The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative

[MaryMary]

I have recently learned about the "Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative," and I wanted to share the information with you guys!! (Way to go, Ohio!! )

Rather than using quote boxes, I just changed the colors of the bits I'm quoting. I originally tried the green color that the links show up in, but the big blocks of green were too much for my eyes to take, so I went with the gray color.


http://www.akron.com/pages.asp?aID=31875
OHIO — Due to the drastic decline in the population of the monarch butterfly, the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) is seeking public involvement to collect and drop off common and swamp milkweed seed pods from established plants through Oct. 30 at collection stations around the state.

The seeds will be used to establish new plantings and create additional habitat for the monarch butterfly throughout Ohio in the coming years.


Out of 88 counties, only 12 are not taking part in the milkweed seed pod collection!

Should other Ohio forum members find this, it's an annual collection, and you can find more information about it here: http://www.ophi.info/


http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...o-save-monarch-butterflies-collect-seeds.html
For ODOT, the pollinator program is as much about saving taxpayers' money as saving bees, butterflies and birds; every acre planted in pollinator-friendly plants saves $45 in mowing cost, Bruning said. "Any time we can help wildlife and not have to mow an area, we're glad," he said.

ODOT's District 9, headquartered in Chillicothe, pioneered the idea in 2013, planting two 1-acre wildflower plots near Route 23 and Route 207 in Ross County. That grew into the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative, which has "dozens and dozens" of sites around the state, Bruning said.

(ODOT = Ohio Department of Transportation)

For those with neighbors who wouldn't like you to turn your yard into a field of wildflowers, here are some tips I found to create a "Monarch way station" in the city. (There are more tips than just the one I quoted.)

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...rch-way-stations-neednt-be-scraggly-mess.html
Common milkweed: With pinkish-mauve flowers, common milkweed is “a little aggressive,” Candy Sarikonda warned. To keep it in bounds, she advises planting it in a sunken container or next to a sidewalk or building to keep it from spreading.


I think I'll use a couple old tires, that way I can recycle them into something useful, and be able to weed-whack around the plants safely. Even though none of my neighbors would care, I think I'd like it better! I have one neighbor that told me that if I want to plant things in her yard, go right ahead!

I also think that if I plant them in tires... then if/when I move from this rental house, it might make the next renters less apt to remove "those weeds."

For host plants, monarchs require milkweeds, three of which predominate in central Ohio: Butterfly weed, Common milkweed, and Swamp milkweed. I already have Butterfly weed, and I'll be planting common milkweed next year!

 

[marlingardener]

Well, we aren't in Ohio, but we do set aside a section of the pasture for milkweeds, and for several years have taken part in the Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project: http://monarchlab.org/mlmp from the U. of Minnesota. We are out one morning a week, peeking under milkweed leaves for instars. When we started, there were two sites in Texas, now look at the map!

 

[Beth_B]

That is great, way to go, Ohio! And way to go @MaryMary.

Since I planted some at my house earlier this year, I've noticed how many milkweed plants I see wild, alongside freeways and fields, etc.

And in all the county and state parks I visit, I see that even in smaller parks and trails, the maintenance folks leave large swathes of native plants to go wild and untouched, even when certain areas are mowed. I haven't looked it up but hopefully this is by design

Wild/native spaces are critical and important on so many levels.

Edit: and WTG @marlingardener ! Now I'm going to go see if there are any such programs where I live. I do leave the margins of my property wild and tangled on purpose. For critters.

 

[MaryMary]

Yesterday, armed with a paper bag and information on when the seed pod is ready, I went on a mission to collect seed pods for my county. (The pods turn gray or brown when they're ready, and will pop open if you apply gentle pressure to the seams. They don't want any that are already burst open, as they may have been infested by the milkweed beetle, which may damage the seed, and make it not viable.)

I was overjoyed to find a small stand of them about a mile from the house, complete with a convenient parking spot.

Every single pod was either not ripe, or already burst open!
I couldn't collect any of them. The collection ends the 30th, so I'll try again in a week or so.

I did decide that the beetles can't have killed every single seed, so I filled my bag anyway with the ones that were already open. It's quite easy to tell where they haven't mowed all summer on my drive to work. I am going to enlist the help of my partner-in-crime, best friend to take the passenger seat and help me disperse the seeds along my route.

We'll pull over to scatter the pods where we can, but otherwise she's just going to have to launch "seed bombs" out the car window!!