Hi Brad, nix the moist paper towels. The seeds need to DRY, anything moist is a bad idea. When I harvest seed, I either put them in a little 5 oz dixie cup, or a paper lunch bag. Let dry for about 2-3 weeks in a dry well-ventilated place. Then I clean the seed and store in fridge. In my experience, Asclepias syriaca - common milkweed - is very slow to establish from seed. All of the tap-rooted perennial milkweeds that I've started from seed grow slowly and take at least 3 years to bloom, if the critters, insects, or fungus don't get it first.

I want to bump this up again so those who are interested in preserving this plant can add this year's growing information. I had a baby who bloomed this spring but no seed pods. The same with the wild A variegata I dug up three seasons ago. This year it put up four strong stalks and lots of flower heads but again, not one seed pod. I watched the flower heads closely and even though some flying insects crawled all over the flowers, there was no pollination. This particuliar milkweed appears to bloom the earliest of all the milkweeds I have. Maybe there aren't enough insects around this early to aid in the pollination. We had terrible high temps over a long period this summer and it was all I could do to keep the plants alive. Did anyone else have any luck getting seed pods of this plant? I also purchased three small A variegata plants from Pine Ridge Gardens this year (all MaryAnn would sell me as I suspect she was trying to make them available to more of her clients). I'm going to overwinter them in 1 gal nursery pots. I haven't decided if I'm going to try growing them in big planters on my deck next year (mostly high dappled shade) or plant them inground. Maybe I should try putting one in ground this fall and keeping two in the nursery pots over winter. What is the key to getting these plants to set seed pods? :-) ~Mary A baby A variegata - 1st blooming this spring of 2011 the wild transplanted A variegata - aka Red Ring Milkweed - blooming 5-24-2011

byrdlady, it's so good to hear this! where i grew up in western PA therew were syriaca grwing everywhere roadside, with nearly every patch having monarch colonies. now the milkweed is less common, because of more mowing, and monarchs are much less common, even up there. i've been trying to get syriaca going here, too. i have some nice patches of tuberosum after working on it for 8 or 9 yrs, and have grown currasvica from seed before. recently got some otherr ones (don't recall off the top), and just this yr, noticed 3 cats on my tuberosum. so maybe it does take a while for them to come. ralph gave me some potted currasavica, which i hope to overwinter in the cool basement, and some cats, too. hoping they'll come back in spring and lay eggs. the last one is making a chrysalis now. your expeience heartens me that i wasn't doing anything wrong. tammy

Thank you for your comments. I live in Northwestern Ohio near the Michigan border. We have actually had a lot of rain and flooding this year, but the condition started to happen at the end of the season last year as well. The bed is watered by an automatic sprinkler which is controlled by a rain gauge. So, I do not think it has anything to do with watering. mary_litterocker, I also read that article when I began my search and also came to the conclusion it was suffering from witches broom growth. Thank you for digging around. I am hoping for some more in depth information. There seems to be very little out there because Common Milkweed is considered an aggressive growing weed and most people want to get rid of it rather than heal it. It is sad, and one of the many reasons why Monarch's are suffering. Right now I have to go and get my milkweed from fields. My daughter and I drive around searching for good clumps of milkweed for our 50 caterpillars. Hopefully I can get my bed back in good order next year. I am in the process of cutting all the sick plants down, but it is slow going because the Monarch's are still laying eggs on it. So, I need to carefully check each plant once I cut it down. Thank you again for you help and if I ever so find a clear answer I will post. But, I am leaning toward the Milkweed Mosaic Virus spread by the leafhopper right now.