Important Info RE OE Spores & Monarchs

11 years ago

Important Info RE OE & Monarchs! Posted by tdogmom on Tue, May 2, 2006

Okay folks, I got a response from Dr. Sonia Altizer, an expert on Monarchs, from U of Georgia.

Several people have asked questions about using a 2% bleach solution to cleanse OE spores when working with Monarchs. I asked her some of those key questions and here is what she said. I paraphrased and summarized her reply to each question.

1. Is it possible to clean Milkweed plants while they are in the ground (planted MW plants)?

This is NOT recommended. Spraying wild plants growing out in the field with 2% Chlorox is not very effective against the tough OE spore walls.

An alternative is the following:
Take Milkweed cuttings (clip the stalks) and soak them in a basin in 10-15% Chlorox for 20 minutes. Then, soak them in regular tap water for the same amount of time and rinse well. The cuttings can then be placed in florist tubes (plant picks) and fed to the caterpillars.

Dr. Altizer has found that if the leaves are rinsed well in tap water, they can be fed safely to Monarch larvae.

2. If you find a lot of OE in the Monarchs raised, it is possible that the spores are on your plants. What is another way you can eliminate or reduce the OE on the Milkweed?

To reduce spore loads on plants, cut the stalks (or mow these down) to within a few inches of the ground. New material that grows back should have fewer spores on it, especially if kept away from infected adult butterflies. If necessary, use netting to keep the butterflies off the plants. Presumably a heavy rain or a strong hosing with water can also wash off a large portion (but not all) of the parasite spores.

Dr. Altizer also recommends growing native milkweed species as opposed to the tropical species, as most of the native species naturally die back during the winter months, and hence would accumulate fewer parasite spores.

3. Can you use a bleach solution to cleanse Monarch eggs of OE? How safe is this and is it effective?

This approach is NOT recommended as bleaching the eggs has NOT been found to be a satisfactory method of elminating OE. The concentration of bleach needed to kill the OE spores can also damage the egg chorion. A method to try to rescue some potentially contaminated eggs is to remove them from the Milkweed they're on (the contaminated Milkweed) and transfer them to a clean Milkweed leaf. This will reduce the potential number of spores the caterpillar might ingest.

4. What about the use of the commercially prepared OE spore spray?

She was not familiar with the Educational Sciences product. Her exact words, "I'm not familiar with this product so cannot make an educated comment, except to say that there are probably cheaper, easier, safer and more effective methods available than using a commercial spray -- and definitely would not advocate widespread dissemination of a product such as this into the environment.

5. Is there a way to test the Milkweed plant itself for OE spore contamination?

She felt this was a good question and thought that perhaps this could be done similarly to the way OE is tested on the Monarch butterflywith a swab, tape, etc.

I think that her answers were very clear. I also felt good because personally, I have always been concerned when reading about people using bleach to clean their butterfly eggs. It is reassuring that someone who does a lot of research corroborates my own thinking and methods. :) So, take it for what its worth--CalSherry aka tdogmom.

Comment

Related Discussions
OE (not a disease) Parasite and Diseases ...
Q
Comments (1)
Thanks for the valuable info, Edith! Sherry
...See More
OE or normal?
Q
Comments (7)
Yes it does look kind of unhealthy. The Monarchparasites.com website says - "About 3 days before the adults emerge, spores can be seen forming through the pupal integument. Infected adults emerge covered with spores, with the highest densities on their abdomens. Once hosts are infected, they do not recover. By the time adults emerge with parasite spores, all physical damage by the parasite has been done by this point Â The parasites do not continue replicating on adults, and these dormant spores on adult monarchs must be eaten by another larva to continue development." I have 1 chrysalis left out of 6 that is browner than the others, but it is the only cat that has pupated on a stick. I wonder if it was trying to match the color of the stick for the purposes of camoflage? I started a thread a couple weeks back about a chrysalis that looked suspicious. It has more info. Here is a link that might be useful: Do you think this is OE?
...See More
Brainstorming for the Monarchs
Q
Comments (56)
Regarding Releasing Diseased Monarchs- The "email from Altizer" posted here four different times as Altizer's answers to the poster's questions, I have wondered each time I see this "email reply", what were the questions? And especially, in what context were the questions asked? Was it in the context of commercial butterfly breeding and the sending and releasing of butterflies to other parts of the country? Posted on Dec 16, 13 at 22:37, quoting : "Why would you release a wild naturally occurring OE ridden Monarch?" "Because it is a natural infection and not one that you created. Because a renown scientist, Dr. Sonia Altizer, gave me those instructions....." end of poster's quote.// Advocating for release of diseased Monarchs? Why promote endlessly the planting of Tropical milkweed when every expert stresses the importance of planting only NATIVE milkweeds, and all agree on the negative consequences of growing Tropical milkweed especially? Troubling also is the use of "naturally occurring" and also in the same sentence as 'releasing". HIV is naturally occurring too. Cancer is naturally occurring. Does that mean these diseases should be ignored as well? Human disease is researched to find out what caused the unnatural condition, there are reasons for disease. Disease is UNnatural. OE co-evolved with monarchs in the 1960's, after milkweeds had existed for many millions of years, and Monarchs had existed for how many years, a million? without OE. I would bet that mankind's messing around with nature has everything to do with this unnatural disease. Naturally occurring disease-what is the inference? That it is normal and part of nature? The following is what Dr. Sonia Altizer says in the published online article (I have linked below) about butterfly releasing: “If people are releasing infected monarchs in the spring [the height of the wedding season],” Altizer says, “when they’re naturally re-colonizing what would be otherwise clean breeding habitat, we could be ratcheting prevalence up artificially in the wild.” In 2007, Dr. Karen Oberhauser, a professor at the Univ. of Minnesota Dept. of Ecology and a monarch researcher, stopped the selling and sending of butterflies to classrooms in the U.S. because of the high prevalence of OE. I respect that she took this unpopular decision and faced the backlash from the Butterfly Breeders Assoc. (IBBA). The link below has a lot of useful information and quotes statements and opinions from various Monarch experts throughout the country including Altizer Chip Taylor of Monarch Watch is quoted in the article: ..." that there are many unanswered questions and that under no conditions should diseased monarchs be released into the wild." He also questioned years ago in a newsletter the genetic impact of monarch release out of their native habitat. These very questions have led to calls for a moratorium on butterfly releases." By the way, in the "email", there was no releasing option for my scenario: Indoor reared eggs and very young instars from the wild, using very thorough disinfecting measures of their food, in handling, and of any container. Altizer says in the article I linked below, that "a caterpillar with one spore can emerge with a MILLION spores". She is against the releasing of diseased butterflies. OE screening can't be done with the naked eye. Most of my Dec. 2013 Monarchs emerged beautiful and vibrant, but only 2 tested OE free. Most were heavily infested with OE, appearances are deceptive. A microscope is needed. I noticed also that many of my December emergees had large fore-wings as I've seen in photos of Eastern Monarchs, unlike the smaller fore-wings of Western Monarchs. The infected ones I didn't release, out of love for the species, it was hard. It's one thing to have a lot of knowledge on a subject. It's another thing to have love that goes along with the knowledge. Just as in religion, knowledge without love is dangerous and worthless. There is also deliberate misuse of and distortion of knowledge-that's the worst. My apologies to Martha. This was supposed to be a positive ideas thread to help the Monarch plight. It turned into a Tropical Milkweed Promotion and anti-euthanizing of diseased Monarchs thread and debate. I couldn't rest easy with false and misleading things being posted THAT had potential to harm the monarch population.Yes I got sucked in, but not for my pleasure, ego, or wallet, but out of true concern and love for monarchs. Here is a link that might be useful: All Aflutter--The Flap Over the Mail Order Butterfly Industry
...See More
My first homegrown Monarch and question re: OE
Q
Comments (5)
Well some of my sanitized eggs did hatch! So I'm hoping for better luck! I also sanitized a potted milkweed and put it out on a warm day and it has about 7 eggs on it. So now....its in the enclosure, but what if the butterfly had OE and its on the eggs! UGH this is stressful!!!
...See More

Important Info RE OE Spores & Monarchs

Comment

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US