Out of all the videos I’ve been watching on Milkweed , no one has ever mentioned taking off the flowers or what to feed them when you run out of Milkweed. Thank you so much

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Glad helpful. I primarily grow swamp milkweed with some butterfly weed. This technique may not work as well for common milkweed. I just went out tonight and pinched off some of the flowers.

@srudie

22 күн бұрын

So will they put out flowers later on those other stems like other flowers do?

@homegrownfunfamily

22 күн бұрын

@@srudie for swamp milkweed, when I pinched the middle flower the plant grew more foliage and the side branches produced flowers. Those can stay or pinch a few off to force more growth. 😀

Also, cut a branch off and place in water to grow roots and multiply the amount of plants you have!

@SeedsofFaithGarden

8 ай бұрын

Wow, thanks for this. I went out and bought more plants.🤷🏽‍♀️

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Will take cuttings today and post results soon, great idea!

@heleavesthe99

5 күн бұрын

​@@homegrownfunfamily Have you posted it yet?

@homegrownfunfamily

5 күн бұрын

@@heleavesthe99 First attempt didn't work for me. I waited 3 weeks and no roots. Do you have great success with milkweed cuttings? I will try again. Maybe some in water and some in vermiculite.

@heleavesthe99

5 күн бұрын

@homegrownfunfamily I am trying it out for the first time. I am only on day two so we'll see what happens from here...🤞

I found that trick. It provides more shade and tender leaves. I just snap center at about a foot. Then snap side branches and have a bush. But my Monarchs have disappeared. I had seen them every year and would watch them flying south on way to Mexico.

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

I find some years heavy with monarchs and some not much. Maybe it's a cycle. Last season pests were more active than the year before.

Im so glad I watched this!

@SeedsofFaithGarden

8 ай бұрын

I had no idea! I had 15 at once and they stripped the three plants I had within a few days. I actually went out and bought more plants.🤦🏽‍♀️

So cool! Thanks for the tip!

Oh this is really helpful! I currently have a bunch that don’t have enough milkweed and I’ll make sure to prepare for this next year :)

OMG what an inspiring video. I will do that tomorrow! I am on the Florida Gulf coast and I have not seen nearly the number of butterflies from last year. They say hurricane Ian ruined the habitat. Last year I had dozens of zebra wing butterflies, which are our state butterfly. I saw ONE, weeks ago, but no caterpillars despite the fact that I have their host plant which is the corky stemmed passion flower. UPDATE 6-24 I am loaded with zebra butterflies! I am thankful every day that they have returned

@heleavesthe99

5 күн бұрын

Thank you for this information. I hope that you've seen more butterflies since this post. I will try and find the plants you mentioned. I'd like to see these butterflies as well 👍

Thank you for the tip.

Thank you so much for your video and helping us give them more food!

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this informative video! Nice to know. I am just starting my milkweed garden❤ Hi Buckaroo!🥰 There's wisdom in that face😊

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

Good luck with the new monarch garden! Buckaroo now thinks it's his mission to chase rabbits out of the milkweed 😂

Thank you! I didn’t think of this

@homegrownfunfamily

Жыл бұрын

I just successfully rooted a milkweed cutting in water and am testing cuttings in sand pockets outside this weekend! Will post more soon. Thank you for your comment!

That's awesome! I only had 2 caterpillars go to monarch this year. I did have more but ants and aphids crowded them out. I let both of my plants go to seed so hoping to start an army of milkweeds next spring.

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Hope you have good luck next time around! I find it goes in waves and my best years are when I move the milkweed closer to my house. My theory partly is that birds are less likely to attack them. This year the milkweed is in the back of my yard. Two seasons ago it was late August before I had caterpillars that "stuck". And then too many to feed.

@fearlv1rattata

Ай бұрын

​@@homegrownfunfamily you know now that you mention it, we had the two caterpillars completely safe when the milkweed was in a container right next to the house. Once they went to chrysalis in a net, I moved the containers to the center of the yard. Way more butterflies came to lay eggs but it probably attracted predators too. I will keep this in mind for next year!

Great Tip!!! Sharing on my Scripps Ranch Villages Butterfly Park page!!

I have alot of milkweed no monarchs this year! I'm scared they are endangered now. Last year I had so many this year I had 3 caterpillars that the wasps killed! I'm so 😔

@homegrownfunfamily

11 ай бұрын

I remember being worried last year because I had 6 bushy milkweed plants and no sign of monarchs around this same time. We went away for a week in mid August and I was convinced it waa too late. It was just a few days after we returned that I saw the first egg abd then all of a sudden the milkweed was being devoured by so many caterpillars at all different stages. They ate every last piece of foliage. Everywhere I walked there was one crawling away to pupate. It was early September before it all stopped. Hang in there. I'm in Southeast Virginia. This year I tripled the amount of milkweed. So I'm waiting too and wondering if the birds are getting them. I think wasps do take some but not all. Good luck, hang in there. You might be surprised soon! 😁 There are neat maps of the migration. I'll look for the link and reply again.

@homegrownfunfamily

11 ай бұрын

This is the site to get an idea of what people are seeing: maps.journeynorth.org/map/?map=monarch-egg-spring&year=2023

@daniastry8088

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the map ok u have given me hope I'm still increasing my milkweed supply and randomly scattering our native milkweed seeds all over my area to increase their chances with more habitat. Seeding in parks and areas I know don't get sprayed with pesticides or mowed down. We have to keep up the good fight Amen. Doing my part one seed at a time

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

I saw first monarch eggs yesterday - hopefully they will be as packed as last year. Have you seen any yet?

I'll keep that in mind!

this is great! We have milkweed & I hope we get lots of hungry caterpillars 🐛

@homegrownfunfamily

2 ай бұрын

Awesome! Just tonight I read this from Univ of Michigan Extension regarding common milkweed: "The potential solution we discovered is based on common milkweed’s remarkable ability to regrow after being cut back. Under most conditions, when a common milkweed stem is cut off near ground level, in about two weeks a new shoot will appear from the roots. These new shoots are highly attractive to female monarchs, receiving two to 10 times more eggs than older stems. In addition, regrowing stems harbor fewer predators, giving young monarchs a chance to grow. In our studies, survival of eggs and young larvae was two to 2.5 times higher on regrowing stems. We have observed that older stems are important, too. As caterpillars mature, they often move from younger stems onto the older ones, so it may be that maintaining diversity in milkweed stem age is key."

Buckaroo's face after you said hi. ☺️☺️

@homegrownfunfamily

6 ай бұрын

Yeah he's practicing mind control techniques on me haha

@FloridaSnowman

Ай бұрын

Good boy! 🐕

Wow, I'm glad I bumped into your page. I didn't know I needed to pinch off the flower. Yes it will hurt, but thank you.

@homegrownfunfamily

3 күн бұрын

Great, thanks for stopping by! Monarchs don't usually come in larhe numbers into my backyard until August so pinching is key so my plants don't expire too soon. 😀 Good luck with yours!

Should that be done any time of year? What do you do with the flowers after removing? I have a couple Desert Milkweed plants, and growing many native ones from seed, but this is all new to me! Tia

@homegrownfunfamily

9 ай бұрын

Good question on late season pruning! I focused on early season pruning to beef up the volume of milkweed and not sure how late season pruning will impact the monarchs or plants. See this article from Mich State Ext www.canr.msu.edu/news/regrow-milkweed-for-monarchs-a-citizen-science-study They were experimenting with later season pruning of common milkweed. The flowers I pruned off early I added to my pile of trimmings to create a hugelkultur bed. That's very cool that you're griwing a variety of milkweeds!

@srudie

22 күн бұрын

Following

Hi! I have a milkweed vine that has saved us when we have more caterpillars 🐛 than milkweed plants.

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Thanks, learned something new. Although I read on Iowa State's Ag Ext website it is least preferred milkweed by monarchs, they'll use it as a host plant. Better than nothing! Did not know a milkweed vine exusted. I found monarchs will eat butternut squash but not sure it gives them the nutrients they need to be viable. So milkweed vine would come in handy!

Great advice! Thank you!

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

Glad helpful! I read pinching off non-flowering tips also helps to create more fresh leaves.

@Hopespringseternal

10 ай бұрын

@@homegrownfunfamily thanks! Our plant was grown from seeds in my daughter’s class two years ago, so it’s still pretty small. We only had one develop into a chrysalis this year, and still had to supplement with butternut squash!

😮nice

Just planted some and pinched them today ty ty

is there a video on how you grew the milkweed??

@homegrownfunfamily

2 ай бұрын

The timing on this question is perfect. A few years ago I bought my first swamp milkweed plants as bare root (made sure asclepias incarnata L). They were inexpensive from Home Depot online. I purchased more last year and gave two to a dear friend. He planted them in a patio pot at his home in a retirement community. To his surprise they grew very well and he was excited to tell me all about the monarchs that visited. About a month ago we visited him and he had to use a walker to get around having just found out he was terminally ill. He wheeled over to a kitchen drawer and pulled out a bag containing a milkweed pod bursting with seeds. It was from the plant I gave him. He saw a video where someone had sprouted seed between layers of paper towels and hoped I could get them to grow. That same day at home, I drew upon my prior experiences and lined a large lettuce container with very damp paper towels and made 4 rows of seed spaced about a half inch apart. I also added seed between layers of coffee filters and tucked those into sandwich bags. All of it went into the fridge since I learned milkweed may sprout better after a bit of cold. After a few weeks I took the seed out of the fridge, taped the sandwich bags to an east-facing window and planted the other seed from the container into seed starting cells with lots of vermiculite added to finely textured potting soil. Not long after we got the devastating news of his passing. Another week went by and I lamented to my husband that I was worried they hadn't sprouted yet. Two days ago I looked closely at the bags taped to the window and the seeds had sprouted... took the top off the seed starting tray and those had sprouted too! Guess that's how you grow milkweed. 🌱 Yesterday was our friend's Celebration of Life (was supposed to be his birthday party). He had a long stint of selfless service to his country, family, and community, including an archery club for kids (our connection). I brought one of the bags with sprouted seeds as a tiny tribute. Today would have been his 87th birthday. This past winter I said I have no room left in my backyard for more milkweed...but will make room now. This would make a great video. However, the best content from my life usually doesn't make it to KZread. In this day and age that is a peculiar thing. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks thanks thanks!!!!!🌸

Awesome.

I do that with my coleus too

Makes great soup too

Good to know

What ever you do ware gloves when handle. I got the milky substance on my hand and oh Lordy I had like third degree burns worse than poison oak. Itched unbelievable and took three tubes of steroid cream to finally get rid of the rash. Love my butterflies but know to ware gloves when handling the poisoned plant . :)

@homegrownfunfamily

11 күн бұрын

Very good point! Just because I don't get a reaction doesn't mean others won't.

Is your milkweed common or swamp? Im just getting started. I don't want to pinch flowers off if i font have to. Thanks!😊❤

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

I have incarnata /swamp. I like it because it's not an aggressive spreader or weedy. Common is well suited for unmaintained areas, like the edges of a field. You can control common milkweed by removing seed pods. The key is to find out the native milkweeds for your area. 😄🌿

See you also do this for butterfly weed?

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Yes, I do treat them the same. Today the swamp milkweed has buds on it. I'm experimenting by pinching them off much sooner.

Do you also do this on butterfly weed?

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Early in the season you can pinch back young stems of butterfly weed (tuberosa) and even deadhead after they bloom to maybe get another flush of flowers! 😀

Milkweed??? That looks like butterfly weed. Not milkweed. Blessings everyone everywhere and always

@homegrownfunfamily

2 ай бұрын

Hi, it's a mix of incarnata and tuberosa but mostly the pink incarnata, swamp milkweed. I see that many people do not grow swamp milkweed depending on their location. Common milkweed looks different from swamp. Thanks for the comment!

Do you know if those are poisonous? I’m trying to find a milkweed plant that is safe to touch/eat(I have little kids at my house and don’t want them to get poisoned)

@homegrownfunfamily

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately, as you suspected, little kids should not eat milkweed or get the sap on their skin. Instead of a monarch habitat you could create a swallowtail friendly garden! My kids are not little anymore and luckily did not eat plants or play around any they were warned about. Even if your children are good listeners I understand your concern! From my many days running school gardens and making beautiful learning gardens at school and home, suggest planting Carrot, Dill, Fennel, Parsley, and Golden Alexander! These are not toxic in normal use and are so much fun to grow. My daughter is in high school now and still loves it when I grow fennel. She break off sprigs and chews on it. Milkweed cannot provide that magical snacking experience. Swallowtail caterpillars are enchanting and fun! They look different at various stages of molting and luckily for us, they eat many different plants so you're not relying on just milkweed. You need milkweed for monarchs to support the caterpillars 5 growth stages called instars. I have successfully fed monarch caterpillars butternut squash but they cannot survive on just squash. Also, if you do not have enough milkweed, monarch caterpillars will starve so a milkweed patch should be ample. One or two plants is usually not enough. There are many types of swallowtails too! Hope this helps! Would love your comments and questions again anytime :)

@eileen_the_wierdo

Жыл бұрын

@@homegrownfunfamily thank you so much for this!! I’ll go ahead and look into options like this!

I was under the impression If you're growing side branches you have dogbane not milkweed. Milkweed only grows as a single stem. Am i missing something?

@homegrownfunfamily

11 ай бұрын

There are so many types of milkweed. I wonder if common milkweed, often growing wild on roadsides, has one stem. I have swamp milkweed and it definitely will put on more side branches if topped off (way before monarchs start laying eggs). Your comment compelled me to research more and I started reading about how the root systems vary too. Some run by rhizomes and others do not. Some can be divided, others need to stay put and not disturbed. Looking at common milkweed from images online, it sure did look like one straight stem per plant. Now I see why there are articles entitled, "Common Milkweed vs. Dogbane." Many do not include "Common". The key for this discussion might be the variety of milkweed. Swamp (incarnata) might grow differently from Common (syriaca), butterfly weed (tuberosa) and so on. I learned from your input here that common milkweed, (which I do not grow) grows differently and that distinction would have been good to point out. I read cutting back common milkweed is a good thing to produce fresh new growth which will be more attractive to monarchs. Thx for the comment!

@MO-qd6tm

11 ай бұрын

@@homegrownfunfamily good to know! Thanks!

So they will all eat better net squash

@homegrownfunfamily

8 ай бұрын

They ate the butternut squash rings that I set out on the branches of the milkweed that I picked clean. Now the question is how well the squash works to give them the nutrition they need to pupate into a butterfly. From my experience, the caterpillars in their last stage of molting, really big, are probably able to best use squash as their "last meal". I would never think of raising monarchs on only squash. It was a desperate experiment because I had over a hundred voracious caterpillars that picked my six milkweed plants clean. They would eat entire rings of it. So the statement that monarchs only eat milkweed" is technically not true. However, milkweed is their host and in the wild they will seek out milkweed to lay their eggs. The more milkweed the better! 😁

do u cook the squash

@homegrownfunfamily

11 ай бұрын

Yes! So many ways. I even made pumpkin fruit leather! Roasted is favorite cooking method. Some of those heirloom squash and pumpkin are so flavorful! See one of my longer videos for that. Pumpkin fries too. Do you cook them?

@HollenbergR

Ай бұрын

​@@homegrownfunfamilyI think they meant for the monarchs' backup food, how do you prepare the squash? I'm also curious about that.

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Hi, no cooking, fresh and raw

@homegrownfunfamily

Ай бұрын

Raw butternut squash and flowers :)

Thank you for this ! 😊 I started to notice excess of flies and looked up what eats flies… birds. So I got a bird feeder and the whole entire neighborhood birds flock to my feeder literally I don’t think anyone else is doing this. Then I started to get lots of ants and I looked up what eat ants … catapillers. So now I’m growing milkweed. It’s a win win bc the birds can eat catapillers and the catapillers can eat the ants. Also we are low on butterflies 🦋 population… interesting … if you ask me 10 years ago I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

Very cool! It's all connected! Good luck with that little ecosystem you're creating!

You would have more food for the butterflies and other pollinators if you leave the flower heads on and more food for the caterpillars because they would go to seed and naturally reproduce.

@homegrownfunfamily

10 ай бұрын

That is one of many approaches. I have so many flowers that the butteflies are enjoying that were strategically planted alongside the milkweed. The flowers will eventually come but I learned that thry need massive amounts of milkweed leaves and to create this I pinch the milkweed back early in the season so it bushes out substantially. This year I have so much more biomass because of how I forced new branches to develop. Last year I ran out of milkweed surprisingly fast and I saw many caterpillars in their 2nd-4th instars go hungry. It is do true the saying, "You can never have enough milkweed." Something cool I just read too is that by pinching off some tips of older leaves the new growth will be extra attractive for the butterflies. Thanks for your comment, please do again, love it!

@joy1ess

10 ай бұрын

even with the thickening of side bushes, you will have double, triple the flowers too, and even more seeds, so cutting back and pruning is always a good idea