Tuesday, January 24, 2012

How do i harvest seeds from geraniums?

Geranium seeds have a little hook on the end of them - when the seed looks brown enough that it is ripening, cut the hook off with a pair of scissors.

Leave the seed to ripen fully then simply pick the seeds out of the faded flower heads.

they use the hook to catupault the seeds long distances in order to get good coverage when they are brushed past by humans insects or animals - so when you notice one seed has gone - the rest will be getting ready to go very soon!
How do i harvest seeds from geraniums?
Watch for seed pods. When the turn gold/brown and begin to open, collect them.



Geraniums will root in water or moist soil. Cutting 6-8" long, remove lower leaves, place in water or dip in rootone and place in moist soil. Do not let the cuttings "wilt" or dry out overnight. (You can put the pot in a zip type bag to create a mini greenhouse.) When you see new leaves, you have roots.
Reply:Basically, you dont... Take cuttings instead.... cut off a nice section of new growth, . let it "wilt" overnight,Remove lowest leaves, then dip in rootone powder and plant in damp sand to root . Place in semi shady area keeping it damp till roots form, Then transplant into pot with soil and place in full sun. You will have an exact copy of the plant you want.... not a scraggly plant that came from seed... (plants from seed tend to revert back to the stock it was originally derived from and are usually dissapointing for the effort involved)
Reply:You can harvest seed from geraniums (pelargoniums) but the problem is they only produce a single seed from each flower (compare this to poppies where one flower will give a seed pod containing HUNDREDS of seeds). If you want geranium seeds, just leave the flowers on the plants and after they wilt and die off, you will be left with slender seed pods. eventually these will ripen and split and a single feathery seed will be exposed. you can collect and germinate this...but bear in mind that the plant that will be produced may not be identical to the parent plant. good luck!!

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