Some people consider milkweed a nuisance that can overrun their gardens or yards, but Jane and Don Haas of Arnold know how valuable it can be.
The two have been planting milkweed for the last five years to protect the monarch butterfly population.
In December 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the monarch butterfly on the endangered or threatened species list.
“If you plant milkweed, they will come,” said Jane, 73. “That is the motto of monarch raisers.”
Jane, a retired teacher, and Don, who worked at the Metal Container Corp. in Arnold before retiring, have been raising and releasing monarch butterflies for the past five years.
The two had unprecedented success with their butterflies this year, raising and releasing 102 of them.
Jane said in 2017, the couple released 20 monarchs at their home, and the next year, they released 30. In their third year, Jane said they released 52, but last year, they only released 30.
The couple credits this year’s success to relocating their potted milkweed plants from the side of their home to their backyard to better protect the monarchs’ food source from outdoor elements.
“We did it to see what would happen, and it worked,” Jane said.
The Haases’ hobby has caught on with their five grandchildren, who have helped with the butterflies.
For the past five years, Reese Mullins, the couple’s 16-year-old neighbor, also has helped the Haases with their butterflies.
“They knew I liked animals and offered for me to come over,” said Reese, a Fox High School sophomore. “It has been awesome to be close up and learn the process of finding the caterpillars, learn about what they eat and how to raise and release them. It has been a cool experience that not everyone gets with a wild animal.”
The process
Jane said she became interested in raising monarch butterflies after reading Kylee Baumle’s book “The Monarch,” which taught her about the importance of milkweed.
“As kids we saw milkweed growing in our parents’ fields” Jane said. “We would be out in the field hoeing the milkweed out of the corn field because we thought of it as a weed, but it is such a necessary weed as a host plant for these creations (monarchs). If they don’t have their host plant, they will not survive. That moved us to help them in a small way.”
Don, 74, said initially he was not as enthusiastic about taking up the hobby.
“I hated it at first because I didn’t want to plant milkweed,” he said. “I put up with that too much in my life with getting it out of crops. I just didn’t like the plant. I thought they were just weeds, until I saw the benefit.”
The Haases decided to plant three forms of milkweed – common, butterfly and swamp – in planting pots to keep the weed-like root system from invading their yard. Milkweed is where migrating monarchs lay eggs.
They also purchased fine mesh habitats produced by Restcloud to transfer the caterpillars from the milkweed to keep them safe from predators, like birds, flies, wasps and lizards.
“You have to have a fine mesh habitat,” Jane said. “Even mesh laundry baskets are not fine enough to keep out wasps.”
She said the caterpillars eat a lot of milkweed and produce a large amount of secretion called frass, so you need a lot of paper towels to line their habitats.
“The habitat needs to be cleaned at least once if not twice a day because the paper towel will get black and grow bacteria,” Jane said. “That will cause problems if the caterpillars get into it.”
After the caterpillars reach the final stage in their development, they tend to climb to the top of the habitat, twist into a “J” form and start creating what is called a chrysalis – the form a caterpillar takes before it emerges as a butterfly. Caterpillars tend to remain in the chrysalis for 10 to 12 days, and when they emerge as butterflies, they are nearly fully developed after two hours outside of the cocoon.
“We keep them about 24 hours in the habitat,” Jane said. “Then if it is a 70 degree day with no rain, they can fly free.”
After being released, the monarchs migrate south to a mountain region in Mexico. Monarchs migrate through the Midwest between May and September.
At the start of the migration season, the monarchs are flying from Mexico to Minnesota, and in August, they tend to start coming through Missouri during their journey to Mexico, Jane said.
“Somehow, they have the ability to know when we release them they fly south,” she said. “It is like a built-in GPS.”
Sharing
Jane and Don said one of the best parts of raising monarchs is sharing the experience with others.
“I feel we are spreading the news and having more people become aware of why this is important,” Jane said.
Rodney Mullins, Reese’s father, said his entire family has helped the Haases with the monarchs.
“The biggest thing for me is the education piece,” said Rodney, who is one of two Arnold Ward 3 councilmen. “Our entire family has been educated on the process. There is a lot to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.”
Reese said she has learned a lot.
“I have learned the correct scientific terminology when talking about butterflies, where they go when they are released, and the different programs and how large the community is that helps the monarch butterflies,” she said.
Laura Chappell, who also lives in the Haases’ neighborhood, said her daughters – Lilly, 10, and Abby, 7 – have helped with the butterflies.
“I really appreciated Jane for including us, especially during the pandemic, when we were at home learning,” Chappell said. “It gave us an opportunity to incorporate science and outdoor activities. It was a great opportunity for my kids to learn with a hands-on experience.”
Laura said the couple gave her daughters habitats to raise monarchs at home. She said this year, her youngest daughter, Abby, took a habitat to her second-grade class at Sherwood Elementary School.
“Her class got to watch the life cycle of the monarch,” Chappell said.
Jane and Don, whose home is registered as a Monarch Waystation through monarchwatch.org, said they plan to raise and release the butterflies as long as they can, and next year they plan to tag the monarchs they release. By tagging a wing with a thin sticker, other monarch enthusiasts may register the butterfly on monarchwatch.org, and the Haases will receive an email telling them where their monarch was found.
“If one of ours made it to Mexico, that would be really cool,” Jane said.