I recently purchased a tray of 84 plugs of Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata L.). They are very small plants but have good roots. Is it best to pot them up for the winter and plant out next spring or go ahead and plant them out now?
If advice is to pot up, what size pot would be best to use?
Mary
Milkweed plugs - plant out or pot up and hold til spring?
Since Incarnata is perennial I say plant it if you have time for it to settle in. It does well in your area I would think up until a hard freeze. You could always hold a few back maybe in winter sow jugs that you could bring in when the temps dropped below.
Well, if you could get them big enough before frost, maybe plant some. 84! Wow, if all those survive, I'll bet you get a lot of Monarchs next year!
I'm the lady who has been scrambling to find enough food for those who came to my garden this year. I do NOT want to go through that again. :-)
I've also got fresh packets of different varieties of milkweed in my fridge that I plan to winter sow. I hope I have enough germinate that I can give away lots of little plants next year as well as plant some in undeveloped spots of land around here. There is just not enough milkweed in my area to support Monarchs. I discovered this while driving the roadways this summer looking for milkweed. We all need to become Johnnie Milkseeds! :-)
Need to get a new area worked up if I'm to plant some of the plugs now. Maybe I can be in a position to help someone finding themselves in the predicament I did this summer. Woo hoo, can't wait for next spring.
Mary
How tall are the plugs and where did you purchase them from Mary? I feel we can all use more MW too.
Mary,
Where did you manage to buy your plugs?
Thanks,
Maggie
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
Oh, that's good information about your MW plug source! I always have the best of intentions to sow seeds and then they don't work or I forget or something and wish I could find some plugs to buy.
Here's the link to his nursery website fyi: http://www.ionxchange.com/
Keep us posted on your garden next spring. I'm sure it will be busy with butterflies.
This message was edited Sep 15, 2009 10:59 PM
Thanks Mary, glad you lucked out since you were really needing them this year so they will be ready for the next season. Looks like they had been clipped back once already, so they should be strong enough to set out. I have some of the plug trays and need to do that with a lot of my seeds this winter so I can get a jump on the season too.
Just want to let everyone know that dogwooderitternet on eBay has 10 of the following swamp milkweed for sale. I've bought quite a few plants from him this spring and summer, including 5 of these plants. The root ball is extremely well developed. The plant tops are a bit spindly, with just a few leaves, not at all like everything else I've ordered from him but this is not to be critical as he has always sent healthy plants. This might just be how these plants first develope, as they are perennial. If the top is green and the roots well developed, that is what is important to me. I've repotted them and will plant them out this fall. They are doing fine. He will combine posting costs, the first plant is $5 and other's ordered at the same time will be an additional .75 cents per plant. Based on other places I've ordered from, I feel his shipping and packing costs are quite reasonable. If you do order from him, just drop him an email via the mail system on eBay and tell him you'd like to combine shipping costs on the order and to send you an updated invoice before you pay.
Not suggesting you order from him, only wanted to let you know that he is offering 10 swamp milkweed right now and that I can tell you he is honest and quick with his shipping (packs plants very well, too).
He is also rated in the Vendors' forum.
Mary
http://cgi.ebay.com:80/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370261343706&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123
Thanks Mary
Maggie
mary, I bought 3 shipments of plants from dogwooderitternet this summer and I agree with everything you said. Nice hard to find little plants at very good prices.
I bought asclepias curassavica, paw paws, spicebushes, liatris ligulistylus and a few others from him and all are growing happily.
He (is his name 'Ron'? I forget...) seems to specialize in Butterfly and Hummingbird plants (and lots of others, too, of course) and he sells on e-bay and also at farmers markets in his region.
I have heard of several posters on DG and GW who buy from him and who are happy with his stock too. t.