Differences of Milkweed Germination Based off of Soil, Sand and Paper Towel Substrate

The purpose of our study was to learn best methods of germination for milkweed to understand sustainability of their growth. This is significant to our environment because it helps us better understand how these seeds grow and what we can do to help this process; thus how to help our ecosystems. The problem we were trying to solve was trying to combat the endangerment of milkweed to continually provide nutrients to pollinators. We placed 10 seeds of Asclepias tuberosa into 3 separate petri dishes containing 3 different moist substrates(soil, sand, and a paper towel. After 2 weeks, we examined the germination of our seeds to assess the best substrate for germination. After completing the research, we concluded that moist soil showed the highest germination rates of each substrate. Additionally, it would be beneficial to learn which environments would sustain larger populations of milkweed best.