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Asclepias syriaca ?

11 years ago

I don't understand how this species can be considered a pest? I have a gravelly, weedy spot w/a few A. syriaca plants growing in it. They grow big beautiful leaves, equally beautiful flowers, LOTS of seed pods but no seeds...WHY? because the larvae of beetles (not sure what species)eat them before they ever leave the pod. How do these things even survive much less become pests?!

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Comments (3)

molanic
11 years ago
It is because it also spreads quite aggressively by underground runners. I planted a patch of it knowing its habits a few years ago and have not regretted it...yet. Since I raise monarchs I appreciate the rapid growth and large fleshy leaves. Swamp milkweed and butterfly weed can't compete in that respect. I have had sprouts pop up a good 4-5 feet away and turn into large clumps themselves, but that doesn't bother me...yet. I can see how that would not be desirable in a tidy planned flower bed. The stalks can also get quite tall and need staking after some wind/rain.
agkistrodon
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow! I didn't know Asclepias had underground runners! What I find interesting is that I haven't found a SINGLE caterpillar or even an egg on any of the milkweeds! When I was little I lived for awhile in New Zealand and we raised monarchs on milkweeds but I'm not sure of the species. It was not syriaca. Looked more like tuberosa but wasn't orange...anyway the monarchs ate EVERYTHING! There were caterpillars everywhere! But now I am in VA and we have swallowtails (mostly) and I saw one lone monarch yesterday but no caterpillars (of any species)! I was planning on gathering the Asclepias seeds and dropping them in a few more patches but I can't find any seeds...do you know if they transplant ok? I know tuberosa does not.
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Greylady, you can grow other species that are much better behaved and grow in clumps instead of spreading by runners. Swamp milkweed or Asclepias incarnata is a Monarch favorite and is easy to grow in the garden, prefers full sun and med-wet soil. Butterfly weed A. tuberosa is another good one for full sun, dry and well-drained soil. Tropical milkweed A. curassavica can be grown as an annual and has a longer bloom period. The Monarchs supposedly love this one too, we'll see because I winter-sowed a bunch of it and have lots of sprouts. I saw the first Monarch caterpillar on my Swamp milkweed last year.
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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
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I think it depends on how good your site is, how much competition from other plants, and how much messiness you can tolerate. Stopping the spread of seeds will not prevent syriaca plants from spreading underground. I have a clump of syriaca in a rich, weedy creek drainage in my yard, where I let a single plant spread over five years or so. It has migrated about ten feet (or more) inevery direction within this bed, though it is interspersed with other species (not a monoculture). Every spring I also find multiple stems erupting in my mowed yard, sometimes more than ten feet from the border. This, too, is not a problem, since I control its spread by mowing, but it shows the potential for spreading. I also grow three other milkweeds: butterfly, swamp (incarnata) and purple (purpurascens?). None of these spread like syriaca. Butterfly is both gorgeous and long-lived; it has never self-seeded or spread by root. Incarnata is elegant and well behaved -- in fact, clumps usually die out after a couple years. But they do self-seed in good soil with sun and not too much competition. Purple milkweed is like an improved version of syriaca (for garden purposes): smaller, with more colorful blooms, and less aggressive. It competes well with other tall plants (but not too well) and it does seem to spread underground to a small extent. Seems to be long-lived, too. I like them all, as do the monarchs and other butterflies. I think they can all have a place in a garden setting, but syrriaca is by far the most challenging.
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molanic
11 years ago
I haven't found as many monarch eggs or cats this year either. I have heard that because of the very mild winter in much of the country that there is a much larger population of their predators this year. I have my best luck finding eggs by watching for the females to lay the eggs and then immediately looking for them. If I wait until the next day, they oftentimes are all eaten already.

I have grown five different types of milkweed, all from seed that I have wintersown outside in containers and then planted out. They all transplanted well at the seedling stage and really took off. However many of them do have large tap roots that can make it hard to transplant mature plants. I did move an A. tuberosa that was a little over a foot tall and I dug the rootball down almost a foot which broke the taproot off. I thought it was dead because it was completely wilted after transplanting, but with plenty of watering it survived. It did take until the next year for it to fully recover though.

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