How to Grow Milkweed from Seeds

In the late autumn, you can find milkweed seed pods in meadow-like areas alongside the roads, under power lines, or along paths. If you want to grow milkweeds in your yard, it can be difficult to get the seeds to germinate if you scatter them in your lawn, or even if you put them in a prepared bed. The outer husk of the seed prevents the seed from just germinating. It's pretty likely the seed will rot or be eaten by a critter before the plant ever gets started. If you start them inside, you'll have more luck.

You can buy seeds online, or go collect them yourself. The seeds are ready when the pod splits open. If you take a seed pod too soon, the seeds will be immature. One pod has hundreds of seeds--probably more than you'll be able to use.

There are many people who provide tutorials on scarifying seeds. I tried a couple methods on milkweed seeds. One was to deep freeze the seeds for a number of weeks. The other was to simply snip open the seed shell to expose the interior slightly, which is super easy. The seed has a tear drop shape. I snipped off the pointy end by a small amount. I put the snipped seeds in coir/worm-casting planting soil in an egg-carton style container, since I figured the germination rate would be low. I kept the container in a heated humidity tent.

The deep-freeze seeds all failed to germinate and simply rotted. The snipped seeds actually sprouted recently. I'll update this when I get a sense of the rate of success.