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Butterfly Garden

Can you MOVE Common Milkweed?

14 years ago

I've got several volunteer stalks in my veggie patch. I don't MIND that they are there, but they're just in an awkward spot on the corner of a cabbage bed. And one lone stalk right smack in the middle of the cabbage bed.

Before I was edumacated, last season I tried to take one stalk out of another spot (this before I realized they were EATEN and not DEAD- idiot me).

Anyway, I recall that it was somewhat difficult to get out of the ground because of a tap root.

Should I just leave it alone? Like I said, I don't mind it being there, but the whole veggie patch is going to be tilled under in the fall/spring, and I'd hate for it to get lost in all that (even though the tilling is obviously what brought it out this year- YAY!)

Thoughts?

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Comments (6)

KC Clark - Zone 2012-6a OH
14 years ago
I had a patch along the fence between my neighbor and me. New plants were always coming up in her yard. I was constantly going over there, digging them up and replanting them elsewhere in my yard. Memory says most, if not all, survived. I did not worry about getting more than say 6" of root.

In case you're wondering, I did put top soil in the holes, put down grass seed and watered. I had to keep my neighbor happy since I was raising cecropias using her lilac.

KC
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leubafr
14 years ago
I have had no luck in moving common milkweed except when it is very very small BUT have had great luck taking 6-8" cuttings and rooting them in plain water. Almost every one of them takes root and transplants with no problem.
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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
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Kelly, Here is the list that Dallas Lep Society has for Queens... "Queen (Danaus gilippus): Blunt-Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis), Antelope-Horns (A. asperula), Tropical Milkweed (A. curassavica), Slim Milkweed (A. linearis), ButterflyWeed (A. tuberosa), Green Milkweed (A. viridis), and probably other of our native Asclepias spp. Also, Climbing-Milkweed (Sarcostemma cynanchoides) and probably others." Dale Clark, who is the site's creator, raises butterflies for a living to supply zoos & butterfly houses all over the country. Hope this helps as well...I have Queens here just west of DFW & have never seen a queen cat on my Common Milkweed...only on A.curassavica, asperula & viridis...& I have all of them in my BF garden. Good luck, Lila Here is a link that might be useful: Dallas CountyLepidopterists' Society
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If I had already planted milkweeds grown from seed I'd leave them in place. You have a small enough area that if you wanted to, you could eradicate milkweed pretty easily, or you could control it simply by watching where it comes up each spring and removing the ones you don't want. That is the advantage of a small garden - you can monitor each plant personally, and control the aggressive ones by hand pulling, digging, etc. I would, in future summers, limit the milkweed to maybe 5 or 6 stems. This will be wnough to support a couple of caterpillars, but won't occupy too much space in the garden. You will learn to recognize the new shoots in the spring, and you can pull them up with some of the rhizome that in underneath and i think you'll have OK control.
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virginia-garden
14 years ago
This is great to know, I'm going to try rooting some cuttings!
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ceaser7
14 years ago
O.K. I ran across this post and I'm wondering what part of the milkweed plant do you use for cuttings?

Thank You in Advance
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roper2008
14 years ago
I also could only successfully transplant small milkweeds. I put them into
pots for my monarchs. This is the first year I'm getting flowers, and they
are very fragrant, that is a nice surprise.
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leubafr
14 years ago
To take cuttings of the Milkweed plant, take 8-10" cuttings, pull of bottom leaves and put directly into a container of water. Within a week or two, most will have taken root. Then you just plant as usual.

I came across this way of propagation by cutting stems to put into my nets to show the children at school the metamorphasis of the Monarch BF. Even after the caterpillar had eaten all the leaves off the stem, I just kept it in the water.

Hope this helps anyone who needs the info.

Mary
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