Good morning,
My daughter and I discovered a milkweed plant growing in the middle of our front yard this morning. We “rescued” it before it would get mowed. I dug up as much of the root as I could, transplanted it in the garden bed close to where it was originally (so same light, amount of water etc.) and we watered it afterwards. My question is, what would the viability of transplanting it would be? My ideal would be for it to survive so I can propagate more of them to attract pollinators to our garden.
Thank you!
Thank you for contacting the Toronto Master Gardeners.
I applaud your trying to save this little plant, upon which so many monarch butterflies depend.
In general, transplanting of Milkweed should be done in the spring during cooler weather. These plants like roughly 6 hours of sun daily and a well draining soil.
The secret to transplanting is getting the entire taproot or as much of it as possible when digging it up, and being careful of the taproot when replanting in the new location so it doesn’t get broken or damaged. Also, planting it at the same soil depth as it was originally is important, not higher or lower.
Now that you have made the plant move, I would suggest you top-dress around the plant with some well rotted manure or good quality compost and then add a layer of mulch – taking care to have neither up against the plant stem. The former will nourish the plant & encourage soil organisms and the latter will help retain soil moisture, shade/cool the rooting area and will suppress weed competition.
Watering on a regular basis is crucial until you see that the transplant has settled in and is surviving the shock of the move. For the first week or so, I would recommend daily watering and then waterings can be spaced further apart – note, this little plant does not need to be deluged, remember it is only a stressed seedling.
If, in the future, you want to grow more milkweed, many of the Toronto Public Library branches host the Toronto Master Gardeners to give talks on “Monarchs & Milkweed” with seed give aways later in the season so look out for those.
You might be interested in this article: Growing Milkweed in Ontario
Hope this information is helpful.
May 23,2024