That's funny. i just read that article. There are lots of problems with the conclusions presented. Native plants are always best but the suggestion that gardeners growing tropical milkweed pose anywhere near the threat presented by big ag and climate change is pretty much laughable. Anyone who really wants to help butterflies ought to be pressuring the Federal Government to stop subsidizing the 173 million acres of mono-culture commodity crops that poison our land and wildlife with pesticides and herbicides.
I grow mostly Asclepias tuberosa because they seem a little bit clay tolerant. I did put a tropical variety in a planter though so when I first saw reports like the one you mentioned I got concerned and did a bit of digging into the story to find out just what kind of risk they present.
I'd read concerns about the Tropical Milkweed previously but have no overwintering or "stuck" monarchs to report from just west of Austin. I don't plan to pull my trops out (yet) but I am going to cut them back several times as suggested.
I have native milkweed seed chilling for a couple more weeks and then I'll try to get them established, but reports of how picky they are does not leave me very hopeful that they'll do very well. If I can get a patch of native milkweed established, then I'll take the tropical milkweed out of the mix.
An interesting article but I'm not sure the conclusions of the study warrant gardeners tearing out their tropical milkweed. Have gardeners really planted so much of this that it would create that kind of effect on the Monarchs? I find that hard to believe! I agree with Debra -- it's more likely that a multitude of other factors are resulting in the decline of the butterfly. You have to take any of these type of articles with a grain of salt as the writers usually look at a situation from only one perspective. According to this one, gardeners are now to blame for the decline. Another article in USA Today stated that Mexico's Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission "blames the displacement of the milkweed the species feeds on by genetically modified crops and urban sprawl in the United States, as well as the dramatic reduction of the butterflies' habitat in Mexico due to illegal logging of the trees they depend on for shelter." That would seem more likely than tropical milkweed in individual gardens.
I am posting in total agreement and support of Debra's comment. Gardeners planting native plants are not the problem but it makes a nice diversion for big ag and big chem. I'd just like to add that the segment under big ag called GMO food crops are actually listed under the FDA as "insecticides" because the poisons are *inside* the plants. Food = insecticides? Yikes! 64 countries - those that allow GMOs at all - require labeling foods that are GMOs as such. It's the law. There is currently a huge fight by industrial farms to keep GMOs from being labeled in the U.S. These same corporate farms are trying to pass legislation that close organic & small family farmer's markets. I have been writing and calling Congress critters asking why is it that Americans may not be allowed to know what they are eating/feeding their families. I join Debra in asking the same questions regarding our environment. We are killing off butterflies, honey bees, humming birds, ALL types of pollinators with increasingly stronger and stronger chemicals. We have to get louder in our Representatives' ears than corporate lobbyists' voices and money. And we have to do so with persistence.
7 comments:
That's funny. i just read that article. There are lots of problems with the conclusions presented. Native plants are always best but the suggestion that gardeners growing tropical milkweed pose anywhere near the threat presented by big ag and climate change is pretty much laughable. Anyone who really wants to help butterflies ought to be pressuring the Federal Government to stop subsidizing the 173 million acres of mono-culture commodity crops that poison our land and wildlife with pesticides and herbicides.
You're right! Do you have tropical milkweed in your gardens?
I grow mostly Asclepias tuberosa because they seem a little bit clay tolerant. I did put a tropical variety in a planter though so when I first saw reports like the one you mentioned I got concerned and did a bit of digging into the story to find out just what kind of risk they present.
Did you post your thoughts? I'd be glad to think to them. Wondering what you concluded.
I'm taking a wait and watch approach.
I'd read concerns about the Tropical Milkweed previously but have no overwintering or "stuck" monarchs to report from just west of Austin. I don't plan to pull my trops out (yet) but I am going to cut them back several times as suggested.
I have native milkweed seed chilling for a couple more weeks and then I'll try to get them established, but reports of how picky they are does not leave me very hopeful that they'll do very well. If I can get a patch of native milkweed established, then I'll take the tropical milkweed out of the mix.
An interesting article but I'm not sure the conclusions of the study warrant gardeners tearing out their tropical milkweed. Have gardeners really planted so much of this that it would create that kind of effect on the Monarchs? I find that hard to believe! I agree with Debra -- it's more likely that a multitude of other factors are resulting in the decline of the butterfly. You have to take any of these type of articles with a grain of salt as the writers usually look at a situation from only one perspective. According to this one, gardeners are now to blame for the decline. Another article in USA Today stated that Mexico's Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission "blames the displacement of the milkweed the species feeds on by genetically modified crops and urban sprawl in the United States, as well as the dramatic reduction of the butterflies' habitat in Mexico due to illegal logging of the trees they depend on for shelter." That would seem more likely than tropical milkweed in individual gardens.
I am posting in total agreement and support of Debra's comment. Gardeners planting native plants are not the problem but it makes a nice diversion for big ag and big chem. I'd just like to add that the segment under big ag called GMO food crops are actually listed under the FDA as "insecticides" because the poisons are *inside* the plants. Food = insecticides? Yikes! 64 countries - those that allow GMOs at all - require labeling foods that are GMOs as such. It's the law. There is currently a huge fight by industrial farms to keep GMOs from being labeled in the U.S. These same corporate farms are trying to pass legislation that close organic & small family farmer's markets. I have been writing and calling Congress critters asking why is it that Americans may not be allowed to know what they are eating/feeding their families. I join Debra in asking the same questions regarding our environment. We are killing off butterflies, honey bees, humming birds, ALL types of pollinators with increasingly stronger and stronger chemicals. We have to get louder in our Representatives' ears than corporate lobbyists' voices and money. And we have to do so with persistence.
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