Support monarch butterflies with milkweed
Want to aid stop the decline of milkweed butterfly butterfly population and bring more of these fluttering lulu back into your garden ? Plant milkweed — it ’s the solitary food source for monarch caterpillars and is attractive to many pollinators for its nectar - rich flowers .
Where to buy native milkweed seeds & plants
TheXerces Societycan help you retrieve a seed source in your sphere . bring down their Milkweed Seed Finder herefor more information .
Growing milkweed
you’re able to plant milkweed starter plants or plugs purchase at specialization nurseries like the reference lean above . Any mintage in the milkweed family will do , but the well-heeled to grow is the common milkweed , Asclepias syriaca . Plant them in full sunlight in groups of three to six space 6 to 24 in apart scattered around your garden . Smaller groupings are less prone than mass planting to insect or parasite plague or piranha . Also keep in mind that milkweed plant life have some perniciousness — so keep them out of places where livestock may pasture and do n’t have pets or children masticate on them .
It ’s also easy to collect milkweed semen ( be sure to ask holding owner first ) and start it yourself . Scroll down to the heading for our tips on how to collect the come from the pod .
Planting milkweed seeds
Milkweed germ need to be stratified to help them burgeon forth . Stratification is when a seed is wash , cool or quick-frozen and thawed , breaking down germination inhibitors on the source coat , such as wax , hormone , rock oil or heavy coat . Milkweed seed planted in fall is naturally stratified . Spring - institute seeds involve to bepre - chilled in the refrigerator , which replicates the raw cognitive process of snow and cold break down the semen casing .
Planting milkweed seeds in fall
Plant germ in fall in a gay positioning . just dot seeds on well - till grease and pat them down , add a topdressing of soil , and water them in . Fall - sown seed will be naturally stratify out of doors .
Planting milkweed seeds in spring
you may plant milkweed germ in early spring as shortly as the soil can be worked , but they will necessitate to bestratified for 2 to 3 months in the refrigeratorbefore planting in spring for in effect sprouting .
When emerging milkweeds have three to four stage set of leaves , sparse seedlings to 6 inch apart .
Starting seeds indoors in winter
you could also start stratifiedseeds indoorsin late winter . Sow 2 to 3 seeds in a pot filled withseed - start commixture , deal with ¼ in of mix , water softly and set under lights . Germination demand 7 to 10 24-hour interval . Plant seedling outside in a sunny touch when they have 3 to 4 sets of leaves and the undercoat is warm .
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How to harvest milkweed seeds
See our bakshis below on how to well harvest milkweed seeds from the pod .
footprint 1 : Harvest seed pod from milkweed plant
break up pods as they change by reversal brown , dry and mature . The brown dried pod in the upper left field is just get down to rive subject — perfect to reap the seed .
Once the floss fluffs out like the one in the lower left , it is harder to remove from the seed . Leave this cod alone to scatter ejaculate in the wind .
Step 3 : Carefully off the milkweed seed cluster
The seeded player bunch can then be remove carefully from the Sonchus oleraceus seedpod . When fully ripe and dried , the come will be easily separated from the floss .
footstep 2 : opened milkweed seeded player cod
When you are ready to harvest seeds , pry launch the dried pods at the split seam before the downy dental floss break away .
Step 4 : Separate seeds from milkweed floss
Grip the floss end of the cluster with one hand and softly remove the semen from the dental floss with the other hand , brushing them off into a bowl .
permit them dry for a week or so in a coolheaded , juiceless location . stash away them in an envelope at 40 arcdegree F or in the icebox to stratify until you are quick to engraft in give .
