11/02/2026
So many new people joined our community recently! Welcome!
Many of you are just hearing that the milkweed sold at most nonnative nurseries is harmful to Monarchs that we felt the need to make a post on this topic. Pesticides, OE infection... i wish these were the only problems with Tropical Milkweed / Asclepias curassavica! But the plant has chemicals it produces that have nothing to do with what humans spray it with that North American Monarchs have not coevolved with, as it is found south (or it uses to be before humans introduced it to other areas, including northern Mexico) of the overwintering grounds.
In the first comment, we are linking the best and most thorough video we have ever seen on this topic, even though it is 7 years old and a lot more has been discovered about harmful effects of Tropical Milkweed since, like just sipping nectar from Tropical Milkweed pulls migratory monarchs out of diapause (reproductive pause to conserve energy for successful migration and to live longer)! Or how simulated droughts caused 80% larval mortality in controlled testing! And it escapes your yard as a category 2 invasive with wind distributed seeds, where droughts exist routinely.
