Does Common milkweed flower 2nd year?

[milkweedman]

Does anyone know for sure if common milkweed will definitely flower in its 2nd season? How tall do the stems have to get before they will start flowering? I ask this because I'm trying to get my common milkweed to produce seed pods by cross pollinating two separate plants (which is required as common milkweed is self infertile) and one plant is about 10 years old and flowers profusely every summer (up to 7 inflorences last summer), and the other is 2 years old now. I can't remember when my first plant began flowering. It was either the 2nd, 3rd or fourth year. Thanks for any info!

[Mona Miller]

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_assy.pdf
Second page, second column, second paragraph:
"Common milkweed is easily propagated by both seed and rhizome cuttings. Both seedlings and cuttings will usually bloom in their second year, although cuttings will occasionally bloom during their first year."

I usually dig rhizomes and plant them. This is the easiest way to get new plants.

[milkweedman]

Thanks for the info Mona! I already read that article before and although its very good, I was looking more for peoples individual experiences as well. For example, you say that you cut rhizomes with a bud on it to create a new plant (I've done this myself) but when it eventually flowers will it form a seed pod if it's pollinated via flowers from the original plant? I think not, because the genetic similarity doesn't usually allow for it just as seeds from the same pod will not usually fertilise one another when they eventually flower too because of genetic similarity. I'm hoping to be proven wrong about this by somebody else however.

[Mona Miller]

Common milkweed forms huge clusters of plants from the same rhizome. These plants flower and set seed; although, they are the same group of plants.

http://natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/Milkweed.pdf
THE STORY OF AN ORGANISM: COMMON MILKWEED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5zQo7wTSyM
Hand-pollinating milkweeds is performed using fine-pointed forceps. The first step is to grasp a pollinium at the corpusculum (the apex of the connector between the 2 half-anther) and withdraw it from the flower.

[Paul Cherubini]

Depends on soil conditions, sun availability, soil moisture and fertility. In my central California yard both syriaca & speciosa blooms in the 2nd year if I first rototill the soil, plant in a sunny spot and provide plenty of water during our dry summer. I obtained the syriaca seed from Minnesota and northern Kansas.