Hi Early
Nice to see you on here again!
I grow Asclepias curassavica (I think!).
Mainly I grow from cuttings because they root so easily in water but now and again I sow from seed if the caterpillars leave me a seedpod!
Each of my seedpods has around 60 seeds and each seed is attached to a big fluffy clock, similar to a dandelion. I sow the seeds pretty fresh. I brought a seedpod indoors a couple of weeks ago to separate the seed from the clocks, out of the breeze! It's difficult to contain the clocks - they float everywhere, even indoors, so I was 'dropping' them in a bucket. Finished that part, went outside to get the seed trays ready to sow the seed, breeze came in door, clocks everywhere, and I mean everywhere - I'm still finding them in strange places in the house.
I sowed about 24 seed in individual cells and about 20 have germinated so far. I use seed compost, covering the seeds very lightly and keep very moist at about 20-22C. My seeds never get any chilling!
I would agree that the seeds that germinate in the garden directly in the ground often form stronger, healthier plants, my problem is that they don't tend to be where I want them - they are the seeds that have escaped me and the caterpillars!
Good luck - glad to see another forum member starting on what will be become another addiction!
(I estimate that I had about 500 Monarch butterflies take to the skies last year - that takes a LOT of milkweed! I now cull EVERY egg that I see - there are so many hidden ones that hatch and never enough plant for all the caterpillars to grow to full size!)
Hybrid Mode
