The Benefits of Swamp Milkweed

[dlmager]

I grow several types of milkweed in my yard including asclepias tuberosa, asclepias speciosa, and asclepias incarnata. It is the incarnata, swamp milkweed, that has given us the most enjoyment.

I grow swamp milkweed in 2 locations. One is in full sun in normal garden soil. The other is in partial shade in a bog garden.

I created the bog garden by digging up a 4 x 3 foot area about 12 inches deep. I put a pond liner down and then replaced the soil. When it rains the liner keeps the area moist for a longer time, thus creating a bog.

The milkweed in the bog blooms in August when the monarchs are at their height. My family can sit on a nearby bench, watch monarchs sip nectar and then lay eggs under the leaves. We take the larger larva into the house to pupate so that we can tag and release the adults.

My other milkweeds bloom in the early summer. I have noticed that the later blooming milkweed draws more monarchs because of the nectar advertisement.

I hope that others will have the same enjoyment.

[monarchrose]

Yes, Swamp milkweed is a great plant. It is attractive and the butterflies and caterpillars love it. One of my plants is larger than me now and is coming into bloom.

[Ann Mauger Colbert]

I read your note with interest. Where did you get the swamp milkweed? Would it grow from a root division or did you dig up a plant somewhere? (And where would I look? There aren't many swamps around Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Ann

[Jim]

Hey Ann:

You might be able to find Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) at a local nursery...if you have no luck there, you can always get the seeds from Monarch Watch and plant them in early spring (see link below). A local county extension agent may also be able to point you in the right direction for a source of milkweed growing in the wild. We haven't tried growing swamp milkweed from cuttings but have been successful with other species so it might work - if you try this please let us know how it goes!

Also, be sure to check out the Milkweed section of our site for lots of great information:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed

Milkweed Seeds from the Monarch Watch Shop:

"Five varieties of milkweed in individual packets (approximately 100 seeds/packet). A "Propagation of Milkweeds" instruction sheet is included as a guide. Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa), Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), & Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)"

http://shop.monarchwatch.org/product.aspx?p=113209

Hope this helps!

[Ann Mauger Colbert]

Thanks. I have had luck with root cuttings with Ascelpias speciosa and I now have several healthy plants. My efforts with seeds--even when they've been stratified--haven't resulted in anything but I will try again.

[Jim]

I don't have any personal experience with scarification of seeds, but it might be worth a shot for you:

"Even after vernalization and stratification, seeds of many plant species will not germinate. In these cases, the seed coats appear to require action by physical or chemical agents to "break down" or abrade (or scarify) the seed coat. "Scarification" with some type of physical abrasion, which breaks the seed coat, usually works but soaking seeds in weak or even strong acids is needed in some cases. Scarification may be required for some milkweeds (e.g., A. viridiflora and A. latifolia) and might improve the germination rates of other species."

from http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm

[Ann Mauger Colbert]

I guess the thing that bothers me is that here is a weed (!) that has seeds that just blow around and end up on unfriendly, uninviting, unlikely (etc.) soil. And it grows anyway.

Then we need to make sure the seeds are stratified and acidified.... But I'll do it. I was under the impression that if you made a little cut in the seed, it might help, so one year I cut half and soaked some of that half with some of the uncut seeds and still NOTHING came up!

The only thing that's worked so far is digging up part of a root and planting it. Or actually putting root-tone on a piece of new stem and sticking it in the ground. (And that didn't work every time.)

Wonder if birds eat the seeds and provide, through their digestive track, some "acid" treatment. I would think, tho, that that fluff wouldn't be particularly appealing.

Thanks for the note. I will try (again). And I'll order some of the different varieties, just for fun.

Ann

[Chip]

We have a section on the web site devoted to milkweed propagation (as Jim mentioned above). Stratification of the seeds helps but it also is advisable to plant the seeds in light potting soil indoors and then to transplant the seedlings when they are 3-4 inches tall. Germination rates vary and can be frustratingly low for all milweeds except those of tropical origin - A. curassavica and A. physocarpa.

[Ann Mauger Colbert]

Thanks, Jim and Chip. I've been reading and looking at all the materials on milkweed that you guys have put on the website. Had no idea there were so many varieties, altho one Thanksgiving my son and I were out looking for pods (as has become our tradition) and realized that we were looking for two different kinds of plants--his was a vine and mine a plant about four or five feet tall.

Will try again to do some of the other varieties. I do bring the little larvae and eggs into my homemade hatchery and then release the butterflies when they hatch. Hope they like the many flowers I've planted in their honor.

One question: Should a person tag butterflies that have been had raised this way?
Ann

[Pat]

My swamp milkweeds are touchy -- one year large numbers of saved seeds from the previous year will germinate; another year, none do. I've had good luck with the tropical asclepias leaving the pods outdoors til first frost, then bringing them into the garage until February, when my parents the green thumb folks start them indoors in their basement around the same time as the tomatoes etc. They transplant OK from the flats. The common syriaca's seeds don't seem to germinate unless there are several distinct plants around (not runners from the older roots). They're difficult for me to transplant; I end up just leaving them where they've spread themselves to.
Pat

[Sarah]

Hi Ann -- about your tagging question: yes, you can tag those critters you raise, even if it's indoors. We have had people raise their critters indoors and tag them and have a recovery in Mexico. One of Chip's students did a study that showed it is likely the monarchs acclimate to their surroundings and are able to orient themselves properly to migrate. (Butterflies from Kansas were taken to Washington, D.C. and kept in screen cages for a few days before they were released. Instead of acting like they were in KS, they acted like they were from D.C.!) In other words, your butterflies should be just fine when you release them. As a matter of fact, we've added a reared vs. wild column to our datasheets to start collecting statistical data.

[ButterflyLady_IL]

Thank you for the discussion.
My biggest stresses with Monarch raising has been wanting more milkweed and not being very successful raising more.

I agree totally that this should be so simple-- it's a weed. A native to my area.... but sure doesn't want to be "tamed" to be grown where I'd like it to be.

I had purchased the Millennium Butterfly Garden Kit- thought I followed the instructions totally and --- nothing.....

Now knowing that others have the same "luck" is heartening.

I will keep trying... and have enlisted the aide of Dr. Win Phippen at WIU- he may have to hold my hand in this production of common Milkweed. BUT I am determined to have a Monarch Garden.

Win has been very gracious about my visits to the Research plots- and allowed me to harvest eggs and caterpillars and some leaves in August before he harvested the seed pods for his research.

[Pat]

My Mexico recovery CBI110 (see the Blog) started all the way from the eastern edge of Pennsylvania and was hand-raised with a dozen or so brothers and sisters in an outdoor terrarium-like plastic box ... brought indoors on cold or wet days. Didn't seem to confuse him at all.

I know some people have mentioned that you have to keep the monarch caterpillars separated or they may eat each other, but I haven't ever seen that. As long as there's plenty of food in there with them and they're round the same age, they pretty much leave each other alone. The spicebush swallowtails, however ... munch, munch.

I have a lot of extra seeds from the tropicals this fall. No guarantees as to viability, as noted in previous post, but if you want to try some, I have more than I need for next year.

[butterflylover]

Hey I have really been learning an awful lot from reading these forums. This is just a great place, and I am loving it. On this subject of the swamp milkweed. I have an area in my yard that is always wet due to the end of our leach bed from our septic system. My husband and I are always saying we should try to figure out what we could plant there to hide this annoying always too wet to mow area. Does anyone have a clue whether or not this swamp Milkweed would grow in a septic fed wet spot? It would kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I raise the Monarchs and have been trying to grow the common on my flower beds with out luck this season but I plan to keep trying. Any one who might have some seeds I would pay postage. I went to one seed farm website and they were sold out for the season. I wonder if it is just my poor soil here. A lot of clay in some spots and sandy and gravel in other spots.

[Pat]

I'll look out there and see if I have any left; most of the time I nip off the incarnata seed pods completely so I get flowers longer into the season, but I always seem to miss some pods so there may still be some. The tropicals keep flowering (they're still flowering in October as I write this) and have pods all up the stems, so I have tons of them.

Our area in PA is notorious for clay soil and poor drainage, but the incarnatas seem to do just fine. The ones I lost were of a different type --tuberosa, bright orange flowers on stockier plants with thicker slightly fuzzy leaves -- the monarch females used to lay their eggs on the smallest leaves right under the blossoms. I used to find the young caterpillars in the flowers when they had eaten the new foliage, but they didn't eat the lower older leaves at all. The tuberosas are supposed to like drier areas and maybe my yard just doesn't drain well enough.

Also, if anyone knows of a source of seeds for Asclepias viridiflora (the green milkweed), please let me know!

Pat

[MonarchMom]

Sarah, I have a question on the tagging sheet concerning "reared vs. wild". I thought that the reared had to do with buying cats from Monarch Watch. I brought in wild cats to raise. When they eclosed, I tagged and released them as wild. Should they have been marked as reared?

Also, I raised swamp milkweed (Cinderella) from seeds this spring. I had a terrible time with yellow aphids and mw bugs on them. Every time they started to get a bud, the mw bugs got them. Now they have turned brown, lost all of their leaves. They are not dead yet, but look awful! I know that it's too late to do anything to them now. My question is, do you think that they will come back up from the roots next spring? Or will probably die? My trop. mw had lots of yellow aphids and mw bugs also, but always seemed to come back with more growth. They look fine now. Trying to keep the aphids off is nearly impossible. I coudn't use dishsoap due to the amount of eggs that were layed. Any suggestions for next year?

Thanks.