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wanna_run_faster

How to collect seeds?

wanna_run_faster
18 years ago

I tried to collect the seeds from my coleus but they were way too small and I would only end up with 2 or 3 seeds at a time! I was successful with varigated schefferla cause I tested them for germination and they worked! Yea!

But now I'm ready for more! I have seeds that I can see forming on amaryllis, genovaese basil, kiss me over the garden gate and mexican petunia. I keep going out there and looking...I'm so afraid that they are just going to fall off and be lost. Is there any rule of thumb when to harvest? I'm just trying to avoid going out there and picking them off one by one or waiting too long and going out and finding everything gone!

Comments (5)

  • Loretta NJ Z6
    18 years ago

    The basil will turn brown and it is very much like collecting coleus except the seeds are bigger. It can be time consuming but for that one, I now just cut the dry stalk in a paper bag, then run my fingers along the stalk to release the calyxes (?) and store it that way. Later, I might put it in a plastic ziploc once it is fully dry. You can spend forever cleaning the seed and chances are you will never use it all. Same with coleus. Coleus you have to sit there and keep rolling the chaf between your fingers over a white plate. The seeds will drop out. Very slow. Can take days. I wonder how people with sieves do it.
    Amaryllis, I did many years ago. Pretty easy and obvious is all I remember. I think that was pretty straight forward.
    There is no one rule for all plants. Sometimes it is a matter of getting to know the plant and sometimes you can't get past checking the plant everyday, waiting for the right time before the plant disperses it in its way.

  • wanna_run_faster
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Ok, getting better, got basil, amaryllis and kiss me kate!

  • dottee
    18 years ago

    How do you collect amaryllis seed? How do you keep them?

  • wanna_run_faster
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Dottee,

    After they're successfully fertilized (either by hand with a paintbrush which I do about 5 times a day as long as there is a stamen and a pistol, or via nature!), you will notice that a bulge forms at the base of the flower. So if you have 4 flowers, you probably will get 4 buldges, or seed pods. I just leave them alone and let the flower drop off in it's own good time and evenutally you will have nothing but a stalk with the seed pod on top. After about 3 or 4 weeks of looking at the pod, you will notice that it turns brown and springs open reavealing the seeds. I just spread them out on a plate to dry for a day or two and then put them in baggies.

  • cana4
    16 years ago

    Is this the same method for collecting HOSTA seeds?
    I was told something about acid free paper and stopped trying. Is Brown paper acid-free or did I misunderstand something?

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