My tropical milkweed plant has seed pods...

[hyland]

I live in Southern Louisiana. I am new to gardening. I never before collected seeds and planted them. If I want to harvest the seeds from my tropical milkweed and plant them them elsewhere. Is it okay to plant the seeds right away after harvesting? or would I need to let them "sit" and air out for a while? I should collect the seeds when the seed pods begin to open on their own, correct?

I'm surprised that I have seed pods. The plant was transplanted from my mothers flowerbed to my own a year ago. Right now I have lots of baby caterpillars, eggs, and seed pods. I am expecting to need to visit my grandmother for milkweed to feed our growing group of monarchs. I trimmed the three stems of my one plant down to about 10" at the end of last week and the stems are sitting in a vase of water. I don't see any visible roots, but I do see new leaves emerging from the stem.

Thanks for any help. I would hate to collect the seeds and do something wrong with them and have them all wasted.

[Jim]

Hi Hyland - welcome to the Monarch Watch Forums!

Our July 2005 Newsletter included an article on the "Harvest and Storage of Milkweed Seeds" - you can read it at

www.monarchwatch.org/update/2005/0728.html#7

Also, be sure to check out our "Growing Milkweeds" information at

www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm

In frost-free zones Tropical Milkweed is a perennial (it acts as an annual here in KS) so as long as the seeds are mature (seed pods about to split or recently split open) you should be able to plant them right away.

As for the cuttings, you may want to use a rooting hormore and stick them into some soil to speed things up a bit - or try half and half to see which method works better for you.

Good Luck!

[hyland]

Thanks for the help. I'm going read those links right now.

hyland