Growing milkweed?

[Iglow]

I've had a hard time finding any but did come across some at a dove shoot this year and got 3 pods. Have y'all ever grown any? I'd like to have a supply there in the backyard.

 

[Remington700]

https://tnpollinators.org/milkweed/

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

I have plenty of Milkweed.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I've got 6 packs of seed through the TDOT project milkweed deal that Remington700 posted. Got some of the taller variety and some of tbe shorter variety and we do have some naturally growing in our area but we're wanting to improve and enlarge our pollenator habitat with a variety of wildflowers and native warm season grasses.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

Around here anytime a field is allowed to grow up for a year or two, there's milkweed mixed in with the briars, etc.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Around here anytime a field is allowed to grow up for a year or two, there's milkweed mixed in with the briars, etc.

Sounds like great habitat...and thats part of the problem...today most fields are kept clean all the way to the edge of a closed canopy forest...but more landowners are learning that the edge and corners of a field generally don't produce crops as well due to there being less sunlight and theres more competition from trees for moisture and nutrients....so edge feather and ecotone zones are becoming more popular for the wildlife and pollenator habitat manager...great oppurtunity for land managers to let edges and corners grow up for a year or two...bush hog or burn every couple years...and even run a disk around edge to open up the seed bank. Very cost effective way to improve wildlife habitat.

 

[BSK]

Won't grow in the dry soil around my house, but the Harpeth River bottomlands (adjoined by the Harpeth Greenway) contain hundreds of acres of mostly milkweed and ironweed.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

I bush hogged some strips in. 3yr old field last week and picked several milkweed pods.
Surely there's some grown up fields you can grab a few from in your area.

 

[killingtime 41]

It grows on the sides of the road here and I've got a a bunch of it growing down many the mailbox. Picked a few pods couple years ago still have enough to use for now.

 

[30-06 type of guy]

Don't know where you're located but Yanahli always has plenty

 

[Wildcat]

It's been over 50 years since I talked about Milkweed. If I remember right it's easier to grow where there are wet places. In our 100-acre CRP field, we only find it in the low places and next to the creek that runs though the middle of the field.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

It's been over 50 years since I talked about Milkweed. If I remember right it's easier to grow where there are wet places. In our 100-acre CRP field, we only find it in the low places and next to the creek that runs though the middle of the field.

That is interesting that multiple people have stated that it is generally found in low lying areas. I have it on hill sides far from the creek bottom. I am starting to think i may have misidentified what it is.

 

[Volbuck777]

Catoosa is covered in it.

 

[TRHC]

That is interesting that multiple people have stated that it is generally found in low lying areas. I have it on hill sides far from the creek bottom. I am starting to think i may have misidentified what it is.

I've seen it occasionally on drier upland sites. As a matter of fact, I saw some last week up on bear hollow WMA on the side of the road up on top of the mountain. The pods had already burst open and had lost most of its floaters.

 

[knightrider]

But why?

 

[Iglow]

But why?

Just for wind checker.

 

[enjoying the outdoors]

Yes. I planted some just by picking the pods like you did.

Scratched the top of the soil and lightly covered. In the fall. They need the cold weather to sprout in the spring. Spread the seeds in 5 or six different places and now I have 3 different groups of common milkweed. High and dry at my place.

They can spread by rhizomes as well. So plant them where they can spread or inside a enclosed bed.

They are poisonous to pets and other animals, so be cautious of where you plant them.

LOTS of different types of milkweed, including swamp milkweed.

Edited to add that the blooms smell amazingly good!!! Like lilac.

 

[Ski]

Yes. I planted some just by picking the pods like you did.

Scratched the top of the soil and lightly covered. In the fall. They need the cold weather to sprout in the spring. Spread the seeds in 5 or six different places and now I have 3 different groups of common milkweed. High and dry at my place.

They can spread by rhizomes as well. So plant them where they can spread or inside a enclosed bed.

They are poisonous to pets and other animals, so be cautious of where you plant them.

LOTS of different types of milkweed, including swamp milkweed.

Edited to add that the blooms smell amazingly good!!! Like lilac.

I did similar. Sprinkled seeds in the end of a pumpkin plot I'd tilled up, and they sprouted up and grew great.

I keep milkweed pods on me every time I'm in the woods. Nothing shows airflow better, IMO.

 

[BSK]

I keep milkweed pods on me every time I'm in the woods. Nothing shows airflow better, IMO.

I keep them on me while hunting at all times (in an old plastic film canister). They will float on even the lightest thermal.

 

[Ski]

I keep them on me while hunting at all times (in an old plastic film canister). They will float on even the lightest thermal.

It's amazing how they'll float. They show everything the air is doing. Incredible advantage for a hunter.

 

[BSK]

It's amazing how they'll float. They show everything the air is doing. Incredible advantage for a hunter.

Exactly.

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

I have never found any around my area in Va. but sounds like i need to try and plant some

 

[megalomaniac]

That is interesting that multiple people have stated that it is generally found in low lying areas. I have it on hill sides far from the creek bottom. I am starting to think i may have misidentified what it is.

I'm close to you...

The purple flowered milkweed will grow great in dry soils in our area. The orange flowered one the Monarchs prefer needs more moisture. I have some on dry rocky hillsides, but most of the orange flowering plant prefers the flatter ground.

 

[Huntaholic]

Ok, but WHY? Other than needing the floaters, what is the HUGE benefit with milkweed? Other than monarch butterflies, what else gets and use from them?
Im asking because Ive got some that grow in a powerline cut behind my house that I keep mowed and milkweeds will take it over if I let them.

 

[Ski]

Ok, but WHY? Other than needing the floaters, what is the HUGE benefit with milkweed? Other than monarch butterflies, what else gets and use from them?
Im asking because Ive got some that grow in a powerline cut behind my house that I keep mowed and milkweeds will take it over if I let them.

Beating a deer's nose is the hardest part about hunting and milkweed takes the guess work out of it. Pretty huge benefit in my opinion. Without the floaters it's just another weed.

 

[knightrider]

I love it when you see guys pulling out their floaters, yep wind is definitely going that way, when you can cleary see the leaves, trees, weeds all blowing that way

 

[killingtime 41]

Really wild to use it and see what the wind is doing down in the bottoms in the mountains. I've dropped it with the wind in my face and seen it float in the direction the wind was blowing then circle back and land out in front of me. Never would have seen that without it.

 

[Ski]

Really wild to use it and see what the wind is doing down in the bottoms in the mountains. I've dropped it with the wind in my face and seen it float in the direction the wind was blowing then circle back and land out in front of me. Never would have seen that without it.

Yeah it really is eye opening the paths it'll take. I've watched it suck straight down along the tree trunk then swoop out away before hitting the ground and start creeping uphill staying just a foot or so off the ground. Half an hour later I throw more out and watch it float up toward the sky. Weird stuff. You can guess what's going on but then you actually see it and find out how wrong you were lol.

 

[archer19]

Everyone talks hunt the wind…….
Most have never hunted mountains…..
Everything is a bedding, feeding area.
You never know where deer bed….. or move to….
Wind changes direction faster and more often than a women's mind!!!!!
Deer are in the woods, winds gonna blow.
Get in a stand, sit still, and hope for the best.
East Tennessee Mountain Hunter tactics.

 

[knightrider]

Everyone talks hunt the wind…….
Most have never hunted mountains…..
Everything is a bedding, feeding area.
You never know where deer bed….. or move to….
Wind changes direction faster and more often than a women's mind!!!!!
Deer are in the woods, winds gonna blow.
Get in a stand, sit still, and hope for the best.
East Tennessee Mountain Hunter tactics.

Amen!!!