Hi all.Im an official DG'er now. And my question is if anyone has ever encountered Milkweed bulbs?ropical milkweed is what these ones are i have found growing under various things in my yard.I dig them up and move them to the butterfly area.i have not been able to find any info on bulbs only seeds.As far as it seems,they do not grow as a bulb.im here to say "yup" they sure do and its concerning me as to how to transplant them.They seem to like being lightly covered with mulch and any fibrous material.They started showing up unde a landscaping cloth on the ground..I have quite a few popping up with I am very happy about,one bloomed beautifully just recently and i had about 10 baby caterpillars on it.the next day the plant was stripped. hungry little guys.It is now reblooming again.id like to give it what it really wants so they will last,Again..a bulb is so different than a seed.im a newbie with bulbs. Thanks
Milkweed bulbs growing wild in my yard!!
There is a lot of types of milkweed, do you have a picture of the plant and bloom; also the caterpillar would really help ID what plant you have.
Hi Sheila Well they are tropical milkweed so far but some of the newer bulbs have a different flower.I had assumed they would all be the same but they are not.Very strange.It was baby monarch caterpillars on the tropical milkweed plants but they were gone when i got back,as well as all the leaves and blooms of the milkweed. They were very,very tiny.
So it is common to have bulbs of milkweed then??When i found them i didnt know what they were, (I had to keep guard on them so my garden helper didnt rip them out) but left them to do their thing and eventually was able to id them..but..never have I come across any form of milkweed that is in a bulb. im not sure how to replant them.I have been planting them as close to as how i found them but many would have eventually died because they were growing underneath the weed barrier.The bulbs seem to like developing in the dark around mulch,leaves,etc.
Should i bury the entire bulb?Let he top come through?Or set them ontop of the soil and cover with loose mulch,leaves,grass etc?(they seem to like that) i have one in a pot who is making more baby bulbs. For the life of me I have not found bulbs and milkweed in the same sentance.
There's Asclepias tuberosa, although dang if I can find a photo of the tuber. (Maybe yours isn't that one, but just that there are milkweeds with tubers.)
I think what I'm seeing in the photo is circles of rootlets from the "bulb"? The brown ones toward the bottom are growing and into the ground, but there are also white ones higher up, that must have died?
So I havent discovered a new species of milkweed!! ha ha shoot!! Thanks for the name direction.ive asked a few gardeners and they have all said milkweed does not grow from bulbs..
Yes the brown roots seem to be growing into the soil.I took all the loose material off him to photograph him.It is pretty buried under.I just dug up a big piece of ground and put him in the pot.Didnt mess with him at all. And Im not sure if the white ones are dead or if beginning to grow.I need to investigate the others growing to see if that is past growth,dead growth or what. This guy has grown some little babies as well.In the photo below you see them.they are no bigger than your thumb fingernail.I am hoping they will grow big and strong so i may seperate them.Again,not sure how to treat them. i wil look into the mikweed you mentioned.
It is very odd they just started growing out of nowhere to start with, but the fact that they seem to be different varieties is very strange.The first was tropical,the next ones getting ready to bloom are definately not tropical.The only thing i can think of is that somehow they came in with the mulch ive started getting from the city.I have been trying to grow milkweed seeds but that is not working for me.I am very happy theyve taken up residence in my yard,I am building a butterfly/hummingbird garden.
This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 5:38 PM
That does look strange to be a milkweed. Keep an eye out and wwhen it puts on foilage again post another picture.
Would you post your story and images on the plant ID forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/plantid/all/
I THINK I know what you have there, but I would like to hear what others think.
Hi again and thanks for the responses. I sure will post this under plant id as I have a few other plants I really am having trouble identifying. I swear when they turned out to be tropical milkweed(the first bulb) i was very confused and terribly excited.It bloomed for a total of 5 days,gorgeous and the monarchs came running. I had finally gotten something for them to eat. The baby caterpillars stripped the plant in less than a day but I am hopefull new flowers will bloom soon as many leaves have fully regrown.(all this in about 2 months) Then I can get some photos of the tropical milkweed flowers and post for you. Below is the plant now as the leaves have grown back much bigger and flowers starting to bloom.Some other bulbs are shooting out a different milkweed..flower is different.a pinkish/white..
i have discovered a mealybug disaster the day I started this post.i have a groundcover/lowgrowing senna growing with these.They help cover the "bulbs" and they were INFESTED with mealybugs,Unlike anything I have ever seen.I am so upset.Ive spent several hours every day trying to remove the huge clusterd of mealybugs on each leave joint with insecticidal soap,a little alcohol and a paintbrush. I am very worried this will hurt my butterflys and caterpillars. I suppose this should be in a different post as well. Anyone have other suggestions on killing my mealy monsters,and NOT harming the butterflys and cats? I think I may have burnt my senna badly.another heartbreak...Went out to take newer photos and its all crispy and brown.
I checked out photos of Asclepias tuberosa. Butterfly milkweed.THATS IT. Thank Sheila.That is what the flowers are.This is tropical milkweed no? or butterfly milkweed. Exactly like my store bought plants. the strange part is that again, I only find seed info not bulbs or tubers. Even though the name implies tubers..it is concidered endangered and a special concern in some areas so maybe that is the tuber ones, not the seed. my seeds i CANNOT get to sprout.They refuse.I have a small bag that I really want to plant amongst my other butterfly plants but they refuse, so these tubers i really need to treat properly.Hopefully once I post in the ID section someone will know how to treat these strange specimens!! ha ha
A link photo of the flowers growing from this tuber:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASTU&photoID=astu_016_ahp.tif
Well, if this is the native butterfly weed that has a tuber, I wonder what I have - mine has no tuber - just a thick root system.
I am with you Kay, mine look nothing like those bulbs...the plant pic seems like the normal milkweed.
OK, my guess is going to be that in Miami, the plant grows year round. So it never has to use up its tuber to restart in the spring, like in places further north.