Mow milkweed sounds counterproductive to managing this plant for monarch butterflies. But, that is what is recommended in a Spartan News Room article by Kelsi Kroll. Kroll interviewed Nathan Haan and Doug Landis of the Landis Lab Entomology Research Center at Michigan State University for an overview of their research concerning milkweed and monarch butterfly.
Takeaways:
- Mowed milkweed will quickly send up new shoots after mowing
- Mow when the plant is in flower
- The new shoots are preferred by monarch caterpillar compared to “old growth”
- Populations of predatory insects are reduced to monarch’s benefit by mowing
- Using a weed whacker (mower substitute) on some of your garden plantings of milkweed is recommended
- Monarch is one of many plant/animal species that are disturbance-dependent for food (e.g. measured wetland draw down for exposing invertebrates for shorebird consumption) and/or habitat (e.g. whitebark pine regeneration after wildfire)
- Mowing is a promising management tool for augmenting the population of this butterfly
Call to Action
Plant or mow some of your planted garden milkweed to assist in Monarch conservation. Pictured below is our “yard”; it is now converted to a wildflower meadow. It is something you can do too. Any amount of plantings will help. Take action today 🙂
