Do you know where the Milkweed grows?

[MaryMary]

Twice now, I have posted a link offering free seeds for milkweeds from the Live Monarch Foundation. I was just reading more on their website, and they are requesting help getting seeds. They will take any and all milkweed seeds, but especially need seeds for the Northern varieties of milkweeds. They have a problem getting them because they are in Florida, and can not grow their own.


If you know where to find them, have a little free time, and can afford the price of postage, please help them out! Here is the link to their site, if you want more information about who they are and what they do: http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm


They had a phone number on their site, and I called it, because I had a few questions before making this thread.


If you know the variety of the seed you've collected, they would be most happy having them labeled. If you do not know the variety, they still want the seeds - but they request that you tell them where they were found (city and state,) because they'll try to return them to the region they came from.


Last fall, when I collected seeds for the "Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative," they requested pods that had not snapped open, since they may have been infested with Milkweed beetles. I asked the man on the phone about that, and he said that that didn't matter to them. What they would prefer is that you do snap them open, and allow them to dry out before mailing - because who wants moldy seeds?


The address to send the seeds:

Live Monarch Foundation
2901 Clintmoor Rd. Suite 198
Boca Raton, FL 33496



Also, since this is the only gardening forum I am a member of - if you belong to another, and you think members there would be willing to send them seeds, feel free to copy and paste my post, add your own smileys, whatever gets the word out there!!

 

[zigs]

@ChanellG grows it

 

[Beverly]

the receiving end might also appreciate a photo of the plant the seeds came from if you don't know the species. @ zigs my guess is that ChanellG grows a tropical species.

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

 

[Beverly]

I am not a fan of time lapse photography because it is deceptive and doesn't tell the real story. Of course, the caterpillars are not running around at this speed. Making the chrysalis after a period of pupation is a slow and difficult process involving great effort on the part of the pupa. Also this video left out altogether the 5 times caterpillars shed their skins prior to pupation. Which is also a process requiring great effort and can take as long as 3 days (depending on the size of the caterpillar). During the skin shedding process the caterpillars are completely vulnerable to predators. There are so many things you don't see with time lapse. No i really am not a fan of time lapse.

 

[ChanellG]

If I am understanding this correctly, a group in Florida is trying to obtain seed for a plant that they can not grow in Florida. What the heck for?

Milkweed is considered invasive as it is. Why are they trying to introduce a non-native and potentially invasive plant to their area? Milkweed plants and seed are available all over the place. Why are they having so much trouble obtaining it?

I do indeed grow a tropical milkweed and some people want it banned in favor of what they consider native varieties. There are a few other milkweeds grown by butterfly enthusiasts in the Facebook plant swap I belong to, including the swamp milkweed.

Milkweed is so invasive that all you have to do is check the yard of someone who grows it as there will be volunteers all over the place.

 

[MaryMary]

They are mainly looking for two Northern Varieties, Asclepias Syriaca and Asclepias Speciosa. They don't want to plant it in their area. They mail out the seeds free of charge to people who are willing to plant it in their yards to help provide food for the migration of the Monarchs. They will accept any type of milkweed seed. The man told me on the phone they have a shortage of all seeds other than the tropical variety.

Everywhere I have seen it growing at the side of the road here in Ohio, they mowed it down as soon as it got big enough to support a caterpillar. The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative have said that they are collecting seeds, and supposedly saving us money by ODOT not mowing those areas.

Annual Milkweed Pod Collection 9/1/17 - 10/30/17
It’s that time again! The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative is calling on Ohioans for a second year of Milkweed pod collections! This project started in 2015 as a 7 county pilot and last year hundreds of Ohioans worked together last fall to collect approximately 200 lbs of common milkweed seeds, totaling over 19 million seeds! http://www.ophi.info/

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...o-save-monarch-butterflies-collect-seeds.html
For ODOT, the pollinator program is as much about saving taxpayers' money as saving bees, butterflies and birds; every acre planted in pollinator-friendly plants saves $45 in mowing cost, Bruning said. "Any time we can help wildlife and not have to mow an area, we're glad," he said.

In 2015, 7 counties collected seeds. In 2016, 76 counties collected seeds.

I collected seeds for my county last year. They said the plants would be planted in the county they were collected. Granted, I haven't driven down every road - but I have traveled quite a bit of it, and I haven't seen them not mowing anywhere!

If the Live Monarch Foundation wants to send free seeds to people who will grow them and not mow them - I'd rather support their efforts!!

 

[ChanellG]

Everywhere I have seen it growing at the side of the road here in Ohio, they mowed it down as soon as it got big enough to support a caterpillar.

Two words: INVASIVE SPECIES

Why don't you just network with people in your area who want to grow milkweed? There's no effort up north for Monarchs? Anyone actually growing milkweed who doesn't have caterpillars shouldn't be letting their plants go to seed anyway. In your climate isn't it time to cut the milkweed back? Those stems root easily enough to be able to create new plants.

I am not picking on you, I just think the group in FL needs a better agenda.

 

[MaryMary]

Everywhere I have seen it growing at the side of the road here in Ohio, they mowed it down as soon as it got big enough to support a caterpillar.

Two words: INVASIVE SPECIES

I don't understand how your "two words" relate to my sentence. Do you not have state or county road crews that mow the sides of the back roads in Louisiana? What about the median strips on divided highways? I think they have a schedule, they are not mowing because milkweed is an INVASIVE SPECIES!! (Why are you shouting at me? .)

I am not picking on you, I just think the group in FL needs a better agenda.

No, I do not think that you are picking on me. I think that you are not reading for comprehension.

In your first post, you said

If I am understanding this correctly, a group in Florida is trying to obtain seed for a plant that they can not grow in Florida. What the heck for?

The very first two sentences of the thread are:

Twice now, I have posted a link offering free seeds for milkweeds from the Live Monarch Foundation. I was just reading more on their website, and they are requesting help getting seeds.

Pretty simple answer to your question. They mail seeds to people; they need seeds.


This thread is intended to be read by people who drive past fields of milkweed, or know where they can get seeds - please mail any extra seeds to the Live Monarch Foundation, at the address found in my original post.

Why don't you just network with people in your area who want to grow milkweed? There's no effort up north for Monarchs? Anyone actually growing milkweed who doesn't have caterpillars shouldn't be letting their plants go to seed anyway. In your climate isn't it time to cut the milkweed back? Those stems root easily enough to be able to create new plants.

Wha...?
Networking with people who want to grow milkweed is not going to get seeds sent.
If someone is not letting their milkweed go to seed, they won't have seeds to send.
In my climate, the pods aren't ripe yet; cutting back the milkweed will not get seeds sent.
Rooted stems would be harder to send. And I doubt they'd take them.
Overall, it would probably work better to just send seeds to the Live Monarch Foundation.



There is also a group called the Save Our Monarchs Foundation. They also mail out free seeds to anyone who will plant them in their yard. Coincidentally, they also have a need for extra seeds.
If anyone would rather send seeds to them, their address is:


Save Our Monarchs Foundation
PO Box 390135
Minneapolis, MN 55439




There is also a group called Monarch Watch, and they need seeds, too. I haven't read much on their website, they don't send out free seeds to individuals. They seem to mainly do big restoration projects. Maybe they have a better agenda. (Planting milkweed on the sides of roadways. )


They have a lengthy list of guidelines.

Guidelines for Collection
• What to collect: milkweed species targeted for your region. Do not collect seeds of rare or endangered milkweeds.
• When to collect: ripe pods split upon touch and the seeds should be brown or “browning up.” Do not collect pods in which the seeds are white, cream colored or pale.
• How to collect: Be sure to obtain permission before collecting on private property or federal, state or county properties.
• Be safe. Wear bright clothes near roads. Do not collect along busy highways. Wear gloves. See Precautions below.
• LABEL a separate, sealed container for the seeds of each milkweed species.
• If you do not process the seeds, please contain the pods or seeds so that they will remain in the container when opened and not fly about our offices.
• How much? Collect as much as you can. Quantities less than one ounce of processed seed are only needed for rare species. Many pounds of milkweed seeds are needed for seed mixes used in roadside or landscape restoration. Two to four onion bags of pods will yield about one pound of seeds.
• Genetic diversity: Incorporate as much diversity as you can into your sampling of pods. You can do this by collecting your pods from more than one site.
A. syriaca (common milkweed) forms genetically identical clones through underground rhizomes. To obtain a fair representation of the genetic diversity of this species, the pods can be collected from a number of clones scattered over several sites. http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/seed-collecting-processing/

Their address is:

Monarch Watch
University of Kansas
2021 Constant Ave
Lawrence, KS 66047


Monarch Watch had this on their website, which might be of interest to some:

To ensure that the seeds you collect are used in your region, we need the following information on each seed collection:
• Your contact info: name, address and email.
• The date, county, and state of the collection.
• The species collected.
• Your Ecoregion. Not sure of ecoregion? Look it up, on our Milkweed Region and Seed Needs page.
http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/seed-collecting-processing/

From Save Our Monarchs:

The monarch butterfly is in trouble. Their numbers are down 90% of what they were in 1992. And the milkweed plant population, which is indispensable to the monarch, is also down 90%.
Milkweed plants are the only source of food for the monarch caterpillar. But these plants are rapidly disappearing, due to the loss of habitat stemming from land development and the widespread spraying of weed killer on the fields where they live. https://www.saveourmonarchs.org/

 

[Beverly]

Thanks for spreading the word @MaryMary It is much appreciated.

 

[Beverly]

And, by the way @MaryMary i did not receive any notifications in my personal email of your conversation with @ChanellG although i have participated in the thread. If i had seen that the thread was continuing, i would have continued my participation by helping to ameliorate the misunderstanding so you didn't have to do so much work. New posts can be buried so quickly now (literally in a matter of seconds) with the increased participation, i think i am not receiving email notifications...maybe some, but not all. I had to hunt for this one and was surprised to see the thread was continuing although i do log on at least once daily. @Ian ? Maybe only OPs receive notifications? It is so easy to miss out on the substantive stuff of interest when so much idle babble is flooding the site.

 

[Beverly]

Milkweed is so invasive that all you have to do is check the yard of someone who grows it as there will be volunteers all over the place.

Hey @ChanellG i've been growing Tropical Milkweed for 10 years and in that time i think i have noticed 2 spindly volunteers. The reason being is that i have always harvested the seeds to share. The seed pods (that the caterpillars don't eat) are so easy to harvest when the first little break is seen in the pod before it opens up and takes to the wind. But i rarely see an unkempt field with more than a very few wild Asclepias in it. In fact the first time i grew it, i had to get my seeds from a seller in Florida.

 

[Silentrunning]

I remember as a kid in Michigan the milkweed plants were everywhere. When they would get mature we would tear them open and blow the seeds out of the pods just for fun. Maybe that's why they were everywhere.

 

[MaryMary]

And, by the way @MaryMary i did not receive any notifications in my personal email ..... although i have participated in the thread. If i had seen that the thread was continuing, i would have continued my participation ..... i think i am not receiving email notifications.....maybe some, but not all. ... ... Maybe only OPs receive notifications? ....

@Beverly, I have read in "Feedback" on two separate occasions that members have had their notifications start going to spam in their e-mail. They checked the spam folder, and there they were! Other than that, you'll have to wait for Ian.


Until then, if you click "Watched Threads" at the top of the page (in the green banner,) it will show you any thread you are "watching" that has unread posts.

If i had seen that the thread was continuing, i would have continued my participation by helping to ameliorate the misunderstanding so you didn't have to do so much work.

I enjoyed the researching, it wasn't work. More addresses posted means more chances people will understand the need for sending seed. (Or for growing their own milkweed. .)

Thanks for spreading the word @MaryMary It is much appreciated.

If one person reads this and sends them seeds, it's worth it.

 

[Ian]

@Beverly, I have read in "Feedback" on two separate occasions that members have had their notifications start going to spam in their e-mail. They checked the spam folder, and there they were! Other than that, you'll have to wait for Ian.


Until then, if you click "Watched Threads" at the top of the page (in the green banner,) it will show you any thread you are "watching" that has unread posts.

I think this could be it, as most cases of e-mails not being received are because they're flagged as spam - can you check the junk mail folder to double check please?

Also, is this a "watched" thread? At the top of the thread, you'll see a "watch thread" or "unwatch thread" link - by default, all threads participated in are "watched".