Sowing: Direct sow butterfly milkweed seeds slightly below the surface in late autumn. After the last frost in the spring, the seeds will germinate. When the seedlings appear, thin to the strongest plant; seedlings rarely survive transplanting because they dislike having their roots disturbed. Before direct sowing in the spring, combine the seeds with damp sand and chill for 30 days.
Growing: Young plants should be irrigated until they establish themselves; adult plants can endure drought, and too wet soil will injure the roots. This plant develops slowly, and flowering can take up to two years. Though not invasive, if left to self-seed, this plant will eventually spread. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are drawn to the flowers. This plant is avoided by deer. If aphids become a problem, use a forceful stream of water to dislodge them from the plant.
Harvesting: This blossom is attractive as a cut flower. These flowers have a longer vase life than most milkweed kinds since the stems do not contain milky sap. Choose flowers that have just opened and cut the stems long.
Seed saving: After the plant has finished flowering, it will produce 3-4″ slender pods. Butterfly milkweed pods should be harvested before they break and the silky fluff sweeps the seeds away on the breeze. Remove the pods and spread them out to dry as soon as the seeds within have matured to a mature brown color. Remove the silky seed material from the pods by splitting them open. Using your fingers, remove the fluff off the seeds. Keep the seeds in a cool, dry location.
Do butterfly weed seeds need cold stratification?
Butterfly Milkweed seeds, like other milkweeds (but not all), must be cold stratified for a period of time to break dormancy, but only if they are new (just harvested). If you’re using newly obtained seeds for growth the following spring, they can also be winter sown or fall planted. If cold stratifying indoors, allow at least 30 days for the process.
Asclepias tuberosa seeds, on the other hand, will eventually come out of dormancy. No cold stratification is required because our seeds have already broken dormancy and will germinate within a week or two after sowing.
To plant the seeds, lightly press them into the soil’s surface and cover them with about 1/16 of dirt, as light aids germination. For the final plant, use roughly 2-3 seeds. Plants should be roughly 18 inches apart.
If planted in the spring, there will be spotty blooming the first year, but the following summer will yield much stronger, blooming plants. Summer blooming plants can also be started from seed in the summer and planted in the fall for the following spring. Butterfly Weed is a late bloomer in the spring, so don’t give up if it doesn’t appear right away.
The plant, like other milkweeds, produces a seed pod that, when dry, opens to release the seeds connected to it “The seed is able to float away in the breeze because of the “fluff.” Simply wait until the pod begins to split open if you want to save seed for next year’s plants. You can then open it and harvest the seed while the plant is still alive “The “fluff” is still silky smooth. You may either sow these seeds in the fall and wait for them to germinate in the spring, or you can cold stratify them and plant them in the spring.
How do you germinate a butterfly seed?
Butterfly bush can be started from seed indoors and transferred outside after the first frost.
- Using a seed starting kit, sow butterfly bush seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before the last spring frost date.
- Provide lots of light on a sunny windowsill as soon as seedlings emerge, or grow seedlings 3-4 inches under fluorescent plant lights turned on 16 hours per day and off for 8 hours at night. As the plants grow taller, increase the light intensity. Incandescent bulbs will not work since they will become too hot throughout the operation. Most plants need darkness to flourish, so don’t leave the lights on for more than 24 hours.
- Seedlings don’t require much fertilizer, so start feeding them when they’re 3-4 weeks old using a starter solution (half strength of a complete indoor houseplant meal) and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
- If you’re growing in small cells, you may need to move seedlings to 3 or 4 inch pots once they’ve developed at least two pairs of genuine leaves before transplanting to the garden to give them enough room to develop strong roots.
- Seedling plants must be “hardened off” before being planted in the garden. Move young seedlings to a covered spot outside for a week to acclimate them to outdoor conditions. At first, make sure they’re protected from the wind and the sun. If frost is forecast for the night, cover or bring containers inside, then return them to their original location in the morning. The plant’s cell structure is toughened during the hardening off process, which lowers transplant shock and scorching.
- Turn the soil under to a depth of 6-12 inches, remove any debris, and carefully rake as level as possible to prepare the bed.
- Organic matter (leaf mold, compost, well-rotted manure) is beneficial to all gardens and is especially important in newly built neighborhoods.
- To encourage excellent root growth, unpot the plant and gently loosen the root ball with your hands.
- Place the root ball’s top at the same level as the surrounding soil. Fill to the top of the root ball with soil. With your hand, firmly press the earth down.
- To conserve water and reduce weeds, water well and add a light mulch layer (1-2 inches) on top of the soil.
When should I start my butterfly weed seeds?
When the seed pods of butterfly weed begin to split, harvest them. In the late fall, seeds can be sown immediately outdoors or begun indoors.
In early to mid-November, build up the soil in a protected spot before spreading seeds outside.
Cover the seeds with about 1/4 inch of dirt after scattering them over the prepared seed bed.
Seed germination is aided by the cold, damp conditions of winter.
In the spring, seedlings should sprout.
When the seedlings are 3 to 4 inches tall, carefully move them to their permanent places.
Fill a flat with commercial germination material to start seeds inside (such as Jiffy Mix).
The medium should be moistened.
Scatter the seeds on the germination medium’s surface and lightly push them into the substance.
Add another 1/4 inch of germination mix on top of the seeds.
Moisten the additional material with care.
Place the bundled flat in the refrigerator after sliding it into a plastic bag.
Refrigerate the flat for a period of 4 to 6 weeks.
Remove the flat from the refrigerator after 4 to 6 weeks and set it in a room with a temperature of 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
In 3 to 4 weeks, the seeds should start to germinate.
(If no seedlings appear after four weeks, refrigerate the flat for another four to six weeks and continue the process.)
As soon as seedlings appear, remove the flat from the plastic bag and place it under fluorescent lights in a 60 to 65 degree Fahrenheit environment.
When the seedlings are 1 to 2 inches tall, transplant them into individual pots.
Continue to develop the seedlings indoors for a few more weeks under fluorescent lights.
Place the seedlings in a dark, protected spot outside before planting, then gradually expose the seedlings to greater periods of direct sun.
After the seedlings have been hardened off for 10 to 14 days outside, plant them in their permanent positions.
Will butterfly weed bloom first year?
Milkweed, also known as asclepias, is native to North America, and one of them, Asclepias tuberosa, has been named Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association this year. This plant, sometimes known as butterfly weed or butterfly milkweed, has bright orange flowers that attract a variety of butterflies and bees with nectar and pollen. Butterfly weed’s foliage isn’t a favorite food of monarch caterpillars, but it can help them survive. This drought-tolerant plant prefers a dry, sunny environment and is hardy in Zones 3 to 9.
Upright stems with clusters of bright orange flowers contrast attractively with the shiny green leaves of butterfly weed. Unlike other members of the genus, the stem sap is not milky. This milkweed is not invasive since it does not spread by runners like common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Although deer are not attracted to butterfly weed, aphids can be an issue in gardens and greenhouses.
This plant is expected to be in great demand in the next years. Butterfly weed blooms readily the first year after seeding, but there are a few key points to remember if you want to grow it commercially.
This species displays some of the most extreme photoperiod reactions we’ve ever seen. It’s an obligatory long-day plant, which means it has to flower during long days. When grown at an average of 68° F, plants develop quickly under photoperiods of 14 hours or more, and begin flowering about eight to nine weeks after transplant. Plants that are exposed to photoperiods of 12 hours or less, on the other hand, die dormant after a few days (Figure 1, pictured above). Leaves droop, shoot growth appears to stop, and existing flower buds may suffocate (Figure 2). Unfortunately, simply reverting to longer days will not return the plants to active growth. A nine-week or longer cold treatment is required to break this dormancy; in our testing, all dormant plants treated to 41° F for 15 weeks bloomed.
It is critical to provide long days to plants in order to keep them actively growing. We propose at least 16 hours of daylight or four hours of night disruption illumination. A minimum intensity of 2 molm2s1 should be delivered by photoperiodic illumination. Use incandescent lights or LED bulbs intended to control blooming that emit both red and far-red radiation. Maintain these extended photoperiods for plants until natural daylengths reach at least 14 hours.
Butterfly weed has a huge tap root, making transplanting or dividing established plants difficult. It’s critical to utilize a well-drained medium in container production, so consider adding more perlite to a standard peat+perlite mix. During production and cold treatments, be careful not to over-water. The taproot attracts fungus gnat larvae, so keep an eye on the roots if your plants aren’t doing well.
Butterfly weed can grow up to 3 feet tall in the wild, but in container production, our plants were only 12 to 18 inches tall when they first bloomed. Sprays of daminozide (e.g., B-Nine, Dazide), paclobutrazol (e.g., Piccolo, Bonzi), and uniconazole (e.g., Piccolo, Bonzi) are apparently helpful for height management (e.g., Sumagic, Concise). To help fill out containers, use many plugs per pot or squeeze seedlings soon after transplant.
How do you speed up cold stratification?
Freezing and thawing: When compared to storing seeds at a constant refrigerator temperature, freezing and thawing appears to speed up the stratification process.
Should I soak milkweed seeds before planting?
- Soak milkweed seeds for several hours or overnight in water; tap water will suffice.
- After the seeds have soaked, place them in a sealed plastic bag with moist stratification mix (we mean “wet” as in a damp sponge with no surplus water).
- For at least two weeks, keep the bag of damp seeds in their mix refrigerated. 30 days of cool wet stratification gives 85% germination or better for several Asclepias species.
- Check your seeds once or twice a day; some seeds, such as A. incarnata and A. tuberosa, may germinate in the bag.
Do butterfly bush seeds need stratification?
Place your seed packet in a freezer-safe plastic bag and freeze it for at least four weeks. Place loose seeds in a paper envelope first, then in the plastic bag. This is a process known as “stratification,” and it will aid in the germination of butterfly bush seeds.
How do you stratify seeds quickly?
The most reliable approach to stratify seeds is in a moist medium in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic. Larger seeds do best when placed in a plastic bag with damp peat or sand.
Seeds that are smaller can be strewn onto damp paper towels.
It’s important to keep them moist but not soggy.
The bag is designed to keep moisture in, but the seeds, like all living things, need to breathe.
By breaking the top of the bag open or punching a few small holes into the bag, you may ensure enough ventilation during cold stratification.
I usually use Ziploc storage bags and leave the top open.
Some instructions will tell you to moisten the medium with a little water and hydrogen peroxide, which will help to sanitize it and prevent mold.
I’ve never found this to be essential, and if you do, try reducing the amount of water in the towels, boosting airflow, or relocating them to a cooler area in the fridge (I keep them at the way back).