Milkweed question
- Thread starter farmingfisherman
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farmingfisherman
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Thanks!
farmerfischer
Well-Known Member
They like disturbed sandy ground.. and will take a couple years to bloom.. theyll also send out rhizomes as they grow.. they wont do so well in wood chips.. notice how they like to grow around the edge of graded dirt roads (disturb ground) or in sandy soil in fields..
farmingfisherman
Well-Known Member
Sounds like I'm going to have to prep some ground.
farmerfischer
Well-Known Member
I had to.. but luckly where i live alot of the ground is sand.. after a few years youll have them popping up in random spots that the seed likes along with more in the patch you start from rhizome sprouts..
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I would start them in small pots then transplant them rather than direct sow. After that they'll naturalize.
I grow milkweed myself and ended up with quite a few seed pods this year.
Some will bloom the first year. It depends on the variety. Some do take a couple years before they bloom. These are the ones I grew and they bloom the first year.
I grow milkweed myself and ended up with quite a few seed pods this year.
Some will bloom the first year. It depends on the variety. Some do take a couple years before they bloom. These are the ones I grew and they bloom the first year.
farmerfischer
Well-Known Member
Im talking about the commen veriaty native here.. but yeah some milk weed like wet feet.. theres a veriaty that grows on the river banks here the have real thin leaves and narrow skinny pods..
The commen kind here that like sand have fat wide leaves with thick wide pods
xtsho
Well-Known Member
shnkrmn
Well-Known Member
That's called butterfly weed here in Minnesota. Milkweed has much larger seed pods, broader leaves and grows as a single stem plant not a bush. Apparently true milkweed doesn't grow in the Northwest. We've had frost but the seedpod is diagnostic.
farmerfischer
Well-Known Member
Commen
Riverbank milk weed..
Riverbank milk weed..
farmerfischer
Well-Known Member
We call them commen milkweed here in michigan..or butterfly milk weed... theres like 3 variaties here..
xtsho
Well-Known Member
It's from the same Asclepias genus. That's all I know. I'm definitely no expert on the species.
StonedGardener
Well-Known Member
Those silky white ,flossy inards that emerge from the pod with seed and float around all day saved many a soldier , sailor , downed pilot in WW II .......the floss material is naturally water-repellant and buoyant . I'm pretty sure that is also a good insulator........by the way , they are not a weed ( not that you said they were ). Speaking of milkweed ,
when younger I was determined to find the source of a naturally occurring opium that I had read articles about.
Long story short...from old articles read, I zeroed-in on the white , creamy milk from milkweed pod..........went to a nearby pond and filled my mother's 1970 Pontiac's trunk(ya could of put 12 dead large bodies in there). I collected shit-tons
" milk " on a sheet of glass....dried it.......put it In a pipe and took a haul.......
f'ing nothing , not a bad taste. Come to find out , listening to a Native American
medicine woman , it's what the people did back then for chewing gum.........
I had such high-hopes....the things I had in mind !
farmingfisherman
Well-Known Member
I could see the fluff being a good for insulation. Wonder what makes it more water repellent? Problem with down is once its wet its done, even then unless you can dry and fluff it its useless. Hemp and milkweed could be a great combo for a coat. Plants rule!
StonedGardener
Well-Known Member
Just noticed I fucked up a sentence...reads like jibber-jabber...oops
farmingfisherman
Well-Known Member
If we are being graded on Grammer I'm screwed with most of what I try to write here.
thumper60
Well-Known Member
Be careful they become very invasive in a open garden once the roots take hold. Keep it its own box.
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
Seeding can be a challenge. Cold stratification is a must and often it takes a year or two to germinate in my experience. I haven't tried to germinate in controlled conditions but have alternately planted and spread seeds across the past few years of a few varieties with mediocre results. I'll keep doing it for the next few years until we have something more substantial.
Phytoplankton
Well-Known Member
Milkweed is the only thing that Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat, and is essential for them to complete their life cycle. The sap of the milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars, and eventually the butterflies, concentrate the poison in their tissues making them unattractive to predators. Monarch butterflies migrate long distances, they winter in Mexico and go as far north as Canada, however it takes two generations to make the trip. Kudos for planting it!