Am I too late to start from seeds?

[nicewitch]

I'm in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario, Canada (Zone 7). I meant to do all kinds of things this past winter - winter-sow common milkweed, start some early inside, etc. - but didn't get to it. If I start from seeds now, will I be getting plants large enough in July/August to support caterpillars? Or should I also be digging up some wild-grown rootstocks to guarantee larger plants?

I successfully raised 28 cats on cuttings-in-water last year - all pupated and were released in late August/early September. This year, I wanted to put together rearing cages over potted plants, because I have dozens of people wanting to join the project.

Loving this Forum - I'm learning so much!!

[Andrew]

I'm not sure what the climate is like over there right now, but I'd say that it wouldn't be a bad idea to collect a few plants for insurance.

[Teresa]

When I plant seeds that haven't been cold stratified it seems like it took them forever to come up but they finally did. i'd start now Good luck.

[yooperjim]

Hi, I too have started milkweed seeds and all are growing well, just waiting for spring (may/june around here). While I don't know if they will be big enough to provide much food this year, I'm hoping that in years to come I'll have millions of plants! At any rate, despite all of the warnings about them being difficult to germinate, mine all sprouted within a few days. Some are the butterfly weed variety, but most are an unknown variety ordered through livemonarch.com. All they will tell me is that they are the northern variety! I wrote them to ask specifically what they are but it's a big secret I guess. Still waiting for my common milkweed seeds to arrive, and hopefully they will sprout easily as well.

I used the baggy method for starting the seeds. Using this method you mist a coffee filter with water, arrange the seeds, fold the filter up, and put it in a ziplock baggie. I didn't refrigerate them or anything prior to bagging them. I did however soak a bunch of them for 24 hours, some sank, and some stayed floating (with many seeds this will tell you if they are viable.) Then I put them in separate baggies, but germination was about 90% within 4 or 5 days for both. Others I didn't soak at all and they still germinated. Once rootlets are started you pluck them out and put them in flats to grow up.

Anyway, that's my experience so far,

Cheers,

Jim

[Teresa]

Thats very fast for milkweed. Makes me wonder if they are tropical milkweed. I'd be leary of someone not willing to tell my what kind they are sending me, not that they are bad but are they suitable to your climate. Tropical milkweed is not unless you grow them in pots and bring them in in the winter.

[yooperjim]

Yeah, that bugs me too. This livemonarch place is supposed to be a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving monarchs, which I thought was the same as monarch watch at the time. That is why I've also ordered common milkweed seeds from elsewhere. I guess I won't know what they are for sure till they grow up some...

Jim

[Teresa]

I trust the seeds from MonarchWatch. I'd order them from them, at least you know what your getting.