Monarch butterfly season

Lyn from Roseneath

Something has definitely affected monarchs this year. Those who have raised monarchs are finding male to female ratio is roughly even. However, many of the female monarchs are not laying eggs. Could they be sterile? Could the males be infertile? The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust is investigating... (600 respondents all over the country showed that 2/3 of the country had 'virtually no/fewer monarch eggs than a typical year').

You can see the survey results on our website.

www.monarch.org.nz...

Yes, social wasps (includes paper wasps), praying mantises, ants etc are natural predators and there are also parasites and pathogens which affect eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises... but if you don't have eggs, you don't get past base!

What can you do to help? Here's three top tips:

(1) supporting the MBNZT is a good beginning: funds will help us work with scientists analysing the data we've collected PLUS you get a fantastic magazine BUTTERFLIES in your mailbox four times a year with lots of tips...

www.monarch.org.nz...

(2) Plant more swan plants! Where you have swan plants in inappropriate places, let the monarchs weed them OR share them with others OR put them in a bucket of water and let the caterpillars eat them.

(3) DON'T use pesticides. It could be pesticides which are affecting the monarch... more research will help identify the cause. Find out through our website alternatives to what you've used in the past.

Hope this is helpful! There's more info. of course on our website. Please share, let's see what we can do to help the monarchs.