I have a newbie question: I finally got a few milweed pods on my butterfly milkweed plant. How long do I leave it on the plant before I harvest it for seeds? Can I wintersow the seeds?
Thanks!
Butterfly Milkweed
Jeanie;
If you want to harvest the seeds, wait until they turn brown, and just before they pop open and release their feathery seed. In the South they self seed prolifically. But up North, collect your seedpod and store them before sowing in early Spring.
Thanks! I will be patient. What if we have a hard frost before the seed pod ripens?
Leave on on the plant for as long as possible. If a light frost is forecast, cover with a blanket. If a hard frost, or freeze is forecast, cut it and place it in a container of water....this is a last resort, as you won't get as many live seeds by doing this. It will be mature when it turns from green to a yellowish color and looks like it is shriveled a bit. Most of your seeds will be viable when this happens...you just need to cut it and let it dry naturally inside.
hope this helps.
Thanks very much!
we are in the same zone, (though i'm a bit farther south) and mine have been popping like crazy this past week.
some times i'll get to it once it's open and the 'fluff' is flying, other times - it's open but the fluff and seeds are still in side... don't forget to take the paper bag with you.... showed my neighbor how to do that... now she's collecting seeds too.
I saw on another post (different plant altogether) where someone put empty tea bags around each pod to save the seeds in case the pods opened when she wasn't around!
OH... good idea. I actually have empty tea bags.
i peeked out my window today and saw white fluff all over the side of my house.... about 4 pods opened today.
I was able to get 2 of them.
I just hope i dont have lil milkweeds popping up all over my yard next season.
That's very helpful, handy thing to do. Using the empty teabags. :-)
If you do, just transplant them in pots, group them together for the enjoyment of your butterflies.
You can also use the feet part of old pantyhose or those little socklets to put on there. That's more crucial when it's a plant you don't see frequently.
>>If you do, just transplant them in pots
i'll try to before DH mows them down.... but at least i'll know what to look for.
Grrr.... bunnies got to them before they matured. No more milkweed pods :(
The whole plant is now just an 8" stick in the ground!
Jeannie, Not to worry..... lots of us have seeds you can have for SASE..
My address is listed in "extras".
debnes
Jeannie,
wow, your bunnies ate the pods?? I had TONS of pods and multiply that buy 500 for the amount of seeds i have.
i started cutting the pods off before they opened and tossing them in the open field.
(i was tired of seeing the seeds blowing into DH's nicely manicured lawn.)
but i still have a good 50-70 or so pods left to open.
Terese
**who is also willing to send seeds
I assume it was the bunnies because that's about all I see around here. We do have a few squirrels, and I saw an opossum once. Have never seen any signs of deer. I have been using Liquid Fence, which works really well as long as you remember to respray every couple of weeks! I will have to be more diligent next year with the spray.
I think I may take some of you up on your offers for seeds. What I had was a butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). One plant was growing in the garden when I moved in last year, and I was hoping for more :)
>>Asclepias tuberosa
that is Buttterfly WEED not Asclepias curassavica http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/604/ (Scarlet Milkweed)
here is the Asclepias Tuberosa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73/
**geeze wouldnt ya know my internet just died.... hope this goes thru **
This message was edited Nov 1, 2007 2:04 PM
My very first Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) pod burst yesterday. Yahoo!
Carla
Thanks for the info tcs1366. This is the only picture I have of the plant in bloom:
Jeannie -- your's does look like the Butterfly Weed, not milkweed. Sorry to hear the bunnies munched yours.
i have the scarlet milkweed.
[though i have seeds for the butterfly weed, which i'm very excited about growing]
The A. tuberose is a perennial....... the Tropical MW (A. curassavica) is an annual.
When sown in early Spring the latter comes up very quickly. The former is a bit slower growing.
There are several Asclepias that are perennials here other than the tuberosa.. They go by the name of Asclepias incarnata. I do not know how they fare in WI. I suppose if they get deep roots, they will come back in Spring with good mulching.
A.tuberosa comes in many different colors. Michigan Bulb has them for a really good price. They would likely ship in April or May if ordered now. If it warms up early where you are call them and say you need them shipped out
earlier. I am going to order some for next year. Tubers are so hardy!
http://michiganbulb.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_70126_A_Butterfly+Flower%2C+Mix_E_
Call and ask for a catalog, it might have a coupon in it. Last year I ordered over 150.00 of plants.. It was less than 50.00 with the coupon and with the buy one get one free thing. Plus it is a one price shipping no matter how large the order is.. (About 7-8 dollars.)
debnes
Jeannie63.... If you catch the seed pod just as it starts to lose it's green and gets light tan cast to it, Press lightly on the seam and it will pop open just slightly. If you see brown seeds, then grab the pointed tip and hold it tightly. Peel back the pod so the seeds are free. As long as you hold tightly to the tip, they won't fly away, and you can run your fingernails along the white center and the seeds will fall free.
I had a bunch of seeds on a plant last year and it came a freeze. The leaves were goners but I peeped at the seeds and they were still ok, just not ripe. We were going to have a couple more below freezing temps, so I felt I didn't have anything to loose by bringing them in. I just put them in a brown paper bag. I checked them a few weeks later and the bag was full of fluff and viable seeds! I wish I had taped the seed pods to keep them from coming open in the bag, and will next time.
taping........ great idea Sheila!
debnes