THE FOLLOWING NOTICE ABOUT MILKWEEDS TREATED WITH NEONICOTINOIDS WAS SHARED BY TWO FRIENDS, MEGAN FROM PRIDES CROSSING AND CHERYL MCKEOUGH
FROM: Sandy Robinson, President, National Garden Clubs, Inc.
SUBJECT: Milkweed
It has been brought to my attention that some “Big Stores” have been selling milkweed plants that have been treated with systemic Neonicotinoids. This will kill caterpillars! Please, be aware and be on the lookout for these tags placed in plants. Please pass this information along to your garden club members!
Garden Club member Mary Writes, I purchased a Milkweed plant from Home Depot near my home and it wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the little information stick hidden behind the identification information that the plant had been treated with systemic Neonicotinoids. The container boasted how desirable the plant is for birds and butterflies. Yesterday I went to a different Home Depot and they had just put out an entire rolling cart of these plants, maybe about 100, all poisoned. I contacted the store manager and told him that it is the same as giving poison candy to kids on Halloween. This is THE host plant for the Monarch. My club, Shady Oaks and our junior club, Little Shadows have worked so hard to establish a Monarch Waystation and to educate people on the decline of the Monarch. I hate to think of the millions of poison Milkweed being distributed nationwide by Home Depot.
The container says distributed by Home Depot, 2455 Paces Ferry Rd N. W., Atlanta , Georgia.
I contacted the LSU Ag Agent for New Orleans, Dr Joe Willis. He said the Neonicotinoids will dilute as the plants grow but that only a very small amount will kill the larva of the Monarch. He is contacting the Master Gardeners of the area. I contacted the newsletters of garden clubs to ask that they send a notice to members. I contacted a local GOA club and the president said she would inform her members. I contacted our LGCF President and our Environmental School Chairman with the information.
We need a notice to Home Depot from a national source.
I contacted the Monarch Watch organization www.MonarchWatch.org/waystations at the University of Kansas (1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045) .
It needs to be sent soon as these plants are being sold now to well meaning people who are wanting to help the Monarch and not kill them. I hate to think of the billions of plants being sold nationwide and how that will cancel the efforts of so many to stop the demise of the Monarch. Could you please help?
GMG Readers, Wednesday I am planning to check to see if our local Home Depots are also selling milkweeds with pesticide. I don’t purchase plants from Home Depot as they are generally of a much poorer quality, however I have in a pinch.
Milkweed can be purchased from these local sources:
Cedar Rock Gardens
Wolf Hill
Northeast Nursery
Male and Female Monarch Butterfly on Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Good Morning Gloucester 
Very sensitive to chemicals we used a lot of natural stuff on are gardens out west to include sprays of garlic and onion there are also ways to plant gardens using other existing plants etc that offer natural defenses I believe Marigolds was one flower around others! Sorry recall may be off as this was long ago in the early 1970’s! Well done here! 🙂 Dave
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Yes, you are correct about marigolds Dave 🙂
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Thank you so much, Sandy. We all really appreciate the effort you have made here. I’m sharing all over Facebook, too. Trying so hard to get the word out.
Join us at Facebook ‘Pollinator Friendly Yards’ this is all we share information about.
Thank you, again!
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Thank you Leslie for your help. I’ll definitely find your Facebook page 🙂
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I was warned by a local beekeeper this week to look out for and NOT purchase plants that have been treated with neonicotinoids, as they will harm bees, butterflies etc.
These plants are being advertised as ‘protected’!
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Thank you Hazel for adding that about the bees, I meant to but got distracted 🙂
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