WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TROPICAL MILKWEED
Club member Patricia Schaefer recently watched a webinar, The Great American Monarch, on
SCDNR (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources) Outside In Series. Local
wildlife biologist Billy McCord spoke about the monarch’s migration. “It is very
interesting and I learned much that I did not know,” stated Patricia. “It is
important to any of you that are growing Tropical Milkweed.”
Also known as
Bloodflower Milkweed for its bright orange and scarlet flowers, it is a
non-native perennial and does not die back in the winter unless there is a
severe freeze. As a result, it can carry disease from a protozoan parasite that
evolved with the butterflies and is deposited on the plants where they land,
especially when they lay eggs on the plant. When caterpillars hatch and ingest
the plant, the parasite can replicate inside them, and they can grow into
infected butterflies that fail to thrive.
This plant is a prolific bloomer, and
the female monarch is programmed to go to blooming milkweed and lay more eggs.
You can interrupt this cycle by cutting the plant back in late November. McCord
says to cut it to the ground, leaving no leaves to feast on. It will come back
and you will not have passed the parasite on to the next generation.
Native milkweed
species die back naturally, reducing the chance of passing on the parasite.
Patricia said, "I hope to be able to find and grow that next spring."
[Excepted from a submission by Patricia Schaefer]
The webinar
covers the monarch’s lifespan, migration patterns and destinations, and notes
that a species of non-migratory monarchs winter in Coastal SC. If you are
growing Tropical Milkweed, November is the month to cut it back.
For those interested in viewing the webinar, click on this link:
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