How to Harvest and Save Snapdragon Seeds

Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) are colourful, aromatic, standard additions to the backyard and vase.

Snapdragon seeds are available for buy from any nursery or retailer that sells seeds.

However if you happen to – or a buddy – are rising these flowers in your backyard, you may also gather seeds from your individual vegetation and save them for planting the subsequent season if you want.

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If that appears like a good suggestion however you don’t know the place to start out, we’ll focus on precisely how you can do it on this information.

That is what we’ll cowl:

Pollination

Step one in seed manufacturing is pollination. Although most wild snapdragons aren’t self-compatible, that means a flower can’t pollinate itself, cultivated snapdragons are.

Since they self-pollinate, the ensuing seeds will produce vegetation which can be similar to the unique, if not equivalent.

Fortunately, you actually don’t should do any work to your backyard snapdragons to provide seeds. They’ll pollinate themselves, and pollinators like bumblebees will assist.

Nevertheless, if you wish to get actually concerned and make some hybrids if you happen to’re rising a number of completely different cultivars, you are able to do that by hand-pollinating your vegetation.

Right here’s how:

Harvest recent, vivid, sticky yellow pollen by squeezing the donating flower open and tapping or scraping the pollen from the anthers onto a chunk of wax paper.

To verify the receiving flower isn’t pollinated by itself earlier than or after you pollinate it, select a bud that’s nonetheless closed. Rigorously open it by folding again the petals, and take away the anthers by gently pulling them out with tweezers.

Whilst you’re in there, use a paintbrush or toothpick to place the collected pollen on the stigma of the receiving flower.

Cowl the pollinated flower with a mesh bag to stop different pollen from getting in, through bees that go to your backyard.

Keep watch over your mesh-covered blooms. For those who did a superb job pollinating, finally the petals will fall off and reveal a pod. Congratulations, you’ve handed an important take a look at in changing into a bee!

Find out how to Harvest

4 to 5 weeks after pollination happens, the seeds are able to be harvested!

For those who didn’t do the pollination your self, give any brown pods that you simply see a delicate shake. For those who hear rattling inside, they’re able to be harvested.

Ensure you catch them earlier than the pods burst open and the tiny kernels are launched.

The darkish coloured seeds are tiny and really gentle, so whether it is windy out, twist pods off the plant and take them indoors to interrupt them open so that they don’t blow away while you’re harvesting them.

Break open the pods and easily shake them over a bag or container to catch the seeds as they fly out.

Find out how to Retailer

Earlier than packing the seeds away, unfold them out on a chunk of paper and place in a dry, cool space out of direct daylight to allow them to dry out for a day or two.

One of the best ways to maintain them viable is to retailer them in a paper bag or packet. Storing them in plastic can result in mould.

Preserve the seeds in a cool, darkish, dry place.

Though snapdragons will germinate higher if you happen to chill them beforehand, they solely want seven to 10 days of chilly stratification earlier than sowing, so there isn’t a must retailer them within the fridge the complete time.

For those who retailer them correctly, they’ll stay viable for as much as three years.

To judge whether or not they’re nonetheless viable after an extended storage interval, you may take a look at germination with this simple technique:

Moisten a chunk of paper towel or serviette, sprinkle on a identified variety of seeds (10 is an efficient quantity), fold the towel over and put the folded paper towel in a plastic bag.

Place the bag in a heat – 70 to 75°F – location that’s vivid, however not direct daylight. They want gentle to germinate however direct daylight will seemingly turn out to be too scorching.

After seven days, take away the folded paper towel from the bag and open it fastidiously to see if germination has occurred.

Give them as much as fourteen days earlier than doing all of your last look and depend.

This gives you an concept in case your seeds are nonetheless viable, and if it’s worthwhile to sow at a heavier charge whenever you do plant them.

Give Me All of the Antirrhinum

Harvesting and storing snapdragon seeds is easy, and an awesome concept if you wish to develop extra snapdragons subsequent yr.

You should definitely try our article on how you can begin snapdragons from seed that will help you develop stunning flowers from your individual assortment!

Have you ever ever grown flowers from your individual harvested seed? Let me know the way it went within the feedback beneath!

Whilst you’re nonetheless interested by snapdragons, extra rising data on these beauties will be present in these guides: