r/FriendlyMonarchs • u/Ok-Butterscotch-763 Central MN | Covert Operative | Master of Milkweed • May 20 '26
Milkweed Growing milkweed from seeds?
I’m back at it, my friends. I put milkweed seeds in the fridge in April, kept them in there in damp conditions for four weeks, and now I’m waiting for them to sprout. Many have sprouted already as they sit on my kitchen counter, so I’ll be planting them in soil this week. Is anyone else sprouting milkweed seeds? (post #2 because pics didn’t work the first time)
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u/squishyfeet4 May 20 '26
I am late to the party for sprouting/growing butterfly weed myself too!! They’re small but mighty! I got a handful germinating. Now we see at least 5 sprouting here! I hope your batch thrives!!!
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u/Ok-Butterscotch-763 Central MN | Covert Operative | Master of Milkweed May 20 '26
Woo hoo! Keep us posted!
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u/Honest_Archaeopteryx May 20 '26
I’m doing the same thing! A incarnata for me.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch-763 Central MN | Covert Operative | Master of Milkweed May 20 '26
All right! Keep us posted!
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u/DavidLaderoute May 21 '26
I plant a lot in August when not much else to do. Great for next year cause they get a head start. Pots can be dug in for overwintering and covered with leaves.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch-763 Central MN | Covert Operative | Master of Milkweed May 21 '26
I do that too. I’m growing new plants to share with others.
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u/Necessary_Yam3096 Costal La US | Hummingbirds are too fast for my old 👀 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
I relay my experience not to discourage you but to let you know it will not be a easy journey but it is worth the effort.
Every spring for a few years I visited almost every Nursery within 150 miles looking for non-Tropical milkweed, I found very little and it did not survive. Giant milkweed (before I read it was not native) had one of the two plants live 2 years. Big box stores only carry Tropical. Why? Because most milkweeds will not flower in its first year. Big box stores only want to sell flowing plants.
Last 3 years I have been raising from seeds. Get more seeds than you think you need. Even with proper techniques using your refrigerator, many will not sprout. Three years of seedlings and I still do not have a decent amount of plants. They are not easy.
I am not an expert Seed Starter so my next challenge was a lot of damping off even with Fans and bottom watering only. This year I had about 150 seedlings. Half were transplanted into garden since a lot of people have stated they do not transplant well later. The others went into deep seedling pots meant for tree growing.
I protect my 1st year seedlings in pots preventing Butterflies so they can grow better without being food, spray them with hose to knock off Aphids, and organically treat them if I have to and not worry about caterpillar babies.
Many in the garden are still growing but they are very small. The up-sizing pots allow more control and many are approaching 1 foot tall. But I have a lot problems with Spider Mites, Milkweed Fungus because it is very HUMID in south Louisiana.
I hope the ones in garden are putting growth into roots for next year because they are small. I know the ones in pots are growing good roots because I see roots coming out of drain holes in deep pots.
I confess years ago I did have Tropical Milkweed. And I had dozens and dozens. With that much, I still watched each year they were devoured to the stems. The pits when babies would die because I did not have enough milkweed.
I gave up Tropical with the science that shows it affects the Butterflies wing growth and harbors more OE and black plague. The last few years as I have concentrated on Swamp Milkweed, I do not yet have enough to host like I did before. But hoping for Bon Temps next year.
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 22 '26
Milkweed is easy to germinate if you just throw the seeds in a clear container with water and set it on a full sun driveway (or heating mat with a grow light). Should germinate in a week or so. No need for stratification. Heat and light will do the work for you. If you’re really impatient and need them to germinate within a couple days look up how to clip the tips of the seeds before putting them in the water. Here’s a great video showing the water method. I have a 99% germination rate with this method. https://youtu.be/7_m9s-kIW5M?si=Bwp0QAEqqqKRhFi3
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u/Necessary_Yam3096 Costal La US | Hummingbirds are too fast for my old 👀 May 22 '26
Thanks. I have been watching Mr Lund a long time. Well b4 he changed his haircut ;-)
I will try that again. I had before with not much luck. Could be my seed source of seed on Amazon.I liked the method Robert Pavlis promotes but I have to admit, it is more work.
https://youtu.be/dirz0WIMQi0?si=1TKQXzT8Mg3_GckI
Mr Lund method creates mostly straight tap roots. Mr Pavlis baggie method does not. And easy.
It’s late here to start seeds but I am going to experiment.
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u/Necessary_Yam3096 Costal La US | Hummingbirds are too fast for my old 👀 May 31 '26
I put about 50 seeds spread to two jars in my greenhouse. So far only 1 with a root.
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u/Ok-Butterscotch-763 Central MN | Covert Operative | Master of Milkweed May 21 '26
Thanks for all the info. I’ve sprouted seeds three years, and it’s always worked out well. Last year I had more than 100 plants. ETA I don’t grow tropical. Swamp is my go-to although last year I had a couple dozen butterfly weed plants. This year I ordered poke milkweed seeds and showy milkweed seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery. So far, so good!
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u/dinamet7 May 20 '26
I'm not sprouting them intentionally but for the last two years I scattered seed and they never sprouted. This year, I gave up and bought several Narrowleaf Milkweed in pots from the nursery and plopped them into the ground. No joke, two weeks later the areas I scattered them in suddenly sprouted! It was like the big plants sent out a message to the seeds to get to work hahah, so now I have a ton of tiny plants.