Oh my gosh! Was she crazy?
You really will be going all over town looking for milkweed - the monarchs thank you!
Sherry

Sherry,

All my milkweed looks like this! I've collected over 200 eggs, and the females are back. I went out and found eggs on the plants I had removed eggs from yesterday. I'm trying to find foster homes! One of the problems with collecting wild milkweed, is that you can find poison ivy sprouts close by.

Yikes, your milkweed looks like it has an outbreak of whiteheads, Sandy! LOL. I know you're in 7th heaven. Good thing you'll be hanging around the house this summer.

Susan

P.S. I am still laboring over clean up work, planting seeds, potting plants, pulling weeds, fixing the hardscaping, etc. I saw my first Red Admiral today.

7th heaven?!! More like panic attack!! Don't know how I'll feed them all. I may just pack some of them up and bring them over to your place. You'd make an awesome foster mom--you can raise them with your own offspring!!

sandy

Wow, that is amazing, I am sure you will figure out a way.

Susan,

I'm going to be in OKC this weekend. You interested in some eggs for real?

Sandy

OH MY WORD Sandy. Well, looks like the old girl was just full to poppin with eggs. Bless her heart. She finally located her host and just dumped them all over it!! I am happy to report that I am seeing Monarchs here in my NW GA yard now, and I watched a female lay her eggs all over my little Common MW plants just yesterday!!~~Angie

Angie, apparently there's a lot of "egg dumping" going on. The reason is the Monarchs got blown farther north by the strong southerly winds, so they are on the edge of the milkweed production. They've got to get rid of their eggs, so they are laying on even the smallest of plants and leaving multiple eggs behind. If there was more milkweed available, they would do the one egg per plant routine. Journey North has a classroom project based on this behavior. It's on the website.

sandy

Sandy, I don't think I better - I only have one little milkweed to feed the few eggs I have, and that may not be enough. Did you see the Monarch Watch report that the Northern edge of the migration is ahead of the milkweed growth from here North? They are streaming into these sites and there is no milkweed available. This could spell disaster for them.

Susan

That is bad news. The winds here today are horrible. There are very few new eggs, so I suspect the Monarchs have been blown on. Several people have contacted me about all my eggs and what is happening in this area. It is evident that this multiple egg laying is not a good sign, as it indicates the females are having trouble finding host plants. I've got to get out and check out some areas around here where I normally find the wild milkweed and report back to JN as to what I find and whether there are eggs in the wild.

Meanwhile, over 60 of the little dudes have hatched. I am really watching carefully and removing the larvae as soon as they hatch, so no viable eggs will be eaten. I'll try my darndest to get as many of them to maturity as possible.

Sandy

Oh goodness Sandy. You have 60 cats already? This is a big problem. I did not know about the issue with the winds. I will go and check out that JN classroom project. That explains a lot to me. I have never seen them in my NW GA yard this early in the season, and I have never had eggs in April either. I did overwinter some Tropical MW plants in my garage, and they are getting a really good growth going now. This makes me think that I need to buy a greenhouse so that I can grow the milkweed and have some larger plants ready at this time of year. I know that some people bring their TMW plants into their homes during winter and they do well there. I don't really have the inside space, and I also don't want aphids inside my house.~~Angie