PROTOCOL FOR GOING FROM MILKWEED SEED TO IN-GROUND PLANT CAPABLE OF FULLY SUPPORTING MONARCH LARVAE WITH MINIMAL EFFORT PAST INITIAL TRANSPLANT IN HEAVILY IMPACTED URBAN AREAS
by Kalisa Myers
1). Sprout the seeds in peat pellets, a seed-starter tray is best. Pour water over the peat pellets until they expand. Then put 2-4 milkweed seeds in each soaked pellet. Keep the tray in full sun, and keep the pellets moist.
Seed source: Blue Moon Native Garden seeds, Narrow-leaf Milkweed, Asclepias Fascicularis
2). Mercilessly thin the seedlings. If one looks stronger, kill the others. Select for the hardiest. First one to get true leaves wins.
3). Transplant the seedlings into 1-gallon pots, using well-hydrated Miracle Gro potting soil, right up to the brim of the pot. The soil is important, we want nice strong roots.
4). Keep the 1-gallon pots in full sun and well watered, until they begin sprouting out more leaves. Remove any monarch larvae to larger plants, and if no plants are available, physically block adult butterflies from landing on them.
(A variety of plant cages are available which are large enough to let in smaller insects but will block butterflies; you can also build your own. Keep in mind that a first instar born on a seedling, with no larger milkweeds close enough for a 2nd or 3rd instar to crawl to- is a death sentence for milkweed and monarch both).
5). Mercilessly recycle any plants which do not show “exuberance”, and continue to keep the monarchs away. You will be able to see which plants are growing fastest, which may seem slower-growing, or maybe even those that get a little less stressed with the heat. If you notice plants which seem a little stronger than the others, especially those which resist heat or other urban stressors- keep them.
6). When plants have grown in the 1-gallons, transplant to 13 gallon pots, and again, use really nice fancy Miracle-Gro soil, well mixed, and again, protect the plants from Monarchs unless you have large amounts of milkweeds you can support the larvae with (10+ plants, and if larvae are eating stems, you don’t have enough). This is a labor-intensive step but worth it. This gets the roots fat, strong, and ready for inhospitable transplantations into environments that may be less than ideal. This gets the stems ready to grow taller, and make bark.
7). Let those stems and roots get nice and healthy and big in the 13 gallon pots. Again, full sun, and keep them watered, they are highly vulnerable to heat waves while in pots.
Again, it may be tempting to allow the monarchs unfettered access. NOT YET! Late instars can eat the stems right down to the ground, making the plants smaller and weaker throughout their lives. Milkweeds don’t need monarchs one bit. Milkweed evolved to get rid of an awful pest, the monarch, and the monarch larvae evolved to keep eating an awful meal, the milkweed. So the monarchs need an established plant, and the milkweeds MUST come first.
8). Once the plants show good growth in the 13 gallons, they are now ready for transplanting in-ground.
9). To transplant in-ground, KEEP THE WHOLE PLANT WHOLE. Put the entire thing, the whole 13 gallon pot, soaked (those roots need to be full of water), into the prepared hole, as deep as possible- even if you bury some of the leaves! Disturb the roots as little as possible. You can re-use the pots for the next set of 1-gallons coming down the pike.
10). For one year, look after the in-ground transplant and keep it watered and protected from grass and other invasives. Throw down native wildflower seeds late in the winter, this helps compete with the grass and other invasives come spring, and attract the needed predatory wasps to keep the monarch larvae under control.
Plant it alongside at least 3-4 other large, healthy, milkweeds, so that now Monarchs can have access to the plants. However if you see them beginning to eat the stems, and no other big plants around to put them on (“milkweed emergency”), go back to protecting the plant from the adult butterflies until bark is established on the plant, or the plant is 3-4 feet high, or you manage to get more plants in there. You can even keep some 13 gallons around as “feeder” pots, supporting the larvae you pull off the still-establishing plants).
11). Each established in-ground plant, once bark appears or they get close to their full height, will be able to withstand the monarch caterpillars, heat waves, bad soil, drought, and even accidental mowing.
Once wasps begin frequenting the plants and carrying off large numbers of 2nd and 3rd instars, and lacewings start munching their eggs, several batches of healthy late-instar monarch larvae, with plenty to eat, will emerge throughout the season and delight everyone who passes by.
This protocol has worked for two inhospitable urban sites as of this writing.
Science!!
In solidarity
