Help in collecting seeds

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Author Message   Beckye  My Weather Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 04:20 pm EST :    How does a newbie know when to gather seeds from spent flowers? I snipped some dead flower heads off and will spread them out in a warm place so they'll be dry. There's still color left in the blossoms; will the seeds be ok to harvest or are they better off left until the flowers are drier on the stalks and crackly? Rain threatens, and I don't know if that is a factor or not. I am new to this. Thanks in advance. Beckye - WA, Zone "8"   Lovinlife  Posted on Friday, September 28, 2007 - 08:07 am EST :    I'm no expert, Becky, so you may get better info from other GBs. I think you've done the right thing so far by clipping the dead flowerheads. It's my understanding the seeds are not ready yet if the blossom is still in bloom. Lovinlife - Utah, Zone "5"   Loretta  Supporting Member Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 02:38 pm EST :    Beckye, it would help if you mention what you are collecting. Just because the flower is spent doesn't mean the seed is ready for harvest. Usually it needs to stay on the plant a while and develope, some longer than others. It is better to let the seed pods dry on the plant or for the fruit to ripen, etc. A few plants need to be caught just before the plant broadcasts the seeds itself. So let us know what you are trying to collect. Loretta - NJ, Zone "6"   Greth  Posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 - 05:07 pm EST :    Usually when they are about ready to drop off themselves. You can tie paper bags over a dying seedhead to collect the seed as it falls naturally. but yes, info on what plants you are interested in would help. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Beckye  My Weather Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 05:20 pm EST :    OK. Thanks for the information so far. Let's see, I've got zinnias, marigolds, gaillardia, alyssum, snapdragons, knautia macedonia, coleus. Beckye - WA, Zone "8"   Loretta  Supporting Member Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 - 12:21 pm EST :    I haven't collected seed from alyssum but in all other cases listed, wait for the dead flower head to go brown completely including a little down the stem. On the snapdragons, the pod just has to go brown. Pick the pods and open them up onto a plate. They are easy to see- small black seeds, free from chaff inside the pods. On coleus, you can see the seed ripen along the flower spike as the flowers turn brown, most likely starting from the bottom of the spike first. You can wait for most of the spike to ripen and cut the whole thing off and place into a brown bag to catch falling seeds. Or you can pinch off flowers individually as they ripen if you find you are missing the seed. Take the individual brown flowers and roll them between your fingers over a plate. It will separate the chaff from the seed. Looks like a tiny shiny black poppy seed. Separating coleus is time consuming if you try to get every last seed so just get what you need unless you want to trade. Coleus seed lives a few years. Marigolds, just pinch the top of the brown flower and pull. The seeds will come out. They are black, long and narrow with a white tip - more so than rice. Just keep the ones that are plumper and firm. If they bend, they are no good. I haven't done zinnia in a long time but you find them between the layers of the old petals. I think there are some differences between one type of zinnia seed and another. Someone else can say. Knautia and gaillardia are somewhat similar to marigolds in the way the flower head releases the seed. Knautia has small white seed and is sometimes hard to tell whether or not they are fertile. But they will reseed on their own. So you can collect some and drop some and see if nature takes its course. Gaillardia be a little plump on the opposite end of the fringe, kind of like a football. They are larger and easier than knautia but still smallish. Skinny breakable lines are sterile. In general most fertile seeds will take a little pressure without crackling. Many seeds do ripen before the flower head turns brown so if you are racing against frost, you might try collecting anyway. Also, if you are having a wet season, the seeds can already germinate inside the flower head so you might want to observe that as well. Lastly, if you leave the pods on the plants too long, you chance all the seeds being released or munched on. Really lastly, there are some plants that even if you pick the pods a little early, the seeds will continue to ripen. An example of this would be witchhazel. Loretta - NJ, Zone "6"   Beckye  My Weather Posted on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 11:47 am EST :    Oh, wow! Thank you so much, Loretta. I'll try to get outside today and see what I can do. This is great! Becky Beckye - WA, Zone "8"   Tim_whitley  Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 05:39 am EST :    I have collected seeds from 2 mature handkerchief trees (davida )which were planted early 20 century.Would anyone have detailed information on getting them to germinate. Tim_whitley - Co Meath, Zone "?"   Growit  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Weather My Time Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 06:06 am EST :    Hi Tim. I copied this from the RHS for you. Hope it helps :) [Propagated readily from seed after an extended period of dormancy but will not flower for up to 10 years from germination. Sow the whole fruit, as soon as it is ripe, in a seedbed or containers in an open frame. Germination normally occurs in spring after two winters. In the wild it has been noticed that all the seeds germinate at once with one eventually crowding out the others. Cuttings can also be taken, either in early autumn as leaf-bud cuttings or in winter as traditional hardwood cuttings.] Unless you are incredibly patient I would go with cuttings. Growit - Hampshire, Zone "8/9"   Terryk  Supporting Member My Weather My Garden My Time Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 09:16 am EST :    Hi Tim, welcome to gb. This is not much help but it would point you in the direction of a fellow gardenbuddy who is very successful at growing just about anything. He recently had this post in the Tree forum. Perhaps you want to e-mail Ton and ask him some questions. http://www.gardenbuddies.com/forum/messages/4310/1273731.html Terryk - NY, Zone "6"

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