Growing Milkweed Plants for Monarch Butterflies

Butterflies are beautiful creatures and perhaps there will scarcely be anybody who doesn’t like having these colorful flies around. Monarch butterflies, in particular, are famous around the globe for their impressive and challenging migration that they make each year from North America to Mexico. However, it has been observed in recent years that less of the butterflies are returning with each passing year which implies them being endangered.

Subsequently, many people are making efforts by planting milkweed for monarch butterflies to ensure that this unique species of butterflies is saved from becoming extinct. There are multiple ways in which you can contribute to protecting the existing population of Monarch butterflies while also ensuring that they have a safe as well as preferable habitat for them to lay their eggs and grow the offspring.

1. Grow Milkweed in Your Own Garden

Milkweed (also known as Asclepias) plants are of utmost significance if you want to save the monarch butterflies because they act as the sole hosts for them to feed on, lay eggs in and grow in. From a live plant to a mail-in certificate, which works as an amazing gifting idea, you can get every product that you need to rear and breed the butterflies.

2. Avoid Using Pesticides

Glyphosate, an herbicide that is harmful to the growth of milkweed plants and can kill them is found in most of the pesticides. Since milkweed is a most essential plant for monarch butterflies as they eat only these plants and lay eggs in them, hence making it essential that we not only grow milkweed plants in our garden but also take care of them.

3. Do Not Use Genetically Engineered Foods

Indeed it is important to ensure that you get rid of all the weeds from your garden before planting the milkweed for monarch butterflies. However, you should be watchful to not spray the genetically engineered seeds in abundance just because they are resistant to glyphosate. It could risk the life of your milkweed plants.

4. Use High-Quality Products

Whether you are purchasing milkweed for monarch butterflies, butterfly kits, butterfly nets, butterfly cages or guide books to help you know the correct way to grow the plants and attract and save the delicate flies, make sure that you are only relying on the trusted sources that offer only high quality and well-informed products.

5. Grow Native Milkweed for Monarch Butterflies

While picking up the milkweed kit for monarch butterflies for your garden, ensure that you are going for the category that is native to your area. This would not just make it easier for you to grow the plant in the weather it is accustomed to but it would also promote biodiversity and support the natural migration pattern of the butterflies.

6. Create a Habitat for Monarch Butterflies

It is important to create a station and set up such an environment where Monarch butterflies feel comfortable to lay their eggs and for those eggs to hatch and offsprings to grow in. You can order the milkweed seeds, butterfly nets and other essentials that you would require along with a proper guide online with ease.

7. Contribute to Stopping the Climate Change

Monarch butterflies take their annual flight to migrate according to the weather, but the drastic changes in climate could confuse them and interrupt their entire flight cycle, thus causing a risk to the migration but it can also source threat to their survival as there could be a lack of milkweed availability if they fly in the wrong season.

8. Opt For FSC Certified Wood

Monarch butterflies majorly rely on the forests in Mexico to spend their winters and take shelter when they come back from their migration flight. However, with an increase in illegal logging activities, they have fewer acres of trees left for them to survive during the entire season. So, make sure that you buy FSC certified woods to stop this practice and leave the home for monarchs to fly back to.

9. Educate Yourself

There are many organizations like Educational Science that are committed to saving the monarch butterflies and ensure that more and more people are interested in the purpose so that they plant milkweed for monarch butterflies in their gardens. You can get information about how important it is to save these butterflies and how you can do it.

10. Share with Others

Just you being aware of the problem and contributing to saving by planting milkweed for monarch butterflies will not solve the crises. Hence, it is important that each of us spread the word about the decline of these delicate species and ensure that we can get as many people as possible to join in and make this mission successful.

At Educational Science, you can get the latest crop of milkweed for monarch butterflies along with all the other things that you need to breed and rear these unique flies. Right from the planting seeds to butterfly nets, you can be assured to get everything in the best quality and at prices that will suit your pocket. If you are a teacher then you can purchase these plants to show a live demo to kids at school and educate them about the importance of saving monarch butterflies.

To help you get started, here are some of our favorite products to choose from:

milkweed plants

butterfly cages

butterfly kits

butterfly larvae