Seed Collecting

I have asters and was wondering if they seed...I also have petunias...I know you can grow them from seed but how do you collect the seed?

The Asters will produce achenes as other Composites do; they should be collected when they looked ripened on the old flower heads.

The Petunia will produce a fruit / seed capsule as other members of the Solanaceae. Seed should be collected when the capsule is ripe.

hey Dave, give me a hint of what those look like....I am collecting them for some very special gifts, not just myself....I wonder what else I have that seeds?

wait on the asters do the head out like the zinnias do?

I'm not sure if all the ones you are asking about are covered here, but I know Petunias are. Click on the alphabet letter to look them up by genus. They have photos of seedheads/pods, seeds, and seedlings. Pretty cool site. http://theseedsite.co.uk/db17.html

awesome! I want as many seeds from them as I can get cause I am making some gardening gift bags for some cancer patients...I thought those would be cool if they seeded because they are very easy to take care of well the asters are anyway

Absolutely awesome site! I may have to print that for future reference

Excellent and most useful site, Joan!

Joan is know a Goddess in my eyes...lol...and thanks Dave...oh by the way want some marigold seeds?

Trina, I know you want to share your marigolds. If they are ones that I am thinking, they are kind of pretty. Why don't you post a photo so others can see what they are like or at least describe them. Just an idea!

Trina, I assume you found what petunia seeds are like. This is the first year I have found only 3 pods so far. I usually am too eager to deadhead them. I didn't know what they looked like until I found a pod spilling seeds!

Venice, that is absolutely the best way to find out where petunia seeds come from. Would you believe I tried all last fall to find verbena seeds. Finally this year I found them.

The thing I would like to know is how do you know which seeds will grow true to the mother plant? And, which seeds are viable.

I think the answer to my first question is that nothing hybrid will be?

Jnette, plant them and see what they look like!!! If you don't like them, you can always pull them up!! Who knows, you might get something unusual that you really like, even the hybrids.

I was thinking for trade. I looked at the Canadian trade forum and asked the question 'cause they said to make sure they were true and viable if they were collected, and got slapped down for butting in on their thread. LOL, didn't mean to start a war on the northern border.

So sorry you felt that way about it Jnette. It certainly wasn't intended to offend you. I was concerned that the brand new thread would take off in an off topic direction right away if I got into a discussion with you about seed viability. Since you can't be in the exchange anyway, I thought you might find better answers here. You are welcome in the Canadian forum any time.

I was surprised to find that my first year of collecting petunia seeds produced some that were pretty true to their parents! next year I'll know what the F3 generation is like.

And next year, I won't sow too many in one germination cell, then have to sacrifice 90% of them! Since I hate to kill them off, the survivors got a late start.

Corey