This is not a "how to" blog post.
This is a "what I'm doing" blog post.
After consulting various websites about how to grow milkweed from seed, I have settled on the following attempts.
I opened the pod watching in awe as the milkweed silk nearly bust out in a big pouf. My wonderful husband helped me by taking these photos as my hands were full.
I put the milkweed silk and seeds into a plastic container which I have a lid for.
It took a bit to keep it from flying out even inside the house with no air moving.
I added a few coins to the container. This is ALL the change I had in my purse at the time.
No photos here, but I'm sure you can picture me shaking and twirling the container (with the lid on) to remove the seed from the silk. It worked fairly well. I had to pull a few seeds from the silk by hand.
The seeds got a little chipped in this process but I'm sure it won't affect them germinating. Maybe I shook and twirled for too long?
Butterfly Encounters says the best way to plant milkweed seed is to just put it out in November and let mother nature do her thing. Milkweed seed needs cold moist stratification. You can also fake this in the refrigerator. I didn't use the horticulture sand mentioned by Butterfly Encounters. I used a damp paper towel as I read on another website (which I've lost the link to). I've decided to try both processes.
I put about half the seeds on the damp paper towel.
After folding the damp paper towel, I placed it in a labeled zipper bag. This went into the refrigerator where it will wait until after the last spring frost to plant the seeds.
The rest of the seeds were planted in the garden. To remind myself where they are planted, I made markers with these teal plastic forks.
I just barely covered the seeds with soil, watered them gently and put a little straw there too to help hold some moisture in the area.
Even if the label wears off over the winter, these are the only teal plastic forks in the garden.
In the spring, I'll plant the seeds currently in the refrigerator. Hopefully, between the two methods, something will grow.
We'll see what spring brings!
