Milkweed pods...

[Allegheny Tom]

The pods are really small. The biggest one is I don’t know 3” in or so.

How many pods do you need?

When do you harvest? After they get dry and turn purple?

Pick when they are on the verge of splitting open. They will start to loose the bright green color before they split.
They will be fully mature at that point and floaters will be as large as that particular plant can produce for that season. Picking them too early seems to produce inferior floaters.
It seems like there are usually individual plants that have pods slitting a little earlier that the majority of other plants. If you see even just a few pods splitting in your region, then you can usually pic.

And beware of the sap. Its stickier than Elmer's glue, so you may want to wear gloves.

How many pods do you need?
One pods hold a ton of floaters. But it depends on how many you release at a time. Most of the time I release only 1 to 3 at a time, but sometimes I may release a few dozen. Releasing larger quantities will show you just how wide, and how quickly, your scent cone expands.
Releasing a single floater shows general wind direction but it really doesn't give a true picture of what "down-wind" actually is.
One pod can last me a half dozen, all-day hunts.

Pic several dozen pods when you have access, dry them thoroughly and they will store for years. Keep a rubber band around the pod as they dry and afterward too, or else they will split wide open and you wilk have a mess.




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[LilHoss]

Pick when they are on the verge of splitting open. They will start to loose the bright green color before they split.
They will be fully mature at that point and floaters will be as large as that particular plant can produce for that season. Picking them too early seems to produce inferior floaters.
It seems like there are usually individual plants that have pods slitting a little earlier that the majority of other plants. If you see even just a few pods splitting in your region, then you can usually pic.

And beware of the sap. Its stickier than Elmer's glue, so you may want to wear gloves.

How many pods do you need?
One pods hold a ton of floaters. But it depends on how many you release at a time. Most of the time I release only 1 to 3 at a time, but sometimes I may release a few dozen. Releasing larger quantities will show you just how wide, and how quickly, your scent cone expands.
Releasing a single floater shows general wind direction but it really doesn't give a true picture of what "down-wind" actually is.
One pod can last me a half dozen, all-day hunts.

Pic several dozen pods when you have access, dry them thoroughly and they will store for years. Keep a rubber band around the pod as they dry and afterward too, or else they will split wide open and you wilk have a mess.




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Thank you very much. I am gonna make this work or fail trying this first go around. I had a bit of trouble even finding pods. All the ones I found at first were too late busted open. I finally found a couple spots that had the ones I got.
Oh and the gloves were a must glad I used them.

 

[NikoTheBowHunter]

New hunter here, from what i can tell, y'all using Milkweed for wind direction detection? Any other uses for it or that about it?

 

[Bwhana]

Since my homegrown patch has not flowered or have pods, I have kept an eye out riding around and spotted 6 or so plants a mile from my house. I saw them there last year and was waiting on the pods to get ripe. 2 days before I went to check them again, there was a guy bush hogging and cut them all. Will play the game again, maybe even flag the area with orange tape and maybe he will leave them alone this time.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

New hunter here, from what i can tell, y'all using Milkweed for wind direction detection? Any other uses for it or that about it?

For current wind OBSERVATION, which assists for wind PREDICTION. Being able to accurately predict wind behavior helps us choose which stand to hunt or even how to situate or manipulate pre set stand sites.

But when you couple the actual wind observation, with a dependable weather site like windy.com then you begin to learn a lot about how structure effects surface wind (in relation to prevailing wind direction and speed) for a particular stand.
IMO, its a lot more valuable to predict wind than to just be an observer of wind. Predicting wind is helpful in deciding which stand to hunt on a given day. Observing wind helps decipher deer activity and also helps you decide if a stand should be abandoned for that day.
And I dont advocate taking iffy shots, but sometimes when we observe current wind it may help decide to take a good shot choice instead of waiting for the perfect shot. Sometimes, when we know the EXACT wind behavior, it allows us to make better choices of when to shoot or when to wait to shoot.
Milkweed can show updrafts or down drafts. Sometimes we may realize that the deer is in the downwind direction, but the actual flow travels just above their nose.
To an observant hunter, the sky is the limit when understanding wind patterns. There is a ton of tiny details that make a huge difference. Milkweed is a great learning tool.


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[Bwhana]

My homegrown patch is still alive and about 18-24" tall, but no flowers or pods. Hopefully they will mature and produce next year?

John H., Hickory, NC

Keep your nose to the wind, and your eyes along the skyline.

 

[dalton916]

I didn’t have a single one I planted sprout

Luckily I have a gallon ziploc bad full of pods.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage to milkweed over wind-checker powder? I seriously have been wondering this for about 6 years.

 

[Goldentriangle85]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage to milkweed over wind-checker powder? I seriously have been wondering this for about 6 years.

Like Allegheny said it helps you put together the whole picture not just the “sneak peak” you get from the powder. Powder dissipates quickly and only tells you what the wind is doing in the immediate area where you squeeze the bottle. On the other hand the milkweed silk floats much further and you start piecing together how the landscape, thermal currents and wind direction all interact.


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[DelaWhere_Arrow]

Like Allegheny said it helps you put together the whole picture not just the “sneak peak” you get from the powder. Powder dissipates quickly and only tells you what the wind is doing in the immediate area where you squeeze the bottle. On the other hand the milkweed silk floats much further and you start piecing together how the landscape, thermal currents and wind direction all interact.


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I think I missed that comment because pretty pictures lol. Thank you! I have not seen the stuff growing around me, but I never cared to check. I may do that now.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage to milkweed over wind-checker powder? I seriously have been wondering this for about 6 years.

Milkweed has shown me things about wind behavior that powder can never show. It wasn't just the intricate currents during certain situations that it showed, it was that milkweed showed me that some pretty crazy wind patterns exist.
Some guys are odor freaks and some guys are wind freaks.
I'm an "all of the above guy".

But I'm here to tell you that a lot of hunters that claim they only hunt the wind do not truly understand what the wind is doing, and more importantly, WHY it is doing what it does.
The big thing is understanding the "WHY" because knowing patterns helps with predictions.

For me, the biggest value of wind observation is for future hunts as much as it is for current observation.



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[100rollie]

Really cool when you get to see the thermals change on a still evening because of the floaters!!!
Something powders cant tell you.
Definitely worth the price of the admission.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Really cool when you get to see the thermals change on a still evening because of the floaters!!!
Something powders cant tell you.
Definitely worth the price of the admission.

Floaters can even show the effects when sun shines as opposed to the periods of cloud cover on those days that are partly sunny.

On a mostly calm day, a single (dark colored) pine can absorb heat from the sun and create micro air flows due to a chimney effect...I witnessed this effect several years ago.
As the morning progressed, the light air flow would occasionally change direction 90 degrees. I was confused by the switch until I realized it was only switching when the sun came out. As I released floaters during the sunny periods, I watched them change 90 degrees, float across my shooting lane and over to a lone pine. They would rise straight up in front of the pine until they reached treetop height, then switch 90 degrees once again and follow the prevailing wind. It was a fascinating lesson on wind behavior. There's no way any powder could have shown those micro behaviors.


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[IkemanTX]

Floaters can even show the effects when sun shines as opposed to the periods of cloud cover on those days that are partly sunny.

On a mostly calm day, a single (dark colored) pine can absorb heat from the sun and create micro air flows due to a chimney effect...I witnessed this effect several years ago.
As the morning progressed, the light air flow would occasionally change direction 90 degrees. I was confused by the switch until I realized it was only switching when the sun came out. As I released floaters during the sunny periods, I watched them change 90 degrees, float across my shooting lane and over to a lone pine. They would rise straight up in front of the pine until they reached treetop height, then switch 90 degrees once again and follow the prevailing wind. It was a fascinating lesson on wind behavior. There's no way any powder could have shown those micro behaviors.


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I experience this every summer on vacation in the mountains. You will have a 180° shift in wind direction within 5 minutes of cloud cover change.
In fact, it is what busted me on my opportunity for a cow a couple years ago while elk hunting. The sun came back out and I was below them. I worked as quickly as I could to get a shot, but the wind shifted about 2-3 minutes before I needed it to.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

I experience this every summer on vacation in the mountains. You will have a 180° shift in wind direction within 5 minutes of cloud cover change.
In fact, it is what busted me on my opportunity for a cow a couple years ago while elk hunting. The sun came back out and I was below them. I worked as quickly as I could to get a shot, but the wind shifted about 2-3 minutes before I needed it to.

Its these types of weather conditions that often go unnoticed by most hunters. All they know is that the damn wind keeps switching on them, but they never stop to figure out why its changing.
Understanding the "why" is key to predicting wind patterns.

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[Us326544]

My homegrown patch is still alive and about 18-24" tall, but no flowers or pods. Hopefully they will mature and produce next year?

John H., Hickory, NC

Keep your nose to the wind, and your eyes along the skyline.

The common milkweed in my area matures on year 3. That's when it flowers and produces pods. Not sure on the variety you planted.

 

[Bwhana]

The common milkweed in my area matures on year 3. That's when it flowers and produces pods. Not sure on the variety you planted.

Thanks for the information! I got pods from both Michigan and Minnesota, but no idea on the types. I just threw a handful of seeds on that spot last fall in hope something would come up and was a little let down there were not more plants, but could have been washed out with the rains. I will monitor them and see how it goes for several years.

John H., Hickory, NC

Keep your nose to the wind, and your eyes along the skyline.

 

[woodsdog2]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage to milkweed over wind-checker powder? I seriously have been wondering this for about 6 years.

The powder dissipates so quickly it doesn't give you a true reading or a longer range downwind reading of how the air currents or thermals or both are traveling in and around your hunting site. Picture the wind not as a gust at a spot in time but a flowing river of water that changes constantly not only because of structure (trees, ridges, other potential "wind blockers") but also because of temperature changes due to elevation and time of day. The pods give you a much better and longer lasting visual identifier of how the wind is "flowing" downwind from your stand site or potential stand site. A lot of times hunting almost the wrong wind is a great way to kill a nice buck depending on your ability to access the area and the time of day and the predicted bedding location or even traveling locations during the rut.

 

[cb750]

It was an eye opener to see all the current etc the first time I used milkweed. I still have wind checker because I've lost or dropped my pods before but milkweed is my go to.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

The powder dissipates so quickly it doesn't give you a true reading or a longer range downwind reading of how the air currents or thermals or both are traveling in and around your hunting site. Picture the wind not as a gust at a spot in time but a flowing river of water that changes constantly not only because of structure (trees, ridges, other potential "wind blockers") but also because of temperature changes due to elevation and time of day. The pods give you a much better and longer lasting visual identifier of how the wind is "flowing" downwind from your stand site or potential stand site. A lot of times hunting almost the wrong wind is a great way to kill a nice buck depending on your ability to access the area and the time of day and the predicted bedding location or even traveling locations during the rut.

This is great info. Does cotton work similarly? I have not seen milkweed in my woods and I’m not sure which varieties are native, but I have a gang of organic cotton balls hanging around...