A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

Has anyone had any luck saving seeds from peppermint plants and planting those seeds with any luck? The only seeds I've ever saved and replanted are pea seeds, tomato seeds, wild apple seeds, avocado, random flower seeds, and mint seeds. I had luck with the peas, flowers, and apple seeds.

it is so much easier to just transplant bits of plant than to try to get the seeds to grow. yes, they will sprout and grow from seed if given a chance and the right conditions. we have patches of various mints that could have only gotten where they are by seeds moving around.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Now that you can buy orchids pretty much everywhere, including even grocery stores, they are rather prosaic but still I find them pretty. DH was quite an orchid collector for some years, and while many of the more demanding species are now gone I do marvel that he still seems to be able to coax these old ones back into bloom though they must be 9 or 10 years old now. Given we have heating on for at least half of the year I would never have guessed he could keep them going for this long.
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Well, it's sort of a mixed thing. You CAN get orchids almost everywhere, but only a few, very easy to grow maintain and propagate species, like Phalaenopsis (what you have). Try to look for anything more unusual, and you will STILL have a kind of hard time, this despite the fact that there are MANY orchid species that are as easy, or even easier to keep at home (back when it was alive, my Coleachethes amazonicum flowered for me regular as clockwork every month or so, and I didn't have to do ANYTHING for it via fertilizer or such, just keep it watered.)

Planted quite a few seeds today. Planting is now really beginning as we are nearing the 8 weeks before the last frost mark. A few of the seeds I planted tonight were quite strange, one is possibly the most unusual shape I've seen, 'Quaking Grass' seed - at first I thought they maybe gave me the hulls not the seeds?? They are probably little wings with seeds attached, as so many seeds are.
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This is what the plant (grass) looks like - sorta crustacean meets cuttlefish?
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Reminded me of fossils like these, don't know their name
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They are called trilobites. And yes, there are seeds at the base of each of those "wings"

 

[heirloomgal]

Has anyone had any luck saving seeds from peppermint plants and planting those seeds with any luck? The only seeds I've ever saved and replanted are pea seeds, tomato seeds, wild apple seeds, avocado, random flower seeds, and mint seeds. I had luck with the peas, flowers, and apple seeds.

I haven't tried seeds for mint, mostly because they spread so quickly underground I'm usually battling them to stop instead of start! But I can't see any reason why mint seeds would not be viable. It's a determined plant all around.

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, it's sort of a mixed thing. You CAN get orchids almost everywhere, but only a few, very easy to grow maintain and propagate species, like Phalaenopsis (what you have). Try to look for anything more unusual, and you will STILL have a kind of hard time, this despite the fact that there are MANY orchid species that are as easy, or even easier to keep at home (back when it was alive, my Coleachethes amazonicum flowered for me regular as clockwork every month or so, and I didn't have to do ANYTHING for it via fertilizer or such, just keep it watered.)


They are called trilobites. And yes, there are seeds at the base of each of those "wings"

DH got so interested in the orchid thing that at one point it was like our living room converted into a...well, I called it the orchid shed. Thankfully, those days are over and he has a much more reasonable amount but he had so many types it was remarkable. Some of them didn't even look like orchids - one looked like a gladiolus, and another had a daffodil type bloom with large strapping leaves. We have a few of the odder ones left, one that flowers with teeny tiny wee orchids and smells like vanilla, sort of clump of grass looking. There did seem a link between the blooms that were highly dramatic and brightly coloured but bloomed much, much less than the others.

Trilobites, yes! That's what I was thinking of!

 

[Dahlia]

I haven't tried seeds for mint, mostly because they spread so quickly underground I'm usually battling them to stop instead of start! But I can't see any reason why mint seeds would not be viable. It's a determined plant all around.

Lol! I know what you mean! They do spread easily and grow quickly and heartily, but once I tried drying the seeds and then planting them in a pot. Nothing happened so I wondered if I dried the seeds incorrectly?

 

[heirloomgal]

The last of this years seeds finally arrived. Probably will still have to wait another week to plant anything. Weather was looking good for awhile and then we had a major snowstorm and minus 25C (-13F) weather and all the spring vibe croaked. Today is looking a bit more promising, but still very wintery with the snowbanks remaining. Doesn't look like we'll have an nice early spring like last year, but nature is full of surprises so I've still got my fingers crossed.

I think the Butterfly Pea seeds are kinda different, not what I expected. I'm tempted to put them in soil now, but it is probably too early still. I think I'll wait to the 6 weeks mark.

Caterpillar Plant seeds. Given that they grow up to look like furry caterpillars it makes sense they look a little like larvae at this point.

The Kenikir seeds. I think somehow these are related to Cosmos; I don't know what Cosmos seeds look like, but they may be similar I guess.

Judging by the Pepicha seeds, I may have been able to save these the last time I grew this plant. I wasn't sure what I needed to look for and it seemed like the heads never matured, but now I think they might have been ready. A few full heads were in the packet.

Tomatoes have mostly sprouted. Might still plant a few more. These seedlings are a testament to just how long seeds can last even in a less than ideal packet, because most of them came from old packets that were either freebees or ones ordered and never planted years ago. Some are almost ten years old. Paper envelopes are probably the worst for long term tomato seed storage too.

These are Green Tassels amaranth seedlings, very old seed. From the first order I ever placed at Richter's Seeds, and still they germinated at likely 100%. That company, despite increasingly high prices, has some very fine foil lined seed packets. Nearly everything I bought from there that began with good germination rates years ago, still has great germination rates. Teeny seedling clumps like this are my LEAST favourite kind of thinning though. Reminds me of carrots - a plant I loathe to thin.

This is a cotton plant, seeds were from Richter's too. I couldn't believe that every single seed (10 years old probably)I planted actually sprouted. And cotton seeds are large, odd seeds too. I think it might be a biennial plant, so it likely won't set seed for me, but I started them early so there might be a glimmer of possibility with it.

I was not sure what kind of germ rates I'd get with the Quaking Grass, but golly, it turned out very well. Those seeds seemed so unsubstantial. I might plant more yet.

The wee little orchid that just won't stop. I call it the vanilla orchid for the smell, I'm not sure what what the real name is.

 

[Ridgerunner]

cotton seeds are large, odd seeds too. I think it might be a biennial plant, so it likely won't set seed for me, but I started them early so there might be a glimmer of possibility with it.

When I grew it, cotton was an annual. I got seeds that year. I can't remember how long I had to wait, it is a warm weather crop so you may have problems up there.

The seeds are embedded in the cotton bolls, a real pain to clean out. Your seeds may have had some cotton fiber fuzz on them.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

It is DEFINITELY too early for Butterfly Peas if you are in Ontario. Remember they are a SEMI-TROPICAL vine. Also (no offense mean) but some of those seeds don't look quite as healthy as they should (a lot of them seem to have puckers in the sides, which could mean seed that isn't quite full)

As for cotton, I suppose it also may depend on WHICH cotton you mean. Remember there are TWO cotton species, one from South America, one from India* (which means that cotton is unique as being both an Old World AND New World crop**) One could be one, one the other.

*Since I am fairly sure someone is going to end up asking "which is better?" as far as I have heard, it depends. Andean cotton is much hardier and more productive (which is why it makes up about 93% of the cotton grown) Indian apparently makes finer fibers (so you can make much finer, sheerer cloth)

** ALMOST the only one. I understand that bottle gourds (Langeria) are also considered a world crosser (they think maybe a bottle gourd or two full of seeds floated over the oceans from Africa many thousands of years ago.)

There is also now pretty good evidence that the New World edible seed producing cucurbit Melothria sphaerocarpa and the African one Cucumeropsis manii are, in fact, the same plant.

 

[flowerbug]

Lol! I know what you mean! They do spread easily and grow quickly and heartily, but once I tried drying the seeds and then planting them in a pot. Nothing happened so I wondered if I dried the seeds incorrectly?

don't know for sure how long they might be viable for or what kind of treatment they'll respond to. sometimes seeds can take a longer time to germinate or even several years before they'll sprout. some need a cold damp spell. others need to pass through the gut of a bird. some need fire! that's amazing to me...

 

[heirloomgal]

When I grew it, cotton was an annual. I got seeds that year. I can't remember how long I had to wait, it is a warm weather crop so you may have problems up there.

The seeds are embedded in the cotton bolls, a real pain to clean out. Your seeds may have had some cotton fiber fuzz on them.

I looked back on the website that sold them, and oddly they are described as biennial/triennial. But I researched cotton growth habits and it seems they are a long season annual. I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and see what I get.

Yes, the seeds looked like grey Q-Tip heads.