[SOS-PCA] Milkweed Advice from Xerces Society

[Randall, John L]

Megan: One standard way of milkweed pod collection is to rubber band the pod after it’s mostly mature or before it splits. This can also serve to keep at least some of the seed predators out too.

Johnny Randall

From: SOS [mailto:sos-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Haidet, Margaret (Megan)
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 3:09 PM
To: SOS at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [SOS-PCA] Milkweed Advice from Xerces Society

Passing along a little information to aid in collection of milkweed species.

I wanted to write to suggest that if the SOS teams come across pods that have mature seed but have not yet fully opened, perhaps they could hand-strip the seeds from the pods right then in the field. When the floss hasn’t yet expanded, it’s very easy and quick to just strip the seeds out of the pod and discard the pod shells and floss. In contrast, if the harvested pods are shipped to a processing facility, even if they are closed at the time of collection, by the time they are delivered to the facility, the pods will have opened and the floss fibers will have dried and expanded, and the time and labor needed for seed cleaning will be increased.


Megan Haidet
Seeds of Success
National Collection Curator
Seeds of Success
202-912-7233

www.blm.gov/sos<http://www.blm.gov/sos>
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