What's your trick for separating echinacea seeds?
leaveswave
18 years ago
Featured Answer
Comments (21)
mrbrownthumb
18 years agojim_6b
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Seed Offer: Yvonne's Salvia & Echinacea tennesseensis
Comments (59)Hello, I'm going to close the offer for now. If I have any seed left over, I will reopen the offer. If I haven't emailed everyone who posted here I will in the next few days. Thanks Jim...See MoreHow do Echinacea and Portulaca seeds look??
Comments (5)Oh great, thank you for pics and info!I can now clearly see the tan colored Echinacea seeds. I had rubbed them off the flower head, together with the black spikes. It will be a job to separate them... or, since there is plenty, should I start all over ? But how do you poke the seeds out from between the spikes without also getting the spikes ? I don't seem to see well enough... Re: portulaca, how do you know when the seeds are ripe? Yesterday I had collected several of these soft " buds" and left them in an open paper bag to dry. I just looked again, some of these "buds"are still very soft, when I squeeze them they turn into a mushy mess with nothing remotely like a black seed in sight. However, I can also see some tiny black dots sticking to the inside of the paper bag....obviously some of the buds contained them, but which ones? In other words, what am I looking for that will contain ripe seeds? It's pretty cool and rainy now here in Toronto, the portulaca stopped blooming a while back, I am assuming that the seeds should be ripe now, unless they already fell to the ground?...See MoreTricked by Echinacea 'Prairie Splendor'
Comments (27)I also bought the Prairie Splendor echinacea from Lowes fall of 2009. Mine is gorgeous and looks like the picture. It is June 5th and it has been blooming for over week even after torrential rains. I don't remember a wide variation in plants when I bought mine, but anyone who buys plants from Lowes should realize that you get what you pay for and that sometimes, you get a dud, and sometimes you luck out. I've been pleasantly surprised by mine and found this forum accidentally trying to find out where to get more. I've also had named cone flowers set seed and naturalize in my garden and the plants were tall and rangy; the flowers were small and sporadic at best. This plant I have now is the Belle of my border!...See MoreQuestion about echinacea seeds.
Comments (4)My trick for the echinacea is to hold the stem just below the head in one hand, and use flat-nose pliers to pull out the spikes with the other - after the first plier-full, the spikes come out in chunks. You end up with a bare cone on a stem (that might make a cute craft as a witch's hat but is otherwise useless), and a bowl of spikes and seeds which you now have the fun of separating (if you're into that). ;-) The seeds are sort of shield-shaped wee little nuggets that have been lodged between the spikes. As yours are from last fall they should surely be mature enough, if there are still seeds in there. Just hope you got the seed heads before the seeds fell out... I've "missed the boat" more than once myself and ended up with a nice prickly head of nothing much. (But I'm sure the finches enjoyed the seeds, and I've found several seedlings in odd places where the finches were sloppy with their snack.) lol. ;-) Anyway, that's how I do it. I'd be interested in hearing about an easy way of separating the pulled spikes from the seeds. Best wishes on your harvest, Pearl! :-)...See Moretrudi_d
18 years agoHollywog
18 years agobakemom_gw
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18 years agoNurmey
18 years agogardenlove
18 years agoelvis
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15 years agoevonnestoryteller
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13 years agoSuzy Duffy
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoGretchen W.
7 years agotheforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
7 years agolazy_gardens
7 years agoGretchen W.
7 years ago
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