Monarch Butterfly Habitat
Seeding the Monarch Butterfly Habitat
We finally got around to seeding our 1.5-acre Monarch butterfly habitat. We did this in two phases. The first was at the end of February when we still had a few freeze-thaw cycles left that would help pull the seed into the soil. This was accomplished by hand with a small broadcast seeder. I was a little concerned that we didn’t get good dispersion of the seed, so for the second phase we decided to seed again with a tractor mounted broadcast seeder and then follow up with a harrow rake towed behind our Honda Pioneer SXS to make sure the seed was incorporated into the soil.
Seeding with Cordelia and our new Herd 3-point mounted spreader.
Wildflower and Oat Seeds
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
Wildflower seeds are very light and won’t feed or disperse well through a broadcast spreader on their own so on the advice of our contact at Pheasants Forever (our seed supplier) we mixed the wildflower seed with oat seed. The oats will germinate more quickly than the wildflowers and will provide ground cover and browse for wildlife while the wildflowers mature.
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
Using a harrow rake after broadcasting seeds. This helps improve seed-to-soil contact and ensures better germination by lightly burying the seeds and breaking up the soil.
The Harrow Rake
Harrow Raking with Pioneer 700
The Harrow Rake
This is a picture of a harrow or drag rake available from Tractor Supply Company. It’s similar to the one we used for the Monarch butterfly plot. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/yard-tuff-4-ft-x-4-ft-heavy-duty-drag-harrow
Seeding
We will be planting in late February or early March, depending on the weather, using a technique called frost seeding. This involves broadcasting the seed over the mostly bare ground when there are at least a few freeze and thaw cycles left in late winter. The process of freezing and thawing creates a ‘honey-combing’ of the ground which draws the seed into the soil. Frost seeding eliminates the need for mechanical manipulation of the soil which can lead to erosion and bring weed seeds to the surface where they will be in competition with the pollinator plants. Once the seeds are broadcast the last step is using some type of compaction device (weighted roller) to insure seed contact with the soil.
This Agrafab tow behind spreader may be Ok for a manicured yard to apply fertilizer and seed.
Spreaders
Our experience spreading wildflower and grass seeds with broadcast spreaders hasn’t been good so we’re still trying to decide how to approach spreading the seed for this project. We’ve attempted to use both a tow behind spreader and a hitch mounted spreader with our SxS in the past and both continually jammed up and the tow behind spreader eventually self destructed. We have some rugged ground, so a homeowner quality device probably isn’t going to cut it and the seed is too expensive to have it dumped in piles. We may just hand seed for this project since it’s a small area.
This Femco hitch mounted spreader jammed continuously.
We might give this Herd 3-point mounted spreader a try. It’s driven off of the tractor’s power take off (PTO) so it’s not going to jam. It’s overkill for this project but we still occasionally seed our 13- acre tree area and some food plots so it might be useful for those projects also.
Preparing the Site
We started preparing the plot in May of this year by first mowing the area and then applying a solution of Glyphosate for grass control and 2,4 D for broadleaf weed control. We used our Honda Pioneer SXS and a 45-gallon sprayer with boom to spray the area. The process involves spraying multiple times throughout the summer and into the fall to try to kill off as much of the existing grass and weeds as possible, so the pollinator plants won’t have as much competition when trying to get established in the spring.
To the left is a drone shot of the pollinator plot after a few applications of herbicide. We thought we had it licked after the second application only to have grass and weeds come back with a vengeance a few weeks later. We have since applied two more applications and appear to have the weeds and grass under control going into winter.
Mapping the site
We used Google maps to determine the boundaries of our planting area. We started by mapping out the 1.1 acres (we expanded to 1.5 acres to make sure we were at least 1.1 acres) on Google Maps and then dropped pins around the boundary of the plot. We then used the Google Maps app on my phone to locate the pins and mark the actual points with colored flags. The flags allowed us to keep the spray in the intended area and were removed once the vegetation started dying off. It was a little tricky to make sure we covered the area evenly when spraying the herbicide and we ended up using the path tracking function from a hunting app called onX as sort of a GPS guidance system to make sure we didn’t miss any big areas. We also tried using an agricultural dye in the herbicide solution, but it was still difficult to see where we’d sprayed. The dye turned everything blue except for the weeds and grass. We did end up missing a few small areas and had to go back and re-spray.
Monarch habitat plot
Establishing a Monarch Butterfly Habitat
Late in 2023 we applied for and were awarded a Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) contract through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). We applied through our county’s soil and water conservation office with the help of our district conservationist and in consultation with the state forester for our area. The program provides guidance and some funding to help establish Monarch conservation areas, in this case a 1.1-acre monarch butterfly habitat.
The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife believes the Monarch butterfly population is declining but there seems to be some debate about this. The decline is based on observations of butterfly populations in their over-wintering area in Mexico, which is getting smaller but apparently the observed populations in Canada and the northern US are Ok. It could be that they are having a migration issue or that they are going somewhere else for the winter (please check the links below if you’d like to know more).
Monarchs are considered a flagship pollinator species and if they are in distress, it is considered a bellwether for other pollinator species. I don’t know what’s going on exactly but I do think planting the pollinator plot with native plant species will provide habitat for the Monarch, specifically several species of milk weed that the monarch utilize for food and to also lay eggs when reproducing, and for other pollinator species and wildlife. It should also look spectacular when blooming in the spring and summer and reduce the amount of maintenance required to prevent non-native species from overtaking this plot of land. We have a lot of non-native brush honeysuckle in our area, and it will take over any land that is left fallow.
For more information on Monarch Butterflies:
https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/monarchs
https://monarchjointventure.org/
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/monarch-butterfly-migration-crisis
A picture of a smaller plot we planted a few years ago.
Wildlife Records
Deer and more
Loganshire is home to a diverse collection of flora and fauna. If you're a city-boy or a city-girl like us, seeing a deer, turkey or a bright wild flower creates excitement. We would like to share this excitement with you.
White Tailed Deer
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ring-necked Pheasant
The best known wildlife in Ohio is the white-tailed deer.
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ring-necked Pheasant
These pheasants are not native but been in Ohio since the 1890s.
Eastern Coyote
Ring-necked Pheasant
Eastern Coyote
Coyotes are non-natives but they've moved in around 1900s
Wild Turkey
Ring-necked Pheasant
Eastern Coyote
The population is declining but we still have this gal.