Here is a picture of the tropical milkweed today. (6 days)

Black eyed susans (left) and hollyhock (right)

Wow, I'm impressed, ThatShabbyGuy! That's a lot of milkweed you're starting! Good reminder for all to think about when to stratify or start seeds!

Thanks! Here is new progress. Moved seedlings into plugs and hung my lights. New to this and on a budget b but upgrading lights as I go along.

That's a lot of milkweed for sure! The butterflies will be very happy. If you haven't seen it already I recommend checking out the Wintersowing technique and forum. It is a great way to start large numbers of plants at very little cost with much less of a learning curve than growing indoors under lights. That way you can use your lights just for the things that do significantly better with indoor sowing and save some time, money, and indoor space.

I have done some winter sowing with some my natives before I started my indoor plants but I need caterpillar food by late March. That's why I have so many states indoors. :)

Geez, you really are going to have a lot of plants then! I'm sure it will be very much appreciated by the butterflies and other pollinators.

I don't usually see any monarchs here until well into May, and then there are only a few. At that point my A. tuberosas have a little tender new growth that they have used in the past. Luckily there isn't much egg laying until later in summer when the common and swamp milkweeds are getting big.

I pinched half of them today. Should have taken pictures but I'll get some pics up in the next few days. They've really taken off.

Everything is going pretty good so far. Here is the latest picture of the tropical milkweed.

This post was edited by ThatShabbyGuy on Sun, Jan 11, 15 at 21:32