Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Milkweed plugs - plant out or pot up and hold til spring?, 1 by maryleek

maryleek wrote:
I bought them from a grower on eBay. Apparently he must grow out plants for seed collection because he said he had planted a quarter acre in this milkweed variety. I don't know if this just happened to be a tray of left over plugs or how he came to have this tray available. One tray at this size was all he was offering. Anyway, it was $36.50 with free shipping and came from Harpers Ferry, Iowa. Very nice gentleman. The tray was expertly packed and arrived quickly.

I've attached a photo of the tray. I'd guess they're about 6 inches high. I pulled a few of the best plugs and potted up for a kind lady who has been giving me milkweed from her garden to get my little cats through. The little plants have extremely healthy root development. His seller name on eBay is ... ionxchange. Shoot, I just did a search on eBay and he's not got anything offered. I think I might have lucked out on this item.

I'll try to replant this plug tray when my milkweed seed are ready to transplant so I can grow some plugs to give away. I'll give a yell next spring when they're ready. The plugs are small, so surely I can figure out a way to send a group inexpensively and still get them there in pretty good shape. From my limited experience in receiving plants by mail, it seems if they've been well packed and shipped in reasonable temps, they bounce right back with a weak fert drink and a couple of days in the shade.

Mary