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Perennials Roses Seed Saving

How do you save columbine seeds?

perennialfan275

4 years ago

I have some columbines blooming in one of my beds right now (VERY late this year), and I'd like to save some of the seeds to plant elsewhere after they're finished. What I'm wondering is how do you know when the seed pods are ready to be harvested? And once you've collected the seeds, when is the best time to plant them? This is a vulgaris cultivar btw. Not canadensis. Not sure if this matters but just saying. Out of curiosity, are any of your columbines blooming right now? Feel free to share pics here if yes.

Featured Answer

nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska

4 years ago

It's pretty straightforward - just leave the plant standing until the seed pods dry and the seeds rattle inside the pod. There's a chance that the pods will split open from environmental factors before they're fully dry, so I suppose you could do something elaborate like putting paper down under the plants to collect the seeds as they drop, but I've never bothered. Columbines come up pretty readily from seeds, and the best method I have found is to simply take the dry pods and crush/scatter them over wherever the new area is for them to grow. They'll put out new foliage later this season and come back next season with more to share. I never bother trying to save them and replant them later unless I'm sharing them with others.

Cynthia

Comments (9)

pippacovalent
4 years ago
In my experience Columbine does best when seeds are sown in fall and it also does really well with the "wintersowing" method.
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Hi, Brown pod which rattle is a good sign the seeds are ripe. You normally can tell they are ready because the tops will start to split. The seeds will be shiny and black. Green pods are definitely not ripe and can not be picked. They do not fall out really fast so if you are out there all the time, you will be able to get the seeds. One thing you can do for saving the seeds if you are not out there all the time is to use little organza drawstring gift bags over the seeds pods. the seeds will stay in the bags. I do not recommend putting them straight into plastic baggies as Pippi suggested above. This may reduce germination. Though the seeds are dry to us, there may be residual moisture in them. It is best to let them dry on a plate for at least a week (really large seeds may take longer) to make sure they are truly dry. Then they can be transferred to plastic. As far as freezing now goes, no that really isn't the best idea for this time of year. Once you do that, if it works, you'll have babies trying to grow in the worst weather. It is better to wintersow (Check out the Winter Sowing Forum.) the seeds in pots over the winter. Or if you were planning on having them in your garden somewhere, direct planting them can work. I don't have the best luck with planting seeds directly into my garden. I have much better luck with winter sowing.
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Carolyn ,does the fermentation method destroy all pathogens ? If so is this due to the long soaking ? You stated above "only hot water treatment can be used for the bacteria" which isn't used in the fermentation method .So please explain. Would the clorine method be more effect with a longer soak time ? What diseases can these pathogens cause ? ***** No, fermentation does not remove all pathogens as I think I said above when I said that it lessened the amount on the seed coat and since infection is a quantitative process it means a lesser chance of passing on certain seed borne pathogens. Above I said that all bacterial and viral pathogens, to date, have been found in the endosperm of the seed and that's the interior part of the seed so they are not removed by any method except the specialized hot water treatment. I can't answer the question about a longer soak time with chlorine being more effective since I don't know any data available to say which pathogens can be lessened and how effective, so there's no baseline to go from. Which diseases can these pathogens cause? I don't know how to answer your question b/c I don't know which pathogens you're referring to. ( smile) In WI where you live the most prevalent tomato diseases are the foliage diseases and the four major ones are Early Blight ( A. solani), Septoria Leaf Spot, Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot, but the first two are fungal and I do know that Dr. Dillard's results showed that those two fungal ones were lessened with Fermentation. You also can have occasional Verticillium, but rarely Fusarium, and I do know that Fusarium is lessened on the seed coat but can't remember if Verticillium is but would assume so. The long ago words about what fermentation could accomplish are as follows, but the data that came later proved some of them to not be true. Helps remove the gel on the seeds; very true, so you end up with fluffy seeds the same as you'd buy. Inactivates seed borne pathogens; later data has indicated which ones The acid conditions of the fermentation kill viruses; not true since those viruses tested to date are not on the seed coat. Commercial seed producers often TSP to treat their seeds b'c it's known that TSP can destroy TMV ( Tobacco Mosaic Virus), but don't ask me how b'c I don't know. LOL TSP treated seeds are pretty easy to ID b'c the seeds are smaller than normal, not fuzzy, and much darker in color. The mold that forms on atop the the fermentation has fungi that produce antibiotics that can kill or lessen any bacterial pathogens; not true b'c as said above, those bacterial pathogens tested to date, and that's not ALL of them, are in the endosperm of the seed. Hope that helps. Carolyn, who also thinks that many home growers as well as many of the smaller seed companies who sell tomato seed, and many of them produce their own seed although some subcontract out and some buy wholesale off the shelf ro a combo of those methods, use fermentation b'c they don't want to use anything other than the natural means that the tomatoes do themselves as to dropped fruits leading to more of the same kind, all a part of the natural life cycle of the tomato. And I forgot to mention that both TSP and actual acids are two other ways that commercial seed producers produce their seed. Lots of info on the net about that.
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beesneeds
4 years ago
Not too late in the year for my blooms- the earliest bloomer is just starting to have the flowers die back and I have others that are just starting to bud up. A bunch are currently in bloom. Not sure if it's because I have different kinds or because of their growing locations.

Seed pods will fatten up but stay green for a while. Then they start to fade more to dry, and that's when to keep an eye on them for seeds. They are wonderfully self-sowing and like to drop their seed. Once the seeds turn very dark brow/blackish the seeds are done and you can harvest the pods.

A good seed head can give you lots of seed, and even the little ones can have a nice amount. If you like you can snip off the seed heads into a paper bag, shake, and get a lot of seed. Or you can smash the seed heads to get more of it- I like to use the cotton ball trick to clean the debris from the seed. Or you can take the whole heads and smash them up and sprinkle them around where you want them to be.

If you do the smash and sprinkle, you can do it right away because it's the right time for teh seed to want to drop. You can do them in the spring too, and I've heard of some folks wintersowing them as well if I'm not mistaken.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years ago
as it matures.. the droopy flower will stand upright ... kinda like spires on a church ... and when they dry.. the tops will opens ... and the seed is ready ... black ... shiny.. and hard ...

you can take the whole frond.. and lay it where you want some next year ...

i used to just walk thru the garden.. and just smack them.. and free spread them ... but i had the usual common suspects ... [btw.. rose champion .. lynchis ... is about the same .. they open]

or you could label an envelope ... and pour them in ... and store them somewhere dry ...

or.. do both ...

many of the more common ones reseeds easily ... i dont know about the foo foo ones ... or if they are sterile.. or have reduced fertility ...

ken

notice in the 5th pic.. they have opened: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=columbine+seed+pods&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
xiangirl zone 4/5 Nebraska
4 years ago
I planted 4 columbines in a public park and they have come back for 3 years. Some Nebraskans have trouble overwintering them. They are in the middle of their bloom period now and showing off! Like Ken says, nothingn foo foo, just good old ordinary columbine! Heidi
sautesmom Sacramento
4 years ago
I take a ziplock gallon bag, put it over the dried heads while on the plant, zip it shut, and then cut the stems, because they fall out of the pods so easily.
I then take a dehydrating packet (like from new shoe boxes) and put it inside the bag, zip it shut and then save it for planting time.
Last columbines I stratified half in the fridge then planted both out at the same time. I saw no difference, so I say don't bother with stratification.
Carla in Sac
getgoing100_7b_nj
4 years ago
I try to not let them go to seed for the most part by deadheading (they are supposed to be short lived perennials otherwise). I grow in a container. I did collect and spread some seeds last fall as an insurance policy in case my 2 year old plants (I bought a bare root pack) die off. The seedlings were brought in for the winter I am hoping for blooms in the next few weeks. My original plants just started blooming. First bloom today.
laceyvail 6A, WV
4 years ago
They reseed pretty vigorously, but all seem to revert to blue or purple.
Lisa Adams
4 years ago
Most of my aquilegias are finished, except for the yellow ones that bloom for an extended time. I grow many, but didn’t take many pictures this year. Here’s a few from the past couple of months.

Lisa

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