Nebraskaland

APRIL 2015 • NEBRASKAland 33 any of the 27 species of milkweed plants native to North America. Females lay hundreds of eggs in their 2- to 5-week reproductive lives, but they only lay one egg per plant to ensure that larvae, which emerge in three to eight days, will have enough food to satisfy their voracious appetite. The larvae are adapted to the sticky, toxic latex sap the milkweed plant contains, even absorbing the toxins to make them taste bad, a defense against would-be- predators, as they go through five instar, or growth, stages. They emerge as a 2- to 5-millimeter-long, green caterpillar and molt between each stage, adding their characteristic black, yellow and white bands by the second stage. They eat constantly and by the time they pupate, they grow to 25 to 45 millimeters in length and increase their weight 2,000 times, all in a period of just nine to 14 days. When they are ready to pupate, they spin a silk mat on a plant, hang up-side-down, shed their skin a final time and form a bright green, gold-trimmed chrysalis. Ten to 14 days later, the adult butterfly emerges, its black and orange wings becoming visible through the chrysalis just before this happens. Within a few hours, their wings are dry and they can fly. Within a few days, they will mate and start laying eggs. Two to five weeks later, they die. The likelihood of adults finding milkweed on which to lay eggs, however, is not as good as it once was. A common plant in native prairies, milkweed was also common in and around crop fields in the Corn Belt. That began to change in the mid-1990s with the introduction of genetically modified crops that were resistant to Roundup and other systemic herbicides known as glyphosates. Farmers once used tillage to control plants that would compete with crops for sunlight, water and soil nutrients, but the process was inefficient and always missed some "weeds." The development of herbicides allowed them to control grass or broadleaf plants without tillage, but not both. Now farmers can efficiently use glyphosate to kill everything but the genetically-modified corn, soybeans or other crops they plant. Roundup Ready soybeans were introduced in 1996, and corn in 1998, and today, approximately 94 percent of soybean fields and 89 percent of corn fields are planted to glyphosate- resistant varieties. Other areas where milkweed grows have been disappearing at an alarming rate. High crop prices in recent years, which some say are due in part to the Federal mandate for ethanol, encouraged producers to farm more acres. Between 2008 and 2011, 23.6 million acres of grassland were converted to cropland. In Nebraska from 2007 to 2012, 2.8 million acres of grassland were plowed to farm, including a nation- leading 55,000 acres in 2012 alone. While crop prices have fallen, the loss of prairie may not be over. Much of the grassland that was converted Several Nebraska businesses provide native, local ecotype seed, plants or consulting services to assist you in developing monarch or pollinator habitat. • Asclepias Seed Company, Ogallala - Seed and products made from milkweed. BuyMilkweed.com. • Bluebird Nursery, Clarkson - Wholesale and retail sale of native plants, including several milkweeds. BluebirdNursery.com. • Monarch Gardens, Lincoln - Consulting for home and business gardening with native plants. MonarchGard.com. • Nature Hills Nursery, Omaha - Milkweed and other native plants. NatureHills.com. • Prairie Legacy Inc., Western - Consulting and native seed for prairie restoration. PrairieLegacyInc.com. • Shoestring Acres Seed, Lincoln - Native grass and wildflower seed. ShoestringSeed.com. • Stock Seed Farms, Murdock - Native grass and wildflower seed. StockSeed.com. rhizomes and persist in the landscape. Drive past acreages sprouting around every city in Nebraska and you will find that many people want to take the city to their country home, turning their entire lot into a fescue or bluegrass lawn. A good example can be found on one side of Cunningham Lake on the north edge of Omaha, where a few eight acre acreages are mowed from one property line to the next. On the other side of the lake, Jan Glenn's yard only stretches 50 feet from her home. From there, she watches foxes, deer, turkeys pheasants and other wildlife that live in the tall native grasses and wildflowers covering the rest of her acreage that was part of her family's farm. "It's my entertainment," she said, noting that she still spends more time than she would like mowing the little turf she has. "It's a symphony and moving pictures at the same time. It's just gorgeous. It's my peace." Acreage owners, businesses or even cities can benefit on several fronts from converting grass to pollinator habitat. At the State Farm Lincoln Operations Center, the company saves $16,000 a year in maintenance after converting 8¼ acres of turf to short-grass prairie. "Now we have zero maintenance other than mowing every couple of years," Warren Gran, administrative services supervisor. "It's worked out really well." Creating and maintaining pollinator habitat does take some work. But the long-term savings and the benefits to pollinators and wildlife are worthwhile, and those who enjoy watching them, certainly make the work worthwhile. ■

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