Hello! Recently I planted a Cynanchum Laeve seedling in the ground as it was getting too big for its little pot. Just have a few questions concerning the root system. When I un-potted the plant, the taproot reached the bottom and was growing horizontally for about 1.5-2 inches when I planted it. I heard that taproots don't like to be disturbed, so I just placed the entire plant in the ground.

The vine was planted in loose, sandy Florida soil and was given plenty of water. So the big question is, can taproots re-orientate themselves after growing horizontally a couple inches? The taproot, at this point, is very thin. I'm debating whether I should dig it up and redo the taproot.

Don't want to loose sleep over this so I'm .

Thanks,

Adam

I don't know about the root about re-orienting itself, but i do know that it spreads horizontally and pops up in many places, sometimes far from the mother plant.
I just dig and repot the the new shoots to make more plants, and don't worry about it.
This way I have additional plants.

Hi Josephine, thanks for the info . I have heard it's quite an aggressive spreader, but to me, milkweed is like gold, especially this time of year, so I'll just throw the spreaders into my caterpillar cage and watch them go crazy over it .

My tropical, swamp, and swan will hopefully get some relief from all the caterpillars after the Cynanchum Leave gets established.

Adam

Just leave the plant alone. The tap root will get its bearings. Digging up again can do more harm that good. They have a great scent BTW and Monarchs love them.

Thanks David. It's been approximately 3 weeks since I transplanted the plant and it seems to be doing good. The top hasn't shown much sign of growing, but the two top leaves, which were small when I transplanted it, are getting bigger. I also tried using a week sugar water solution to ease the transplant shock and it seems to have worked, though I don't know what the results would have been without it.

Can't wait to smell the flowers when they come out though!

Hate to be saying this, but I'm not sure if this plant is going to survive. Last Friday, my parents hired some tree trimmers that, unfortunately, did a "weed treatment" aka spraying roundup or whatever on "weed-like" plants. I had signs on 9 out of 10 plants that were sprayed.

Fortunately all of the large incarnata and perennis survived (I would have been really upset about that since they are well established in a plant bed). Sadly, all of the Cynanchum seedlings I had were sprayed. 3 out of the 4 were hosed down with the stuff, wilted, and died. The last one which was at the base of a trellis with a clearly written sign was sprayed but not as heavily. The leaves have brown spots on them (where there weren't any before), but the leaves don't seem to be wilting like the others. Do you think that these plants can take a little weed killer on the leaves and be ok?

I can't really blame the trimmers as they mostly work with people who can't stand milkweed, but when you grow something from seeds that you stratified and nurtured for months, then bam dead; feels like a kick in the stomach.

The weed killer mentality is way too prevalent, people just don't understand the damage they cause.
I hope someday things will be different.

I hope so too.. I just went outside and saw that all of the 8 inch tall Echinacea plants I started from seed are also wilted and dead with little brown spots on the leaves. Thanks Monsanto... It's like they looked at anything with pollinator value as weeds.

It's weird how they sprayed almost everything I had but they never touched the garden center varieties like the petunias and pentas which were more weed-like (small with no flowers). Next time I see someone with a huge tank on their back full of black liquid, I'm not letting them on our property.

Good idea Adam.

Sorry to hear this. Glyphosate is NOT selective.

yesAdam said:It's weird how they sprayed almost everything I had but they never touched the garden center varieties

Not so weird...
Everybody recognizes the common exotics...
Try to grow something that actually belongs in the area... everybody thinks issa weed.

Really need to get people off the "weed" concept...
It ain't a weed if you can't name it...
and those people running around spraying poison on rare and unusual plants should be required to replace them...

easier said than done... the plants that I like... simply aren't carried in any nursery.
Once these "landscapers" were forced to replace the unfindable plants that some of us love and cherish... might make them a bit reluctant to take that sprayer off the truck...

On the positive side....
Honeyvine should be very easy to replace...
The echinacea.... not so much...