Grow Milkweed Plants

Latest Episodes:

GMP 48: Zone 8b Mild Winter Milkweed Growing and Seed Starting Jan 24, 2021

Show notes

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

GMP 47: RIP Tropical Milkweeds Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

RIP Tropical Milkweeds: Putting Your Garden To Bed This Autumn

Monarchs are in northern Mexico. Right on schedule for Day of the Dead.

Not all tropical milkweed are created equal.

Why native milkweed won't thrive in a subdivision

(paid link) Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks

Bringing Nature Home, Updated and Expanded: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants

Arizona milkweed finally has a pollinator on the flowers. Western honey bee is moving from goldenrod to late blooming Arizona milkweed. To be fair to the plant. It blooms and fruits all summer long until there is a frost.

GMP 46: A Dose of Milkweed with Danny Sanchez Apr 19, 2020

Show notes

A Dose of Milkweed with Danny Sanchez

Danny began gardening at an early age. Take a look at one of Danny's earliest experiences in the garden.

Danny's passion for gardening has only grown over the years.

Guest: Danny Sanchez

instagram @adoseofdannysgarden

facebook Danny Sanchez

YouTube A Dose of Danny

Host: Brad Grimm

Music licensed by Epidemic Sound

GMP 45: Blood Avocados And The Cartel Feb 29, 2020

Show notes

2/28/2020 Grow Milkweed Plants Podcast Episode 45

For complete show notes visit www.growmilkweedplants.libsyn.com

Two tour guides at a monarch reserve in Mexico have been found dead. Foul play is suspected. https://www.mimorelia.com/localizan-sin-vida-a-raul-hernandez-guia-turistico-de-la-mariposa-monarca/amp/

LA Times reports that a bloody war is brewing over "Blood Avocados". Is no one safe anymore? https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-20/mexico-cartel-violence-avocados

Sign the Change.org petition to boycott blood avocados from Mexico. https://www.change.org/p/whole-foods-boycott-mexican-avocados-buy-fair-trade

Xerces Society has released the Monarch Butterfly count for Western Monarchs; and they are bad. 29,418 monarchs counted. Below the threshold considered sustainable. Will the monarch migration in the West collapse? https://xerces.org/blog/western-monarchs-need-our-help-more-than-ever

Dr. Chip Taylor from Monarch Watch weighs in on western monarchs and the impact climate may have on the population. https://monarchwatch.org/blog/2020/02/25/monarchs-and-climate-in-the-west/?fbclid=IwAR2OuYfDhqegGypEdu92wPjpSzu_rbcRiSo8d5ZPLMNWmkFUnq2MHN967Lc

Host: Brad Grimm

GMP 44: Giant Milkweed and Hawaiian Monarchs of Kauai Hawaii Jan 19, 2020

Show notes

44 GMP PODCAST SHOW NOTES

Rotary Club of South Reno Octoberfest silent auction. Check their events calendar for details about upcoming event tickets. renosouthrotary.com/ Air Carrier used for the 2019 trip to Lihue (LIH) Kauai, HI was Alaska Air alaskaair.com Ground transportation used was Dollar car rental dollar.com Accommodations used Ali'i Kai Resort, Princeville aliikairesort.com Top 5 places to look at Calotropis plants in Kauai:

#5 Calotropis gigantea and Calotropis procera. Kauai Seascapes Nursery Inc 4741 Kahiliholo Rd # A Kilauea, HI 96754 kauaiseascapesnursery.com
#4 Private Residence (near public road) Calotropis procera. 5204 Kawaihau Rd Kapaa, HI 96746
#3 Kapa'a First Hawaiian Church. Calotropis gigantea. Enjoy from public road. Advise not to enter property without permission. Address 4-1325 Kuhio Hwy Kapaa, HI 96746 North side of property.
#2 Puakea Golf Course Park Calotropis gigantea. 4391 Nuhou St Lihue, HI 96766 look East toward Costco Gas Station
#1 Kekaha Beach Park Calotropis procera. 1-7698 Kaumualii Hwy Kekaha, HI 96756

Calotropis gigantea is propagated by stem cuttings. Place the cut part in water and watch for roots. Calotropis procera is propagated by seed. I sell this seed at growmilkweedplants.com/procera $8.00 Hawai'i has two native butterflies. Hawaiians should get to know them. Love them. Grow their host plants. 1 Udara blackburni which can go by the names Koa butterfly, Hawaiian Blue or Blackburn's Butterfly. The host plant for Udara blackburnii includes but is not limited to the following species. Dodonaea viscosa (Broad leaf hopbush) and Acacia koaia (Koai'a). 2 Vanessa tameamea goes by the names Kamehameha butterfly and the Hawaiian name of pulelehua. Host plants include but are not limited to Pipturus albidus (Mamaki). Grow Milkweed Plants launched a Free Milkweed Seeds program on October 1st 2019. Did you read the email? email link $475 was raised in a facebook fundraising campaign. Grow Milkweed Plants matched $500. The goal was to ship 250 packets of Free Milkweed Seeds to 250 people by Christmas Day 2019. The goal was achieved!!! Learn more about the program at growmilkweedplants.com/freeseeds Consider purchasing a packet that funds a packet of Free Milkweed Seeds for others or make a direct donation thru the PayPal link provided on that webpage.

GMP 43: Tucson Area Milkweed Jan 08, 2020

Show notes

MILKWEED HIT LIST ✔️ Asclepias asperula https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62298

✔️ Asclepias nyctaginifolia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62294

✔️ Asclepias tuberosa https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47912

✔️ Asclepias linaria https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62295

✔️ Asclepias hypoleuca https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/158742

✔️ Asclepias nummularia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/158751

GMP 41: Florida milkweed rundown and some fun over asclepias in Nevada Jul 13, 2019

Show notes

What you will hear in this episode.

Asclepias cryptoceras grows in a remote location on a shale slope in the Great Basin east of Reno NV. Three experts and me have an unplanned meeting in the mountains and talk milkweed over a rare milkweed.

Cocoa Beach Florida has sun and fun but I take a time-out under an umbrella to talk about the diverse number of locally native milkweeds in central Florida.

Guests: Anurag Agrawal, Elizabeth Pringle, Aramee Diethelm

Host: Brad Grimm

GMP 40: Oh snap! Las Vegas has a lot of milkweed. May 11, 2019

Show notes

Monarch Population Status

The Xerces Society Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count 1997-2018

The Western Monarch Thanksgiving & New Year's Counts

Second New Year's Count Supports Monarchs Movement Between Sites

This master gardener is luring monarchs to Las Vegas

Host: Brad Grimm

Guests: Anne Marie Lardeau, Glenda Bona, Nestor Robles, David Dewenter

ROYALTY FREE MUSIC by BENSOUND

GMP 39: Milkweed butterflies of the Rio Grande Valley Oct 27, 2018

Show notes

Jet down to Oleander Acres to see if milkweed really is bigger in Texas.

GMP 38: Tahoe-Pyramid Trail Exploration Aug 28, 2018

Show notes

I still laugh about the first time I "found milkweed". It was actually dogbane. I revisit this location and walk along the Truckee river in Reno Nevada. Learn about the different kinds of leaf damage on milkweed leaves. Milkweed bugs make a living on the leaf and we meet both the small milkweed bug and red milkweed beetle.

Support the show by clicking thru the E-Z Straw amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2MXtQWh E-Z Straw is the perfect mulch for busy professionals who have a large container garden in need of mulch.

For incomplete show notes visit growmilkweedplants.com/38

Podcast Location: Mayberry Park, Reno, Nevada

Host: Brad Grimm

Intro Music: sunny - Bensound.com Outro Music: acusticbreeze - Bensound.com

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected