I'm in Southern Florida. I do tagging through the U. Georgia. They are trying to track migration and OE. The latest recommendation is to continue growing Tropical Milkweed. They did a reverse and are advising people to plant and grow the tropical in the warmer climates.

They are trying, through the tagging program to determine how many northern Monarchs are wintering in Florida and California rather than continue their journey to Mexico. They are also having people who tag, test their Monarchs for OE. They now recommend planting the tropical milkweed and allowing the Monarchs to breed throughout the winter months.

Jane

Jane, I'm still wondering who you talked with. They published this year how tropical milkweed is causing OE problems in the warmer climates. Their webpage still says to replace "exotic milkweeds with native milkweeds as they become available for purchase."

And your statement "They now recommend planting the tropical milkweed and allowing the Monarchs to breed throughout the winter months" makes no sense. Southern Florida monarchs have always bred through the winter months and I know that folks at UGA are not recommending breeding during the winter outside of Florida.

I am involved with a tagging program which is run through U Georgia and U Florida. I receive numerous information and nothing is cut in stone. Studies are suggesting some Northern Monarchs winter in Florida rather than Mexico.

Due to tagging done in the NE, some Monarchs have been identified in So. Florida as originating in New Jersey, New York.

Studies done are showing a resistance to OE in the Hawaiian and Florida Monarchs. It also shows that Tropical Milkweed is more toxic than native milkweed. Studies are ungoing. Tagging and OE swabs are ongoing.

The latest recommendation was to not cut back Tropical Milkweed and to continue planting it as it shows a higher toxicity. Monarchs are also showing a higher resistance to OE in the South and Hawaii. I will link one study.

There are many papers and studies and it is hard to incorporate everything in one place for you. Best to follow the various links.

This is a blog from one of the researchers. It contains links.

http://nickiebodv.blogspot.com/2014/08/floridas-butterfly-net-page-1.html

This is a study done at U Georgie and U Pennsylvania

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/673442

If you click around these sites you will find a lot of info.

Jane

Jane,

The blog you linked makes it clear the recommendations you were talking about apply only to southern Florida. I think you need to be more clear about that when you are posting.

KC

I thought I was clear.