As a gardener , sooner or subsequently you ’re going to want to start pull together and save seeds from your garden so that you’re able to keep a favorite diverseness , or preserve a particularly upright plant ’s property . Whether it ’s vegetable or flowers , every gardener eventually get to this point . Most flowers stash away their seed in “ seed pods . ” Some other works do this as well , such as the legume family unit of veggie , like peas and beans . A seed pod is just a small germ container that is commonly site inside or just behind the flower itself . flower are the reproductive organ of the plant , and the seed pods are what flowering is all about – at least , as far as Mother Nature is concerned . Once the prime withers , it leaves behind the pod .
For many , collecting these is the final tribute to the flower itself . The flowering plant goes through a simple life hertz :
To collect the cum pods , you merely have to get to them between the maturing and the acquittance so that you have practicable , mature ejaculate that are still all in one place .
CC flickr photo courtesy of dyogi
How To Collect Seeds From Seed Pods
To get lead off , you ’ll need a few elementary tool . You ’ll want some sharp scissors grip ( peradventure shears if you ’re working with thick - stemmed plants ) , a small pocket knife ( a penitentiary - tongue will do ) , some newspaper or burlap or cloth bags ( about the size of a lunch bag ) , a fine - tipped marker , and something to extend all of this in like a tool belt , a boxful , or a gymnasium bag .
The approximation is to collect the seeded player pods and put them in the bags . you’re able to localise single pods from one plant into a bag ( if you wish to split up by plant ) or habituate each traveling bag for one species . The marker is to label the bags so you know where the seeds come from and what they are . you’re able to judge them beforehand or in the field , as you like .
The mental process of collecting is somewhat simple . The pod will be inside or just underneath the flower . Some plants are “ male ” and wo n’t have a seedpod , while others are self - pollinating and will have both manful and distaff flowers . The female flush are commonly larger to reconcile the come pod . Simply turn off the shank below the pod , brush off the flower fragments ( they should be ironic and brittle ) , and range the fuel pod into the bag . The numeral of seed in each pod will depend on the coinage , so do it your mintage or burn one pod overt and see how many are in there to get an idea of how many you should pull in . Always get too many rather than too few .
CC flickr photo courtesy of dyogi
Once you have the pods , you’re able to take them to a safe fix ( indoors , aside from breezes and louse ) and cut them subject to retrieve the seeds . propagate them out on a cloth or paper . Most should necessitate nothing more than to be bagged and stored for the next class . you could go through and separate out those that look too humble or off - color if you care , but experience shows that this is easier to do during the give planting appendage than it is now . Store seeds in paper bags in a nerveless , dry place .
Seed Saving Tips
Be trusted the seeds are advanced before you glean . Choose a pod , polish off it , and open it up . If the seeds are n’t the right color or size of it ( compare to shop - bought or from remembering ) , they probably are n’t ripe . Be aware that many flowers wilt at the point the ejaculate are fertilized , so it may be another month or more before the seed are ripe . Specific species will have different ripening time .
Want to learn more about collecting seeds from seed pods?
Check out these helpful resource : University of Minnesota – collect Wildflower and Prairie SeedUniversity of Illinois – Seed Collecting and Storing [ PDF ]
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