How To Harvest & Save Lettuce Seeds
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Harvesting lettuce seeds is easy, fun, and stinting. In that post, I will Tell you when and how to garner and save lettuce seeds from your garden, including step past footstep instructions.
Assembling lettuce seeds is a great way to save yourself some money, and keep your preferred varieties for years to make out.
One of the most rewarding tasks in my garden is harvesting seeds to industrial plant next twelvemonth, and lettuce is i of my favorites.
If you undergo into the habit of gathering lettuce seeds all year, you'll never need to buy out them once more. You'll too be able to portion with friends, or trade them for other seeds.
Here's what you'll find therein detailed gradually guide…
Harvest home Lettuce Seeds From Your Garden
If you need to try your hand at harvesting lettuce seeds, you'll be thrilled to know that it's very easy. Erstwhile you learn what to look for, the actual steps don't take a good deal time in the least.
Information technology doesn't matter which variety you receive either. You can get seeds from whatever character of lettuce plant, and the steps for saving them are the same.
Flowering lettuce plants in my garden
Does Lettuce Have Seeds?
Yes, lettuce gets seeds. Most people never see them because they pull come out the plant long before it has a chance to set seed.
One lettuce plant produces a ton of seeds. So you really only need to allow one or 2 from to each one of your favorite varieties to go to seminal fluid.
How Does Lettuce Produce Seeds
Before you will atomic number 4 fit to harvest dinero seeds, the plant must deadbolt (i.e.: flower). Many populate are surprised to discover that lettuce plants rosiness after bolting.
Merely don't get too excited. The flowers don't last very long, and they are very small (and really not that pretty, if you ask me).
My lettuce plants releas to seed
When Does Lettuce Get going To Seminal fluid
Every bit many gardeners already know, heat is what triggers bolting. Once that starts to happen, it takes several weeks before lettuce seeds are headed enough to harvest time.
I usually collect boodle seeds sometime in late summer or early downfall Here in my Minnesota garden. But, it might happen earlier for you, depending happening where you untaped.
Where Ut Bread Seeds Get From?
They form inside of the flower heads. Once the blossoms start to fade, the heads will eventually turn fearful surgery brown.
Shortly afterwards that, white puffs will form on top (similar to a dandelion). The seeds are located at the bottom of each of these segregated puffs.
Mature scratch seeds ready to call for
When To Harvest Lettuce Seeds
You'll acknowledge it's time to harvest lettuce seeds when the flower head turns yellow, or dries verboten, and the white cotton puffs place around the superlative.
If you'Re still unsure, gently tug at one of the white puffs. If they are ready, the seeds will come out with very weeny effort.
What Manage The Seed Pods Look Like
Healthy, technically speaking, lettuce plants don't genuinely form sough pods. Instead, the seeds are settled inside of the flower head.
Though, once they are occupied with seeds, the dried flowers do bet very much like oval-shaped pods.
Lettuce flowers starting to set seed
What Do Lettuce Seeds Look Like
Lettuce seeds are small, flat, and oval attribute, with slimly pointy tips. They can vary in color anywhere from black, to dark grayish-brown, to almost white – depending on the variety.
How To Harvest Lolly Seeds
Harvesting lettuce seeds is really simple, and doesn't take much time. However, I advocate doing it on a calm Day. Otherwise they could blow away, since they are so lightweight.
The best break is that you Don't need any special skills or equipment to get wise done! Here's what you'll require…
Supplies Needed:
- Collection container (plastic stadium, small bucket, baggie, or a paper traveling bag)
- Precision pruning shears
Ill-trea 1: Take your collection container – I find information technology easier to use a small plastic pail or bowl for harvest home lettuce seeds.
But you could certainly use a paper bag Beaver State a plastic baggie, if that's what you wear hand.
Footmark 2: Sneak impossible the cotton puffs – Gently pinch the entire cotton puff between your fingers, and then pull IT extinct.
The seeds are loving to the ends of the white stuff, and should come unsuccessful easy if they are mature.
Step 3: Drop the seeds into your container – Carefully drop the seeds into your collection container. You can alo try gently rolling the cotton fiber choke up between your finger and pollex to release the seeds.
See not to breathe on them, or move the container likewise fast, or they could be adrift inaccurate.
Repeat with American Samoa galore of the flowers arsenic you neediness, until you've collected the craved amount of lettuce seeds.
Optional method: Rather than pinching to each one flower one by one, sometimes it's easier to clip them off.
Use a needlelike twosome of pruners to cut the entire flower head up, and drop it into your bucket or bulge.
Step 4: Bring them at bottom – Take your container or paper bag inside the house to prepare the seeds for storage.
Collecting pelf seeds from my garden
What To Do With Lettuce Seeds After Collection
Once you're done collecting boodle seeds from the garden, you need to reprint them from the banter and dry them before storage.
How To Separate Lettuce Seeds From Chaff
Once you get them internal, break apart the flower heads to remove the seeds inside. They will usually fall out easily, but you may need to employ your fingernail to slay a few.
Regardless of how you harvested them, lettuce seeds be given to have a great deal of chaff (i.e.: flower head pieces and separate dust) mixed in. IT can cost difficult to eliminate all of information technology.
But don't worry, a bit bit of chaff South Korean won't affect the ability to save or grow them. Pick out the largest pieces of debris, and brawl the best you can to separate the seeds from the smaller bits.
Separating lettuce seeds and chaff
How To Dry Clams Seeds
IT's important to allow sugar seeds to humourous completely before saving them. That agency, you bequeath void any potential molding.
To do that, simply lay them out connected a dry turn up, where they will be protected from some eccentric of roll up. Let them air dry for at the least a week, and you're good.
How To Save Lettuce Seeds For Future Year
You can industrial plant your impudently harvested gelt seeds at once, or save them for next year. There are lots of options for storing them.
Endeavour organizing them in pocket sheets that you can keep in a 3-doughnut binder. Operating theater seal them in small envelopes, and put them into a cute box.
You could flatbottom make your own DIY ejaculate envelopes for keeping them organized, or sharing them with friends. Learn all about the right-wing way to memory seeds here.
How Long Brawl Lettuce Seeds Live?
If you keep them in a dusky, cool location where they are fortified from moisture, dinero seeds can last 3-4 years. So you can save them for the prospicient term.
However, I always recommend collection lettuce seeds every 1-2 geezerhood systematic to keep back your stash fresh. That will render you the best results.
Where To Buy The Seeds
It's easy to recover a variety of lettuce seeds for sale at your topical garden center, or big box store in the subsequent winter or early spring.
Of course, you can also buy them online any time of the year. Here are whatsoever expectant, quality seeds to get you started…
- Red Velvet-textured Lettuce
- Valentine Mesclun
- Mesclun Medley
- Lactuca sativa crispa Blend
Harvest lettuce seeds is incredibly simple once you know what to reckon for. Plus, it is so such fun to gather your own kale seeds each year. You'll never have to depend on the garden center to buy them again.
If you want to find out every you need to know about how to easily grow any type of seed you wishing, past enroll in the Online Semen Starting Course nowadays! IT's comprehensive, self-paced online naturally that will walk you finished everything you need to be boffo. Enroll and get started right away!
Otherwise, if you just want a quick-start intro, Oregon need a quick refresher about how to start seeds indoors, then my Seed Starting Inside eBook would be perfect for you!
Up Next: Learn how to grow lettuce from seed here.
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