How to Harvest & Grow Common Milkweed
- Collect the seed before the pod opens up. Now (Mid-September) is an ideal time. It’s easier to separate seeds from fluff now, and you won’t have the fluff drifting all about the room.
- Open the pod along the lengthwise “seam.” Strip off the seeds with your thumb. Good seeds are brown and have some thickness in the middle–not paper thin.
- Dry the seeds for a week on a counter top or in an open plastic bag.
- Put the plastic bag in the basement for the winter.
- On about the first of March, place the seeds in moist (not dripping) potting soil. Important: Put the pots in the fridge for two weeks. Cover the pots with plastic so the soil will stay moist.
- After two weeks, take off the plastic and put the pots in a warm, sunny window. Keep the medium moist.