A backyard with mosquitos and butterflies, or a few less mosquitos and NO butterflies?
This research by a student at Breck High School shows disturbing mortality rates of monarch larvae when exposed to the common pesticide used to spray parks and other areas for mosquito control. Perhaps most upsetting is her finding that milkweed leaves that had been treated up to 3 weeks earlier still proved as toxic to the monarch larvae. We have seen this first hand here. A friend spoke with an expert in the area who recommended soaking the leaves (at least 20 minutes, I believe) before feeding it to our caterpillars. So far this has worked, but I continue to worry about poisoning my cute little critters, using my own milkweed whenever possible.
Follow the link to read the research article:
http://realscience.breckschool.org/upper/research/2003-04photos/Research2004/Sara.pdf
Or go to page 4 of this link for an easier, less technical read:
http://www.mlmp.org/pdfs/MLMP2004Final.pdf
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