Swamp Milkweed — need help, advice, or encouraging words!

[Mmathis]

I don't know if it's what Mmathis has, but she has yellow leaves and no blooms, which are two symptoms. I figured I'd mention it, because if not, she may get more Swamp Milkweed and the potential disease could spread to them as well.

It is what I have, because I have both Common and Swamp, and my Common Milkweed looks exactly like the photos online show. I should've pulled them last year when I first noticed.

I’m going to keep an eye on them. I sorts suspect that the reason I have never had blooms.....is because the plants have been transplanted a couple of times during the 4 years of having the plants. With their being in the turtle-bog, seems I am constantly doing renovations. But, yeah, the yellowing of the leaves is a mystery. I hate that you’re going to have to destroy your plants, though! That just sucks! Can you post a few pics of what yours look like?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Can you post a few pics of what yours look like?

I could have, but they're all gone now. and a female Monarch watched me do it.

 

[Mmathis]

Oh no!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Oh no!

I think she was trying to make me feel guilty.

 

[pastures]

Greetings Turtle Mommy. You presented your situation/issue very well; complete with photos. As a master gardener, myself, I believe that you hit the "problem nail" squarely on its head; needing acidic soil but planted in alkaline soil. The abundance of perfect nutrients available to your milkweed does not matter if the available ph is incorrect. You probably will have to create an isolated bed designated to your milkweed with the proper ph. Sorry.

 

[Mmathis]

@pastures Thank you! Gonna leave it where it is for now as it’s too brutally hot to risk major transplant shock, but will find a more suitable spot in the fall.

 

[Mmathis]

@JBtheExplorer Well, I have finally come to the conclusion that my swamp milkweed may indeed be afflicted with “milkweed yellows phytoplasma!” Have been keeping a close eye, and despite interventions, the leaves below are continuing to change color.....and yes, a few are starting to curl up. The top parts of the stalks are putting out new stalks. I don’t know if that is normal or if it’s one of the other listed “symptoms.”

I am devastated, as I have nurtured the plants over the past (what) 4 or 5 seasons, dreaming of the day I would have blooms — and maybe Monarchs!

So, guessing.....the only logical solution is......

Question, though.....does this bother other plants as well, or is it specific to milkweed? Just wondering if my other bog plants are in potential danger, and what other precautions I should take.

 

[Tara]

@JBtheExplorer Well, I have finally come to the conclusion that my swamp milkweed may indeed be afflicted with “milkweed yellows phytoplasma!” Have been keeping a close eye, and despite interventions, the leaves below are continuing to change color.....and yes, a few are starting to curl up. The top parts of the stalks are putting out new stalks. I don’t know if that is normal or if it’s one of the other listed “symptoms.”

I am devastated, as I have nurtured the plants over the past (what) 4 or 5 seasons, dreaming of the day I would have blooms — and maybe Monarchs!

So, guessing.....the only logical solution is......

Question, though.....does this bother other plants as well, or is it specific to milkweed? Just wondering if my other bog plants are in potential danger, and what other precautions I should take.

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Hi. Just saw this thread. Can I ask what do you have growing beside your swamp milkweed.

 

[Mmathis]

Hi. Just saw this thread. Can I ask what do you have growing beside your swamp milkweed.

Society garlic, clover, mint (standard mint, not the aquatic kind), creeping Jenny, Thalia, a cardinal flower, and lots of various iris (almost forgot about them since they’re not blooming), and maybe a pickerel rush. Oh, and aquatic forget-me-not.

What are you thinking?

 

[Tara]

Society garlic, clover, mint (standard mint, not the aquatic kind), creeping Jenny, Thalia, a cardinal flower, and lots of various iris (almost forgot about them since they’re not blooming), and maybe a pickerel rush. Oh, and aquatic forget-me-not.

What are you thinking?

Hello. This is just my opinion. I would think that their location is not great with the bog plants they are with. Iris can be nutrient hogs and greedy. Iris can survive in low oxygen conditions, but it is also though that they give out a lot of oxygen in good conditions. Some of your other plants also give out oxygen. Swamp weed has adapted to live in a low oxygen environment. Iris has been used for a long time to treat bad water and remove toxins and metals from pubic water, some native plants do not do thrive near them. In Scotland you can now even find them living in salt water. A small bog is a somewhat closed environment, in which some plants can't compete, and will be left susceptible to disease and pests. The Wisconsin prairie restoration project has a great page that lists plants that do well together, swamp weed is listed along with compatible plants. If you are unsure if your swamp weed is doomed, you can yank it and toss, or you can replant it alone away from your other plants in a peat soil with high acidic levels, and see what happens. I believe a man called Sutherland wrote about iris and it's effects on the environment, and plants it lives with. I will recheck that Sutherland it the person I'm thinking of. So even if swamp weed is grown in a bog successfully by someone else, their water conditions may be very different, saline, oxygen , acid. Hope this helps.