u/ohnunu_

SW Michigan

ive been seeing so many new native species this year! my milkweed patch is definitely the party zone right now lol. earlier in the spring i released four eastern yellowjacket queens who decided to overwinter in my basement, and i occasionally saw them outside now and then for a few weeks afterwards. now i mostly just see who i presume are their workers! havent found their nest yet which i will take as a sign they found someplace nice and hidden (safe from the larnmower lol)

plz feel free to correct me on ang of my IDs! i find the furrow/miner bees and many of the smaller species to be pretty difficult to identify so i definitely could be wrong on a couple of these lol

SW Michigan

my IDs:
Golden tortoise beetle
Three-lined potato beetles
Clavate tortoise beetle
Red milkweed beetle
Leafhopper nymph (Unsure of species)
Great golden digger wasp
Brown-belted bumblebee
Texas leafcutter bee
Slender-faced masked bees
Sweet potato leaf beetle
Polished lady beetle
Banded longhorn beetle
Two-spotted longhorn bee
Dun skipper
Great spangled fritillary
Banded tussock moth
Valiant long-horned bee
Phyllophaga futilis
Phyllophaga crenulata
Eastern yellowjacket (queen!!!)

please correct me if im wrong on any of these!!
And AFAIK most of these are actually native to my area which I am SO EXCITED FOR!!! This is definitely my best year yet in terms of the ratio of native to non-native bug species im finding :DDD

SW Michigan

didnt look like she was here to lay eggs, just passing through to refuel :) another one came through yeaterday evening but i havent seen any eggs from that one either. maybe theres too many bees rn haha. the area definitely smells QUITE strongly of milkweed blossoms and ive counted at least 10 different species of bees and wasps coming to the party!

SW michigan

so i'm still working on manually digging up alllll the goutweed roots on this slope, but ive encountered a bit of a problem when it comes to this patch of mature common milkweed.

my biggest issue is i have a hard time telling the difference between milkweed roots and goutweed roots. milkweed roots are overall larger i think but the rhizomes can sometimes look pretty identical to the bigger goutweed roots at first glance. theyre also unbelievablyyyy brittle. ive already managed to accidentally dig up a few huge milkweed stalks that were only connected to one little rhizome running an inch under the soil 😭

are there any quick tells so i can spot the difference in the roots easier? or is this just a case of hoping the milkweed will recover fine (ik it probably will but id rather not have this whole patch die this summer lol)

got this guy (white butterfly i think) as a cutting in water from a local plant store. been keeping it in water as its lower maintenance and easier to keep pests away than in soil.

ive been pretty much treating it like a philodendron. a few drops of liquid fertilizer and a water change weekly.

its grown a LOT of roots and is growing SO FAST but its getting really leggy. is this just from lack of stability? lack of light? its in a south facing window.

looks to be 3rd instar i think. i know they get reallll hungry from this point on so im worried its going to eat all thats left here and then be stranded without more. the rest of the milkweed (a fairly large patch) is about 5-6 feet away from this spot.

and yes its very barren right now because im trying to clear this entire slope from a horrible goutweed/ground elder invasion that has eaten everything BUT the milkweed so competition is pretty high for the cats and their predators at the moment. once i dig out all the goutweed roots and rhizomes im going to replant the slope with more milkweed and assorted native wildflowers!

SW Michigan

appears to be a nymph of some kind. never seen it before. usually i see spiders and earwigs as the main bothers of the cats but this one is new :(

this morning i found 2 dead cats and 4 still alive. yesterday i only found 4 total so numbers are still going up lol

SW Michigan

The lady monarchs have blessed my milkweed patch with SO MANY EGGS this past week, and these are the first hatchlings of the year!! they are so so teeny weeny 🥺

it is supposed to rain pretty hard this afternoon though so hopefully theyll be ok lol

SW Michigan

was digging up goutweed roots this afternoon and i ended up unearthing this guy by mistake! i put him back in the dirt in a safer spot so he can finish growing, but im curious what species of cicada this is! i find their exoskeletons in the dirt all over my yard but ive never seen a live one until now!

foraged some native wood nettle and slender stinging nettle today and made some cake with it! too lazy for frosting lol. the cake is yummy enough on its own!

i also tried raw nettle leaves for the first time by folding the stinging bits inwards. tasted like a super fresh salad with a hint of mint and cilantro!

SW Michigan

so this is the FOURTH V. maculifrons queen that has appeared in my house. i think theyre coming through the basement crawlspace vents. ive been catching and releasing them outside as i find them.

this is the first time this has happened here, so my question is what the overwintering situation usually looks like? do new queens stay in the nest they were born in until the spring, or do they all go off to find a safe spot to sleep together? how many at a time? like should i expect to keep finding more of them lol

SW Michigan

iNat says wood nettles/Laportea canadensis (pic 1) and slender stinging nettles/Urtica gracilis (pic 2) and i just want to double check!

i'm also wondering: is there a taste difference between different nettle varieties? has anyone had experience with these two that i have in my backyard? ty!

V. maculifrons queen no. 3 that ive had to catch and release outside! it was a little wet and chilly out (57) so she did NOT wanna go anywhere lol

i love how sweet they are this time of year! theres no nest to defend yet and theyre still a little sleepy so theyre 100% just curious little teddy bears <3

SW Michigan

found this giant while doing a short amateur plant survey of the ravine behind my house! i dont think ive ever seen them get above ankle/shin height but this thing was above my knees!!

so this slope in my backyard USED to be a monarch butterfly habitat filled with milkweed. now its covered in goutweed.

ive been trying ways to tackle it for a couple years now but this is the summer that im attacking full force.

my current game plan is to 1) yank out everything aboveground over the entire slope, then 2) take a shovel and cut the dirt into sections as deep as i can go, then 3) go section by section with a hand rake and dig out as much of the roots + rhizomes as possible. 4) monitor and spot treat as needed

so far, ive taken 2 afternoons to get almost halfway through step 1. it just rained so thankfully a lot of the roots are coming up with the stems but theres still a lot i'll have to dig up. im trying to take advantage of the window where it's flowering but hasnt gone to seed yet since flowering takes up a lot of energy.

i'm also finding some interesting things buried under all the weeds... i found a bunch of rusty old rebar?? and some concrete blobs???

SW Michigan

either multiple queens decided to overwinter inside my house (unlikely) or this lady is absolutely obsessed with breaking in because this is the second day in a row now where i have had to catch her and release her back outside! and i still have no idea how she keeps getting in. i try to keep an eye out whenever i come in and out of the house but i have yet to catch her in the act.

anyway id love to know what species she is! iNat says V. maculifrons which would be awesome since i usually only see German yellowjackets around here

SW Michigan

spotted a few clumps of these guys on the side of my house while setting up the garden hose today. some kind of orbweaver is my guess?