but I never noticed that back in NY as a kid.

So all very interesting, and I count this as my "learn one thing a day" item.

Terry

[zxcvbob]

Hey, I didn't even know there were folks who cultivated milkweed, let alone there were definable species of it.

I don't know if there's any out here  in COmmierado, but I'm no botanist.  I remember there was milkweed growing near the neighborhood back in Flushing, New York, but the only thing I was told was "don't taste the milk" and I found that the milk, when you broke off a leaf, was sticky and hard to clean off, even with soap and water.

Beyond that, I knew nor cared anything about it.

Now, in digging around with duckduckgo, I find the flowers could be pretty spectacular, but I never noticed that back in NY as a kid.

So all very interesting, and I count this as my "learn one thing a day" item.

Terry

You should have "showy milkweed" (A. speciosa) growing wild there, and maybe a little "butterflyweed" (A. tuberosa) and some other types.  Common millkweed (A. syriaca) would grow if you planted it but it won't thrive.  (I planted some showy milkweed in my garden, and it's not doing well because I'm a little too far east; I have no idea why that matters)  "Swamp milkweed" (A. incarnata) should do well with a little extra water -- it doesn't really need a swamp -- and is a well-behaved garden plant.

Are you east or west of the Rockies?  Either way, there probably arem't many monarch butterflies in CO.  You're right on the dividing line between the eastern and western migrations.

[230RN]

"Swamp milkweed" (A. incarnata) should do well with a little extra water -- it doesn't really need a swamp -- and is a well-behaved garden plant.

That might have been the milkweed back  in NY I mentioned, 'cause despite the 70-year gap, I recall it being a wet area, probably near Flushing Bay or Flushing River.

As far as out here, as I said, I never noticed any milkweed.  I'm right near the eastern foothills near Golden, COmmierado.

I mentioned in a previous post* that there's a kind of long N-S flyway between my building and a line of tall pine trees which a lot of critters use and I've seen many a Monarch-looking butterfly fluttering past my balcony one way or the other.

Also smaller white butterflies.

But I'm no naturalist in terms of what's what in terms of bugs or small ground plants.

Terry, 230RN

*See, especially the attachment, for a description:
http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=62145.msg1251611#msg1251611

[Ron]

If you have a smart phone, I use an app for identifying plants
that may help you. It is called plant.net, downloadable from the play store etc.

It isn't always a "sure thing"  but it works well enough.

[Ben]

If you have a smart phone, I use an app for identifying plants
that may help you. It is called plant.net, downloadable from the play store etc.

It isn't always a "sure thing"  but it works well enough.

Thanks for that. I'm still trying to learn the dang plants around here.

[charby]

If you have a smart phone, I use an app for identifying plants
that may help you. It is called plant.net, downloadable from the play store etc.

It isn't always a "sure thing"  but it works well enough.

I used that quite a bit for identifying plants I don't know before I kill them, almost killed some young false indigo bush (native) growing on the bank of my pond thinking it was crown vetch (non native invasive). Very similar leaves when young and without flowers.

Crown vetch with flowers


False indigo bush with flowers

[Ben]

Thanks again for that heads up on the app, Ron! I tried it yesterday and it's really cool. Though an eye opener. I've been looking at leaving the area behind my house natural to eliminate the lawn mowing, and a couple of the prettiest flowering, bee attracting, plants have turned out to be invasive and noxious, while the absolutely most ugly, noxious looking weed has health benefits and is edible.  

[charby]

Thanks again for that heads up on the app, Ron! I tried it yesterday and it's really cool. Though an eye opener. I've been looking at leaving the area behind my house natural to eliminate the lawn mowing, and a couple of the prettiest flowering, bee attracting, plants have turned out to be invasive and noxious, while the absolutely most ugly, noxious looking weed has health benefits and is edible.  

St John's wort?

[Ben]

St John's wort?

Blessed Milkthistle. Though it hasn't flowered yet.

The noxious flowering ones were crossflower and Dyer's Woad (though Dyer's Woad has an interesting history as a dye). I also identified Spotted Henbit, which  I guess is okay.

[Ben]

Gotta give another plug to this app. Its teaching me a lot. I just learned I have a bunch of common yarrow, which has all kinds of medicinal properties. Natural quick clot, gastrointestinal relief, mosquito killer, to name a few.