The seeds seemed to germinate fine without one. A little later another one eclosed and also had OE. Put swamp milkweed seeds in soil in containers in fridge the 1st of February rather than outside and planned to leave for a month. I am starting my butterfly weed that way this year. Thank you so much to our most awesome community for participating in the Cape Ann Monarch Milkweed and Aster Project. congratulations Amy…I was amazed the first time I tried it too! Sure fire way to sprout seeds indoors is to clip off the point of each seed with a nail clipper( yes, tedious). Congrats Erica…thanks for sharing and good luck with your new seedlings! Thank you for helping the Monarchs! Good luck with your seeds! Thank you very much. She was also able to do this successfully with tropical milkweed seeds. Will report back when I have results. Usually I have problems with damping off starting from seed but must have collected 100’s of seeds from the pods in the last few weeks (with more on the way!) Once I have eggs or caterpillars, I will pull the cups out and replace them with fresh seedlings. I have both common and swamp seeds in the frig and every Saturday, I am going to pull out 10 to 15 seeds and plant them in 3 1/2 inch cups. I am trying this method for the first time with A. tuberosa, tropical, and Oscar. They will be fine. and we will distribute them in our School Pollinator Program. I have 8 weeks until avg last killing frost here in NW Arkansas. 2. I just can’t wait for spring!!!! To make the transition from indoors to outdoors less stressful, start by putting the seedlings outdoors for a few hours a day for up to a week before planting them outdoors. So, if the seeds are “presprouted”, how do you plant them? Used a grow lamp and a heat mat, and, hooray, I got about 50% germination rate on the perennials, except the syriaca. Thanks for all your videos, Helen. If any one has any extra Milkweeds seeds could you please send to me, I’d appreciate it! Hi Tony, Thank you for all of the valuable information you provide to so many of us! Put seeds in your fridge to mimic winter stratification. Exposing the seeds to cold temperatures for a short time simulates the natural cycle of dormancy. December 2018 Hi Kathy, please check our milkweed page to find propagation methods for your specific milkweed: Hi, I am planning an Earth Day booth next spring. For perennial milkweed seeds (already stratified) to germinate best, do you recommend using a heat mat once they are sowed in seed flats? More details are on this link: In Minnesota, cold moist stratification increases the speed of milkweed seed germination and also the germination rate. Recently I wrote to someone regarding extra Common Milkweed seed pods I have. Box #390135 I did an experiment where I tried dry, cold and wet, cold stratification methods on the same types of milkweed seeds and the wet, cold seeds did significantly better than the dry, cold ones. I could try to explain the how to do this but I expect to be dealing with a lot of little kids. Thank you! Check the seed envelope or the seed supplier’s web site for more information. The trick is … However, when I opened up the container, the paper towel was bone dry. Right now we have our seeds chilling in the refrigerator (dry stratification), but I will also give the cold moist stratification a try too. Rebecca ChandlerGarden Educator, Naturalist and Ethnobotanist, October 2020 Tony, thanks so much. Tony, with the Purple MW how long did you use the cold/moist treatment? Materials. I do this all the time with wheatgrass seeds that I grow for my cat (and me, when I’m feeling ambitious to juice! 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