MY BUTTERFLY NEWS

THE DIVING MONARCH

7/12/2020

Yesterday we went to a nearby beach. We're coming into Summer in New Zealand and it was a beautiful sunny day. Right in the middle of the beach is a stream outlet flowing into the sea.
I was taking photos of the beach, while sitting in the grass beside the stream outlet.

As I sat there I saw a Monarch Butterfly flying about and around the trees and plants adjacent to the beach. At one point, as it flew over the top of the stream, it swiftly dropped straight down onto the water and then straight back up again and carried on flying about.

I have never seen a butterfly do that before. Its action was very deliberate, so I have no doubt that it knew exactly what it was doing.

These are pictures of flying Monarchs, for your enjoyment, and not actually the one I saw at the beach.

Comments

SELF-WATERING SYSTEM FOR SEEDLINGS

2/12/2020

Comments

Here's a cheap and cheerful method of creating a self-watering system for your milkweed, or other plants, seedlings.

The beauty of this system is that -

You can make these from plastic bottles you have at home
They are cheap, quick and easy to make
Your seeds will readily grow and not dry out

You will need -

Empty plastic bottles, with a screw-on lid, that have previously held a non-toxic liquid.
Soft drink or water bottles are best. The bottle needs to have flat sides and a flat firm base to ensure it will not tip over. 1.5L size, or larger is preferred.
Thin strips of 100% cotton woven or knitted fabric, or 100% cotton string of moderate thickness, for the wick.
Sharp blade knife or scissors (this is for cutting the bottle).
A Drill, or similar, for making a hole in the lid to pass the wick through.

Method -

Cut your bottle right around its circumference, approximately 1/3 down from the top. You will need to gauge the best proportion for this, according to the shape of your bottle. Allow enough room in the top section for soil and roots to develop, and enough room in the bottom section for your water reservoir. The lid of the top section, when inverted and balanced onto the lower section, should not sit lower than half way into the bottom section.
Drill/cut a hole in the top centre of the screw-on lid. The hole needs to be large enough to pass your wick through, yet not so big that soil will drop through into the water below.
Cut the wick to be approximately twice the length of the uncut bottle.
Thread the wick through the hole in the lid and tie a knot on the inside of the lid, to stop it falling through into the water. If your string is thin, you might need to use 3 or 4 lengths to ensure there is enough wicking ability for the water. There should be a good amount of wick floating in the water - the idea is to keep the soil a little damp.
I also leave a short length of wick stretching up into the soil area, to ensure the water gets right up into the soil.
Fill the top section with soil mixed with a small amount of a slow-release plant fertilizing agent.
Plant your seeds in the usual manner and place the inverted top section into the top of the bottom section.
At that point I water the soil section from the top, just to get things started, then keep an eye on it over the next few days to make sure the wicking has begun to work.
Depending on the shape of the bottle you have used, you may need to make half a dozen vertical snips down into the lower reservoir section of the bottle, to allow the top section to balance firmly. You will need to use your own judgement on this one because it quite relies on the shape of the bottle you have used.
When your seedlings have grown to a good height for planting out, then you can plant them in your desired location. You'll need to water and feed them well, until you feel they are fully established in their final home.

Here I have used 1.5L empty plastic bottles that previously held water. Notice the nice flat sides and a good flat base. I used thin strips of 100% cotton knit fabric for the wicks.

This is a 4L bottle that had previously held water. Notice the square flat base and the straight sides. These bottles are very stable. I tried cotton string as the wick (many strands) but that didn't work so well so I went back to the knit fabric strips. The one I buy is called "Soft Cloth Garden Tie" and comes in a 5m roll. It's normally used as a plant tie. Works well.

These were my first self-watering seedling bottles using 1.5L empty Coke Bottles. Unfortunately, because the base of each bottle was ripple shaped, it meant the bottles were not as stable as they could have been and sometimes they fell over at the slightest movement. In the end I placed them all into a plastic crate as support and that worked reasonably well. I used these bottles several times over, before moving to bottles with a flatter base.

Comments

A MONARCH LADY CAME TO VISIT

THE DIVING MONARCH

I LOVE WHITE BUTTERFLIES

SELF-WATERING SYSTEM FOR SEEDLINGS

AUTHOR

VIDEO

SITE VISITORS

FRIENDS

NEWS ARCHIVES

Member of......