Grow Milkweed Plants

July 4th, 2024 In this episode we

• Recap Pollinator Week June 17th-23rd Order Milkweed Across the USA!: POM POM Paradise! Your purchase supports the show and you can enjoy the milkweed from Spring thru Winter between the pages of the book. 
• Shoutout to listener Mindy Frohlich and the staff at Millcreek Gardens!
• Member Questions from Grow Milkweed Plants Facebook Group

1. Does regular care/water inhibit milkweed flowering? I’ve nursed one for three years now, (left pic) and it’s never flowered even though I can find some much smaller flowering in the wild. Am I inadvertently fooling my plant somehow to not produce flowers? TIA. near Dallas. I’m assuming green milkweed..

2. So sad, this morning I was excited to check with the caterpillar and the ladybug that's on my milkweed but they're gone..did some insects came to devour them..all I have left is the poop...

• Milkweed Science Minute: links to facebook Pollinium Germination and Putative Ovule Penetration in Self- and Cross-pollinated Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca Author(s): Adam P. Kahn and Douglass H. Morse Source: The American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 126, No. 1 (Jul., 1991), pp. 61-67

Have a very monarch summer!

If it's good for the butterflies. It's good for me.

Host: Brad Grimm

Recorded January 2023. 

Boby Gendron presents Asclepias from across the western United States.

Asclepias fascicularis plants living dangerousely close to the highway where mowing was preventing it from reseeding the surrounding area. 

Seeds were collected and grown and planted back, along the fenceline to ensure the success of these plants into the future. 

Grow your own milkweed from seed. Order seeds now at growmilkweedplants.com/store

View the video presentation on YouTube at https://youtu.be/B6hDbCMm_bU

Tweet inviting the public to watch the presentation live. https://twitter.com/elizabethRGV956/status/1682094411755270144?s=20

Presentation notes from the International Western Monarch Summit 2023.

Dr Gail Morris, Southwest Monarch Study Coordinator. Divergent Migration Destinations and Overwintering Strategies of Monarchs in the Southwest.

Patrick Anthony Guerra, University of Cincinnati. This or That? Orientation and Navigational Mechanisms of Monarchs who Migrate from Arizona to Overwintering in Either California or Mexico.

Dr. Francis Villablanca, Cal Poly San Luis Obisps. Milkweed is not Milkweed is not Milkweed. Milkweed Butterflies: DANAINA, AMAURINA, EPULOEINA, ITUNINA. OUABAIN Heart Medecine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouabain

Becky Martin, Toyota Corp. Sustainability Manager for Toyota. Seed Grants.

Lumberjill Garden by Dana watch the Jarmination video on YouTube. Be sure to like and subscribe to the Lumberjill Garden channel https://youtu.be/SaDAqwi_0H4

Summarizing the events on the morning of day two of the International Western Monarch Summit 2023. Keynote speaker Dr. Myron Zalucki sets it straight that more data is needed on the Western Monarch Migration and milkweed distribution in the western United States.

Becca Lucas is a member of the YAK TITʸU TITʸU YAK TIŁHINI (YTT) NORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBE OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND REGION. Presentation on enviromental stewardship of the Northern Chumash. This is our promise "Return the land to us and the trees will stand until they fall down on their own." YTT Northern Chumash Tribe website https://www.northernchumashtribe.com/

Dra. Ek del Val Efforts to Conserve Monarch Butterflies in Mexico

Dr. Ryan Norris Effects of neonicotinoid on the development, survival, reproductive output and migratory orientation of monarch butterflies. MOTUS Wildlife Tracking System https://motus.org/

Amanda Barth Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies WAFWA's Western Monarch Conservation Plan  https://wafwa.org/wpdm-package/western-monarch-butterfly-conservation-plan-2019-2069/

Direct download of "THE PLAN" https://wafwa.org/wpdm-package/western-monarch-butterfly-conservation-plan-2019-2069/?wpdmdl=13048&refresh=63f06e0c8db851676701196&ind=1602171186650&filename=WAFWA_Monarch_Conservation_Plan.pdf

After a break of nearly two years. I have returned with great content to keep you plugged into the strides being made to support monarch butterflies. This eposide remineses about the 2020/2021 work done with Monarch Sanctuary Project near Austin Texas. In January monarch people from all around decended on San Luis Obispo, California for the International Western Monarch Summit 2023. On this episode I reference my hand written notes to share what I heard from Dr. David James during his presentation Western Monarchs: the Importance of a Holistic Understanding. I update you on my recent gardening exploits at the "Ghost Garden".

GMP 50: National Plant A Flower Day

Sarah and I sow seeds and plant plants to enhance a habitat for The Monarch Sanctuary Project.

Follow The Monarch Sanctuary Project on Facebook

or

Follow The Monarch Sanctuary Project on Instagram

Watch the video on Facebook

Guest host: Sarah Koschoreck

Host: Brad Grimm

GMP 49: Western Monarch Count 2020

1914 Monarchs counted in the 2020 Western Monarch Count.

See the data: https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WMTC-Data-1997-2020_1.12.2021.pdf

Host: Brad Grimm

Winter be damned. I'm gonna grow milkweed right thru the frost. Arizona milkweed and Aquatic milkweed are the number one stunners of the season. Tropical's persist, or die, depending on the duration of freezing weather.  

Seed starting tips: put is soil and wait, put in soil cover with lid and wait, clip and water germinate, don't clip and water germinate. So there isn't one best way. Try different ways and see how the seeds start best for you. I learned that Aquatic milkweed likes to sit in soil for nearly a month before germinating. Most other milkweed seeds will germinate in one to two weeks. 

Inspired by this wonderful Christmas gift from my wife I decided to try growing milkweed in a jar. I rinsed out the honey jar and added soil. Sprinkled a pinch of Milkweed Medley on the surface of the soil and watered the seeds and soil. Placed the cap w/ holes on the jar. Set it on the window sill and in a few weeks these milkweed plants are growing! 

Jars are not great for milkweed because over watering and fungal disease is likely to occur without drainage holes.

The double-cup is a good way to care for seedlings. In the top cup you poke drainage holes. I poke three holes with the tip of my paring knife. Add soil to the cup with drainage holes. Add milkweed seeds. In this cup I am growing Green antelopehorn Asclepias viridis. Water the seed into the soil. Place the top cup in the bottom cup and place in a sunny window. 

Store link: https://www.growmilkweedplants.com/store 

Host: Brad Grimm