I've not cut any of mine yet, there are 2 that look about ready, but the rest are still quite green or still flowering.

I don't pick any stalks until at least two weeks after the last flowers have matured or the flowers which i have pollinated are 3-4 weeks old.

Then I put the whole stalk in a small paper bag, like the ones used for a child's school lunch, labeling the outside of the bag with the name of the cultivar and any cross data (I use small colored wires to mark individual flowers that I have crossed). I put these in a cool room and wait until the stalk is quite dry. If only a few of the flowers are crossed, these are carefully removed and crushed in a sheet of paper, expelling the seeds from the capsules. These are then spread on a clean sheet of paper and bigger pieces of debris removed. If I'm saving seeds from the entire stalk, I crush the stalk gently in the bag and then dump the seed out onto a piece of clean paper, removing bits of capsule and stalk. At this point, I pull out the bigger pieces of capsule remnants and shake the paper containing the seeds into glassine envelopes. I store the glassine envelopes in coin envelopes and these are stored in the crisper area of the refrigerator until planting in early March. A bit of broken capsule and other debris does not seem to inhibit the germination of the seed.

Hope that helps!

Kevin

Thanks Kevin! That is very helpful!

Kevin can you show us what the seed looks like?

Oh wait, I found a photo that Janice posted awhile back. Great photo Janice.

sandnsea2 said:Some mixed Semp seeds

• Sempervivum
• Uploaded by sandnsea2

They are tiny aren't they!

They are actually larger than I thought they would be. Or maybe I just need a magnifying glass for looking at them in real life.

Excellent info, thank you Kevin!

Lynn, Greg, I had to sew mine using a wetted cocktail stick because they were too tiny to pick up otherwise!

gg5 said:They are tiny aren't they!

yes ,how big is the coin...?

A U.S. dime is about 18 mm (about 11/16 inches) in diameter.

I knew there was a good reason why I keep a ruler near my computer... had to unt down the dime though .

Leave it to you Connie! Ms science!! Meanwhile I spread some seed of Maria Laach in my yard, we'll see if anything happens! I figure there is still another 2 months before really cold weather, totally enough time for babies to come up!

I gathered stalks on about 15 things today, The arachnoideum hybrids are mostly ripe as well as a few heufellis. I put them in storage bags ti dry down. Only 'Kraemer's Spinrad' was totally dry. Did get seed gathered on 'Rosebud; and a pin sibling. Those could be some interesting seedlings. Normally O don't do small rosettes but I like those too.

Anyway the gathering is commencing.

I never plant seed until spring although the 4 biggest seedlings from last years seed was started in January.

Let the harvest begin!

Kevin

The seed was very dry so it just seemed the right thing to do! Don't know what will come of it! I feel like I read on one of the threads that someone found seedlings unexpectedly while weeding in the late fall, which is why I thought these guys may do something!

I found the seedlings in the bed when weeding in the early spring. They were everywhere.
I have been very careful since that happened last year.

I now have 76 bags of seed heads drying in bags in my music room. I may be able to plant the city of Salem with semps from one end to the other with that crop!!! Actually there are ~20 more seedheads that I need to harvest that are maturing late, including the crosses onto 'Plastic' of some of my reds and purples. Think those should be fun.

The only seedheads that look non-functional are the ones on 'Weirdo'. These heads look dry but there didn't seem to be much seed in the capsules. i put pollen of 'Unicorn' on most of the flowers as the pollen of 'Weirdo' looked pale chalky yellow and non-functional. Perhaps both ovules and pollen are non-functional.

Anyway I'm betting most of you can pick a majority of your stalks now. Only those with flowers blooming would you want to wait.

Greg, although you will get some seedlings from scattering seed, this is not the best way to raise seedlings, although certainly one of the easiest. In MA, I made little seed beds in isolated portions of the yard, planting the seed in little rows at these sites. This was safer for me then when I was away at college as I wasn't there to water pots. I now use pots exclusively as it is so much easier to bring seedlings to the seedlings bed in pots than transferring them in bits of soil from one area to another. Pots also mean that i can bring the plants to safety in case of a late freeze. Semps are pretty smart plants though and most don't germinate until the more severe frosts have passed.

Kevin

Great information for us to know. Thank you Kevin.

Kevin thank you! Basically I was composting the stalk and realized it was pretty dry, and figured some is better than none, so I'm not really expecting much, and if I get anything that's a bonus!! Its been fun keeping up with your progress on these threads!

Just read this this tread lol after harvesting my seed today. Happy to say I seemed to have done it right.

Now just need to wait to plant them.

John,

I hold my seed until late February or March before planting so they don't come up too early and get zapped. However, in your area of CA you might do better to start them now and let them grow all winter. That way they would be big enough next spring to make it through the rigors of your summer. You might try dividing your seed into batches and see what works best for you.

Even here I like to give the seedlings a little shade as the tiny seedlings are very vulnerable.

Of course after 6" of rain here in Salem, mine are pretty wet right now.

Kevin

Good morning John and Kevin.

I am going to try growing them in winter sow containers and see how that works. It will keep them from drying out and also protect them if it gets to cold.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/v...