Hi, I found the article…pasting this Q.&A.
And no, I've not cut mine…yet..
Q.I am still seeing monarch butterflies every once in a while in my butterfly garden. How long can we expect to see them?
A.It’s not unusual to see monarchs in the area right up until Christmas. However, those of us who try to coax monarchs to live in our yards are faced with a new challenge.
For several years, we have been seeing monarchs from late summer that failed to emerge from pupation. The chrysalid develops many dark spots, all of them spores of the protozoan O. elektroscirrha. It is one of many normal, natural predators of caterpillars. We also have to deal with tachinid wasps and other predatory insects.
Jaret Daniels, eminent butterfly researcher for the University of Florida, says that by harboring the butterflies late in the season, we are actually assisting in the spread of these and other caterpillar predators. As the season goes on, the predator populations grow and, if we “feed” them caterpillars, we are helping their populations to increase.
Daniels recommends cutting back milkweed plants to the ground at this time of the year to encourage the butterflies to complete their seasonal migration. From this area, monarchs go south to South Florida, or to the mountains of Mexico. If they go to Mexico, they will enter a semi-hibernation, slowing their body mechanisms down in the chilly mountain temperatures at a 10,000-foot elevation and hanging onto trees waiting for spring. If they go to South Florida, they will continue to breed, lay eggs and die as they do all summer long here.
While his recommendation was tough for me to swallow, it is better that the caterpillar die than emerge as a crippled butterfly. If cutting off the food source reduces the incidence of that happening, it’s the right thing to do.
