Harvesting Milkweed Seeds

Finally a day of no rain.  I have been working at cutting down all of my cone flowers and today I started cutting down the milkweed.  I thought that I would talk about Milkweed and how to harvest the seeds from the seed pods.

I love the close up photo of the individual flowers that make up the larger milkweed flower.

Milkweed plants get a bad rap and I think it is because of the word 'weed' that is part of the name.  The flowers have a wonderful scent and last for quite some time.  Also the plant stalk is strong so the can withstand a strong wind or rain storm.

The Monarchs love them but they are also favorites of the bees.  The top photo is a honeybee, the middle photo is a bumble bee, and the bottom photo is a Monarch.

There are a few things that you need to know before you start cutting down the milkweed stalks. 

The milkweed plant contains cardiac glycosides which are like digitalins that are used to treat some heart diseases.  These glycosides are absorbed by the monarch butterfly larvae whose sole source of food is the milkweed foliage.  This is what makes the larvae and adult Monarchs toxic to birds and other predators. 

The sap can be very irritating if you get it on your skin. But it can be very dangerous if you get it in your eyes.  To be safe always wear gloves and safety glasses when cutting down the stalks which is when you will be exposed to the milky sap.

Collect the seed pods before they split open.  Inside the seed pod are round flat seeds.  Each seed has a little tuft of silk attached to it.  This allows the seed to float away in a breeze to grow elsewhere which expands their territory.

Planting seeds that have the silk attached can be a real pain.  But thanks to YouTube there is a person or two who have perfected the method for removing the silk and leaving just the seeds.

 Mona Miller

Shane Simpson

The seeds need to winter over before they will sprout so plant in the fall.  Sometimes it will take a year or so before it sprouts.  But you will have plenty of seeds to sow so that isn't a problem.  Milkweed is a perennial plant and will die back in the fall and sprout again in the spring.  Each year the plant will grow a bigger taller stalk. First year plants may or may not have flowers.  Plant the seeds where you ultimately want the plant.  Milkweed plants do not transplant well especially full grown milkweed plants.

Sow the seeds into loosened soil and then kick back and wait until the next year.  Also, pat yourself on the back for helping the Monarch butterfly.

Reuse Repurpose Recycle