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Transplanting Milkweed and Monarchs

15 years ago

Hi,

I have some common milkweed plants growing in various places in my yard, including in my grass. I'd like to isolate these plants to one location --the area behind the garage. So, my questions are:

1. What is the best way to do this? Pull up the existing plants and replant them in the new area, or take the seeds from inside the pods and plant those?

2. Being that it is late August now, would uprooting these plants be detrimental to any possible Monarch butterfly reproduction, or are we past that stage?

Thanks.

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Comments (8)

lycopus
15 years ago
It is better to grow them from seed. Milkweeds have a long taproot and are difficult to transplant.

The monarchs might have one more brood this season. It takes about 30 days for them to go from egg to adult stage, and I have seen them on goldenrods as late as September. Saw a pair mating yesterday.
reinholdt
Original Author
15 years ago
Lyco,

Thanks for the reply. So, can I just use the seeds (if there are any) from inside those pods that hang on the milkweed, or do I have to go to the store and buy them?

Thanks.
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Hi there, Sounds like you have a good plan for your Monarch caterpillars when they come again. You didn't state your location, but with butterfly gardens we hope to attract a lot of species that are native to our yards. Once you know what could potentially come through your yard, then you can start to learn what their host plants are (these are the plants that caterpillars have to eat; Monarchs eat milkweeds, fritillaries eat violets, and so one). Another very important piece of the pie is nectar plants. This can also take some research, but if we know your area, then it's easier to tell you what is good to plant. Plants that are native to your area are a really good investment--most of the are host plants to many different kinds of butterlies and moths, are good nectar plants, and produce seeds for birds. Our page here has a FAQ section which is the first thing I should have mentioned. :) Gardening practices are very important too--no pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and butterfly gardens call for different fall clean-up strategies as most of our butterflies & moths overwinter in some form.
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Well Wis Tom, NO I have not been organic gardening since the 70's lol, but I did garden during that period. There is no need to convince you of my qualifications on Monarchs, GMO's, Monsanto etc., but I'm glad you read my talking points, hopefully it helped. What does it have to do with trees? Well I did qualify the post with which tree would best help the Monarch, or did you not read that? But you and Brandon made the thread a war zone not I. Let's look at the first responses of Brandon and yourself - shall we? "sensationalism/spam" from ol' Brandon "Alarmist media" "Attain your level of wisdom" from you Tom The reality is you two psuedo-intellectuals have no idea whatsoever as to what your talking about in this matter or in your case Tom you may want to get back to the sales dept of Monsanto.
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Thanks for the reply, Glenn. Last year I got ambitious and studied milkweeds that would grow in Florida. I got as many of those that Prairie Moon Nursery sold and was a little surprised that they instruct to cold stratify. Mmmm weird. But I took the time to do that with each pack. I ended up with hundreds of seedlings. The monarchs found the baby plants and waited til I wasn't looking and laid eggs. I had to relocate the tiny cats to mature Milkweed in the garden in order to save those poor seedlings that were almost naked by the time I discovered my dilemma. So I built a covered "porch" over the nursery so the mama monarchs couldn't get in. I spent hours and hours nurturing my new Milkweed plants with visions of their flowers covering every square inch of my tiny yard. Well, you guessed it.......not a one made it through the summer. And that's why I am so interested in what other people have had success with for their monarch cats.
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lycopus
15 years ago
Should be able to use what you have. When they are ready the pods will darken and eventually start to split. You can pull off the 'fluff' and plant the seeds anytime in the fall for plants next year.
fatamorgana2121
15 years ago
Not only will you get seeds for "free" collecting from your own plants, those plants will be perfectly suited to your growing conditions and so much better than any bought seed.

Milkweed is a perennial. It will take a number of years (maybe 2-3) for the plants to achieve full size from seed. I would allow a new patch of milkweed to establish before removing the old one of you want to keep butterfly habitat at your place.

If you can find small (1st year) plants in the established patches next spring, you may be able to move them since they so don't have a big root system yet. But no guarantees there. Seeds are the best option.

FataMorgana
Robin Ladowski
14 years ago
Hi! I also have ALOT of common milkweed growing in my yard. I have pulled it out(After monarch migration) because it was taking over. I did not find a deep taproot at all. I find that the milkweed sends out runner roots and they are only 3"-4" under the soil. Try digging some up and see. You can seed behind the garage but you will still have milkweed where it is now-even in the grass-if you do not dig it out. You werent going to use weed killer on it, were you?? I'm sure you were not.
reinholdt
Original Author
14 years ago
Robin, no I wasn't planning on using weed killer -- just my hands. I would like to remove the milkweed plants now, unless you think the Monarchs are still using them in zone 5?

Thanks.
fatamorgana2121
14 years ago
Monarchs can still be using them pretty late in the season. I would wait. You may wish to try looking in the butterfly garden forum for info. Found this there.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: Can I transplant milkweed?
terrene
14 years ago
I've got a patch of wild A. syriaca growing - of all places - in the middle of a woodland garden. It grows quite well, although it doesn't flower because there isn't enough sun. I tried to transplant all of it last fall to another spot. Well, only a couple small plants appeared in the new spot, and the old spot still had plenty of plants. So much for transplanting "all" the plants. LOL

Perennial milkweeds can be transplanted but will take time to re-establish, plus they will also regenerate itself from old pieces of roots left behind. I've tried starting A. syriaca from seed, with limited success. The wild patches that planted themselves have done much better.

Whether or not you still have Monarch larval activity depends on where you live. Very possible there are still caterpillars eating the leaves. You should be able to find them without too much difficulty if you take a look. I raise Monarchs and just found an egg on the common Milkweed 2 days ago! Very late for egg-laying at this location.

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cold stratification?

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