I'm growing Butterfly weed, Swamp Milkweed and Common Milkweed. For some reason Common Milkweed is always the hardest to grow from seed even with cold stratification.
I’ve heard others comment that common milkweed is a tough one! I did notice my very young seedlings seemed to struggle once they sprouted, but a strong grow light seemed to help a lot! This will be my 2nd year of indoor starting, but I’ve been winter sowing these for a while! They have a high failure rate, but fortunately the mother plants release so many seeds they have a lot of backups!
@@BrightLaneGardens Is it necessary to cold stratify in hot places like Houston, TX? You made a wonderful video. Thank you so very much for educating us so graciously. Most gratefully appreciated.
Leaving them outside should help with their natural cold stratification process! Just keep a close eye out for birds and critters that would love to eat those seeds as a spring snack. Hope you get some growth this year!
aint that the truth! we had like 10 ground squirrels and a mess of chipmunks and I think they ate everything that sprouted last year, and then NO rain all summer. I love those little guys but wish they would go away. might have to do something drastic this year, but so far only one squirrel and theres a big black feral cat here now. I am gonna try to sprout some milkweeds and make a cage around them. gardening is so frustrating sometimes. If they do grow, the deer love the flowers! arg!@@BrightLaneGardens
This is super-helpful! I am in zone 8A, and am a total newbie to this. I have some seeds, but am concerned about the timing- do I need to wait to start?
You can always give it a try! Right now the biggest risk is the seed might dry out too quickly with the summer heat. Make sure you keep it moist and water thoroughly after transplanting in the ground.
You read my mind! I was just wondering how I was going to plant my milkweed seeds. I got my bare seeds from Seed Savers. It seems most of the seeds that I have will require cold stratification. Milkweed, lavender, echinacea. I'm in Kansas (6b) and I think I'm getting a very late start. This is my first vegetable garden (all starting from seed.) And the first time I am starting native prairie flowers from seed. I'm feeling failure already. About that pump sprayer...I used to use bottles like that with disinfectant in my dental office. That spray tip is weak and prone to irreparable damage if tipped over. SUBSCRIBED
You’re going to do great! I was so nervous for my first set of native seeds, it was so validating to see so many of them successfully germinate! Don’t be too concerned over the timing, I’m planing my seeds to be ready to sell at our plant nursery by May, so I start earlier than most! You’ll have plenty of time to get yours germinating and growing healthy roots to plant in the ground. Believe it or not, milkweed can be planted in the ground through early September in many cases. As long as your region isn’t prone to early frosts, your planted milkweed will have enough time to successfully establish roots before winter, and they often benefit immensely from the rain we tend to get in the fall. If you’re in a rush, you can usually adjust the cold stratification period by several days, so maybe shoot for 20-22 days instead of 30! Mine germinated within a few days of planting in the soil, and now they’re growing like crazy. Happy planting, and thank you for subscribing!
Yes! Seedlings will benefit immensely from the grow lights. When they’re small you’ll want the lights 24-36” above the seedlings to keep them from getting leggy. Thanks for your kind words!
I use this seed collection kit amzn.to/4dctinC - but really there's a lot of options for storing seeds over the winter. I do recommend against the paper envelopes, only because that still leaves them susceptible to water damage via humidity. Any plastic container (old medicine bottles work great!) or glass container will safely hold your seeds. Keep in a cool-ish area and out of the sunlight. They'll be good to go in the spring! Just keep in mind that milkweed does like a cold stratification period, so you will want to plan ahead for that.
Mine are off to a slow start right now too, they shot up and seemed to plateau after a few weeks. In previous years I had the same experience with my indoor seedlings, but they really took off once being transplanted outside. I might transplant mine into larger containers and start setting them outside during the day. We’re still getting into the 30s at night up here in Michigan so it’ll be a few more weeks until I can transplant outside!
We hear this a lot with seedlings! Did you start them in containers or right in the ground? Typically with my indoor seedlings I notice they REALLY want actual sunlight once they reach a few inches tall, so at that point I start moving my containers outside. I also like to amend my soil with some compost or worm castings before transplanting outside. Try to give a nutrient boost with compost and make sure your soil isn't compacted too much!
oh yes! not an issue. If you plan to transplant outside in the next 4 ish weeks I would leave them both. If you're planting into a container or a raised bed you can trim one out so the other has plenty of room (sometimes called 'thinning'). But either way, they'll grow!
