How to collect the seeds of marigolds and weed out the empty ones?

Christopher Columbus, who opened in October 1492a new continent, gave the inhabitants of the world food for the body - potatoes, for the mind - tobacco, for the soul - marigolds. Once amazed at the beauty of Tagetes (the original name of the flower), people wanted to admire the orange magnificence every year, so they started harvesting planting material.

"Of a bad seed there will be no good tribe" -a proverb that is relevant for human breeds, animals and flowering plants. A flower bed, a lawn or a curb is pleasing to the eye, when the plants are healthy, full, bright, abundant and blooming for a long time. The article will tell you how to collect the seeds of marigolds, which always adorn the local landscape.

Short introductory

Instructions for readers experiencing a time deficit, but wanting to clarify how to properly collect the seeds of marigolds:

1. Time of collection: end of August-October.
2. Weather: without precipitation.
3. Capacity: ladle, bucket.
4. Technology: break the dried flower, mash with your fingers, pour the seeds into a container, discard the box.
5. Collect the seeds on a flat surface, dry for three days, remove debris, put them in a paper bag until spring.

Photos, how to collect seeds from the marigold, will help you navigate the procedure.

Justification of the choice

Marigolds are the favorites of garden interiors. These abundantly flowering plants:

• get on with other annual flowers in a confined space;
• resistant to drought: even after a week of heat, after abundant watering the stem revives and gives new buds;
• discourage pests; the marigolds themselves aretwo diseases: because of the waterlogging of the soil, a fungus can develop, and because of a prolonged drought, a spider mite appears; it is important for the grower to observe agricultural techniques;
• are endowed with a tart "oriental" scent, which allows inflorescence to be used in therapy and cooking;
• Palette starts with yellow and ends with golden ocher;
• open flower buds until frost.

Portrait of a hero

The plant has dark green leaves, a stem and buds. When the life cycle of the flower comes to an end, bright petals dry out, sepals acquire a sand tint.

Seeds near the flower are elongated, dark black, with a pointed tip of the seat and a fluff at the upper end.

There is a technique how to collect marigold seeds at home.

1. Choose a dry day, when the previous day was also dry. Eliminate the presence of moisture in the seed bud. Wet seeds quickly become moldy.
2. Dry stems to break off. If the stem is not dry enough, then cut the bud with scissors or a pruner so as not to damage the plant as a whole.
3. Stretch bud, remove sepals and bed, seedsthin layer on a flat surface. Use for drying plastic, ceramics or oilcloth is not suitable, because on such materials the seeds sweat. Use for drying a wooden board or a natural cloth made of cotton or linen. Do not spread in the bright sun.
4. Dry seeds folded into breathable paper bags or boxes. In plastic bags, seeds can become moldy.
5. Storage room should be dry, darkand well ventilated. In a city apartment, the lower shelf of the refrigerator door or the closet under the kitchen window in the "Khrushchevka" is suitable. Seeds can not be overheated, so you can not place bags with planting material near the battery.

Harvest time

It is necessary to accurately represent, when to collect seedsmarigolds on seedlings. Flowering begins depending on the time the plant is planted in the soil. In the climatic conditions of the Southern Urals, flowers are revealed at the end of June.

The lifetime of the flower before the full maturation of the seeds -six weeks. The plant is good because the flowers bloom one by one. If the gardener is late to collect the first buds with seeds, you can always process the next batch of inflorescences.

It is important to wait for maturation, when the seeds become dark and hard. The unripe seeds will deteriorate during storage and will not yield the crop.

In October flowering ends, you can plantcut whole, hang to dry in a well-ventilated room. It should be noted that the ripened and dried seeds are separated from the bed independently. Therefore, cut the bushes before drying it is useful to wrap gauze, so that the seeds do not scatter around the room.

Grains and tares

Not all seeds give 100% germination, which is determined by:

• degree of maturation;
• conditions of drying;
• storage parameters.

How to collect the seeds of marigolds and weed out the empty ones? The process of selecting full seeds is called calibration. Suppose a horticulturist collected and dried seeds. It is necessary to select large specimens, since it is these that contain a sufficient supply of nutrients for spring germination.

Selection of seeds of equal mass and size guarantees friendly shoots.

The selected batch of seeds is immersed for a couple of hours insaline solution from one tablespoon of salt and five glasses of water at room temperature. After a set interval of time, the good seeds will go to the bottom, and the empty seeds will float. The substandard material is removed. The samples that have been calibrated are washed and dried for final storage.

Métis and Mulattos

Marigolds are cross-polluted plants. This means that when two or more colors are placed on a flower bed or lawn of plants, the seeds will ripen, which will give flowers completely unlike the parent color.

How to collect marigold seeds to preservevarietal coloring? The only option is to initially plant a single variety. And this is not a panacea. Only 75% of the seed material retains completely parental properties.

In order not to bother with the annual seedlings,The site is sometimes planted with perennial varieties of marigolds, which multiply by dividing the bush, and seeds. Self-grown seedling perennial will allow an adult bush not to injure, but to grow out of it a luxurious curtain.

We decorate the balcony and the menu

A private balcony can be used as a base for seed preparation. Container for colors:

• fill with drainage and earth;
• in March, plant seeds;
• in May, taking into account the outside temperatures, put the tank on the balcony.

Growing seedlings, it should be remembered that minus one degree - a zone of uncomfort for the plant: seeds sour, and young greens dries.

Marigolds will blossom, decorating and fragrant, and in September the bush will be cut and dried. Do not wait for special dry conditions. Seeds on the balcony are ready for collection any day.

If there is no goal to receive income from the sale of self-harvested seeds, then some of the flowers are used for cooking.

Pay attention to upright and rejectedvariety of marigolds. Leaves and flowers are used in the preparation of salad and marinades both fresh and dried. Store dried inflorescences as well as seeds - in a dry and ventilated room without bright light.