by Ben Nuelle
Source: Wikipedia.org
Convincing a farmer to grow a Milkweed might be hard but how do you actually grow them? Dr. Harold Coble is a professor emeritus at North Carolina State University. Coble says Milkweed can be grown in a couple different ways.
?Depends on whether you want to start from seeds or root sections. Milkweeds are perennial plants that bloom from seeds and root sections. If you want to start from seed, you can buy seeds on the internet or find a stand of Milkweed and harvest it yourself,? Coble says.
Coble says the trick is to store the seeds in right conditions or they won?t come up.
?They have to be stored in cool wet conditions for around three months. Then you can use them to plant seedlings. The seedlings have to be planted inside because they won?t grow very well if you just throw the seeds out. You can get them up four to six inches tall and then take the seedlings out and they will be successful.
He says the other way to do it is go out and find a Milkweed stand.
?Dig up some of the root sections and cut up them up into four or six sections and go out and plant them two to three inches deep and you?ll have Milkweeds,? Coble says.
Coble adds they do not want farmers to plant Milkweeds in their row crops but in ditches, around the barn, or along waterways. This will then provide habitats for Monarch Butterflies.
