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Jun 1, 2016 8:41 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
My god, can anyone help me with DISTINGUISHING features between the two, I got a field filled with both, and am trying to transplant thr milkweed for the area is being fenced in for our cows. I mean they are practically IDENTICAL .
just look them up, please give me hints, only obvious difference is the skinny flower pods dogbane makes....which is in the fall
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Jun 1, 2016 10:12 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
In my limited experience, dogbane stems are thinner, leaves smaller, thinner....maybe there are other species of both that are so close.
Apocynum cannabinum versus Asclepias syriaca?
Plant it and they will come.
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Jun 1, 2016 10:15 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
I see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
leaves look very similar.
How about the red stems on dogbane? Also seems to me, dogbane branches and milkweed not really.
Plant it and they will come.
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Jun 2, 2016 5:52 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
The stems up here don't seem red to me hmmm
Avatar for MariposaMaid
Jun 15, 2016 2:38 PM CST
Name: Judy
Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain USA (Zone 7b)
Butterflies
Dogbane stems are smooth and Common Milkweed stems are fuzzy.
Pic from this site:
http://the3foragers.blogspot.c...
Thumb of 2016-06-15/MariposaMaid/ee8d53
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Jun 15, 2016 5:27 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
well, there ya go! Good find, MM
Plant it and they will come.
Avatar for MariposaMaid
Jun 15, 2016 6:42 PM CST
Name: Judy
Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain USA (Zone 7b)
Butterflies
HaHa, I did have to use a magnifying glass to confirm that my Common Milkweed is indeed 'fuzzy'! Couldn't tell by feel.

It wasn't until the six plants I rescued from a landscape crew started to branch that I even found out there was a Milkweed look-alike called Dogbane. So, I agree with Sallyg about the branching being a major difference. I think Dogbane is the prettier of the two plants with its red tinged stems and structural form (and no orange oleander aphids!) Easier to dig and transplant successfully than Common MW a shovel depth all around plant and I got most of it.

I didn't watch this video but it may be helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvQnJSSvRLA

I'd also say that last year's stalks could be a clue as the Common would be the largest. My three + year old Dogbane is still more slender than a pencil. The Dogbane here emerges a week or two earlier than Common MW in same area.

Good luck Brendan @bhart90. Hope you are able to figure something out.
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Jun 15, 2016 7:01 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
I was introduced to Dogbane when it volunteered in my yard, and was home to a batch of milkweed tussock moth cats. An aha moment.
Plant it and they will come.
Avatar for MariposaMaid
Jun 15, 2016 7:15 PM CST
Name: Judy
Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain USA (Zone 7b)
Butterflies
So,@Sallyg, the tussock moth cats can eat Dogbane but not the Monarch cats?
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Jun 15, 2016 7:26 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
I do'n't know that. I just figured that having MW tussock moth cats, which I had known on common MW, then getting on dogbane, was the clue I needed to ID dogbane. I haven't had dogbane for some years.
Plant it and they will come.
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Jun 15, 2016 7:28 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
Thank you man! As soon as I read that, I walked outside to my field and checked that out, thank you!!!!

Also, when emerging from winter, the leaves are almost As wide as long!
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Jun 15, 2016 7:34 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
I have seen only 2 monarchs so far, I must do the drastic measure of capturing a female and rearing her in a closed milkweed plant over night. This guy did it and woke up to at least 40 eggs.
Avatar for MariposaMaid
Jun 15, 2016 8:13 PM CST
Name: Judy
Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain USA (Zone 7b)
Butterflies
Brendan, the last two summers, I had one female visit my milkweed patch each day for about three weeks. She came at the same time each day, would leave for about a half hour and then return several times to nectar and lay eggs. She did tend to lay only one egg per plant, but since I was watching and caught on to her routine, when she left, I would find the eggs and gather each leaf so that when she returned there were most plants with no eggs for her to lay some more! Most days I collected 15 - 20 eggs, but there were a few days of over 40!

Over 400 in 2014 and close to 300 last year.

If I searched for eggs early evening (I used the setting sun to help me find the eggs) I rarely found any in the early am so it surprises me that one would lay eggs over night, especially since temps may be too cool to fly.
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Jun 15, 2016 8:22 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
Over 90 eggs, my god watch this and spread it around like cancer
https://youtu.be/SgEGM4C1l2I
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Jun 18, 2016 12:31 AM CST
Name: Vicki
Hot Springs Village, AR (Zone 7b)
Dog Lover
Great video I tip my hat to you.
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Jun 20, 2016 7:32 AM CST
Name: Cheryl
Brownstown, Pennsylvania (Zone 6b)
Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Region: Pennsylvania Region: Mid-Atlantic Bee Lover
Butterflies Dragonflies Spiders! Frogs and Toads Birds Hummingbirder
Thumb of 2016-06-20/nativeplantlover/4399dc


Thumb of 2016-06-20/nativeplantlover/864255

The leaves are way smoother and much thinner. Sure wish I had some on my property then I'd have this cool Dogbane beetle
"My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird — equal seekers of sweetness. Here the clam deep in the speckled sand. Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished." — Mary Oliver, from Messenger
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Jun 20, 2016 1:02 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Brenden Reinhart
Flushing Michigan (Zone 6b)
nativeplantlover said:Thumb of 2016-06-20/nativeplantlover/4399dc


Thumb of 2016-06-20/nativeplantlover/864255

The leaves are way smoother and much thinner. Sure wish I had some on my property then I'd have this cool Dogbane beetle


Give me address and I'll send you seeds, our field is covered....
Avatar for Finnyc
Aug 26, 2016 10:13 AM CST
New York (Zone 5a)
Another way to distinguish is that dog bane has almost a 'shrub' like growth, and many times will have a reddish stem. Their flowers are more bell shaped than milkweed. Their leaves are smaller and give almost a 'black locust' arrangement look to them.
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Sep 3, 2016 6:31 PM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
See you in the funny papers!
Charter ATP Member Frogs and Toads Houseplants Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Region: Maryland
Composter Native Plants and Wildflowers Organic Gardener Region: United States of America Cat Lover Birds
that's a good description, Finnyc
Plant it and they will come.
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