Germinating northern seeds

[Lyril]

I'm in Victoria, Australia, and have had no feed problems until last year, when almost all of my Asc. fructicosa plants died quite suddenly in winter, then the expected forest of seedlings was drowned by floods. Stupidly I hadn't saved any seeds.
So little food + lots of caterpillars = big problem. I managed to pass on about 200 then started culling the smaller ones. I may have some seedlings survive, but very few. The one mature plant left has seed pods so I'll save those.

So I've ordered Asc. speciosa, curassavica and tuberosa from the US. I live in a cool to moderate climate with some winter frosts. Temperatures in summer are about 18-25C.

How do I attempt to germinate seeds which will be coming from winter's end into autumn's start? I've heard that there might be some problems and I simply do not want these to fail!

[Mona Miller]

http://www.butterflyencounters.com/grow ... index.html
These are good videos on propagating milkweed.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/
This is a forum on winter sowing plants.

[crazymilkweedman]

because you are changing ie reversing the conditions which control the plants responses ie photo period-length of night is growing longer where you are, avg temps are also falling not rising ,those trigger enzymes to begin dormancy, starch storage and such..you might be best off starting them indoors under artificial lights 6500K color temp CFLs 3-4 100w replacements so 3 or 4 23w bulbs kept 6in max above the plants,so you can control those factors..i have Milkweed plants at various stages of growth indoors now here in Ohio since december(Winter)..1st break dormancy via the best methods for your type mw, usually cool/moist strat. place under the lights after strat. once u have movable size plants u can move them inside and outside a little longer outside each day until they become hardend or climatized..your outdoor winter light levels may cause problems flowering.Brassinosteriods hormones mediate the effects of light,stimulating growth or dormancy, kinda like the plant see's how much and what spectrum the available light is, and im not familiar with if you have pollenators around in your area in winter??
theres a short vid of Asclepias sullivantii in hydro on my you tube.just search "sullivantii rescue".

[crazymilkweedman]

and ps..u might consider what i proposed to Mr.Taylor..grow Mw indoors under artificial lights all year round.That way u would have a constant food/seed supply..for asclepias artificial pollenation does not work very well so you would need an enclosed area w greenhouse pollenators to get pods.unless you do what i do and use Cynanchum laeve..it has wort type flowers so hand /artificial pollenation is much easier.peace.

[crazymilkweedman]

lol.pss.since it might matter, i will tell u the good news about Cynanchum laeve is that its a vine , the crown can produce multiple vines from one root. Vines to around 20ft which provides 10 times the food of a single common mw..the bad part is.(depending on your point of view) is that its a vine..an agressive one and will climb all over any thing it can reach..so be forwarned!