drying seeds

i have been earching the web looking for some information on drying seeds. i have found plenty of information on storing them but nothing that tells me when a seed is ready to grown. so after seeds are on my plant what is the next steps to grow them out. i have read that you wait till you can shake the plant and the seeds fall off. then they are a mature seed.so please anyone pleae tell me how long a seed needs to dry brfore it can be grown. thanks so much for you help

I personally have not grown from seed, but i dont think there is any special drying method for seeds. You just collect your mature seeds and get them to sprout using the wet paper towel method then plant it with the stem pointing down. A mature seed comes from a fully mature plant, a healthy seed should be big and have some dark spots on it.
Just hope you don't get male plants. -Unless you want more seeds....

They can't be used immediately and yes, must be dried/aged.

I usually dry in a paper bag for a couple of weeks or so. Then put in a air tight container (like a film can), with a bit of dry rice and then into the fridge, NOT the freezer, for a month or so.

This simulates the winter dormancy period found in nature. They won't sprout immediately because if they did, in nature, the seeds would be sprouting in the late fall and quickly killed by the first frost. They sit dormant over the winter and sprout with the return of warm weather in the spring.

Make sense so far?

You can skip the paper bag part if you want, it's not necessary. Just put in the air tight container with the rice (or dessicant) for a month or so in the fridge (winter dormancy) and when you're ready, so are they.

BTW, they will keep in the fridge this way for years if you aren't in a hurry, or have a boatload of seeds.

Wet

I also have heard you can get a peice of sandpaper and roll the seeds around just on the surface of the paper before getting it to sprout, i forget the reasons but some people do it.... Once you get a plant,,, make clones!

Bake&Sleep said:

I also have heard you can get a peice of sandpaper and roll the seeds around just on the surface of the paper before getting it to sprout, i forget the reasons but some people do it.... Once you get a plant,,, make clones!

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nah just put em in the microwave on defrost for 3 minutes.

leftreartire said:

tell me how long a seed needs to dry brfore it can be grown. thanks so much for you help

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put 'em in the fridge for a month in a paper envelope.
If they would sprout immediately after falling off the plant in nature there would be no seeds left in spring, right ?

Ive used seeds after about a month in a film canister.

dry the plant and when its dry most seeds come off the ones that dont you just take them off gently

i wen to border's today and found a wealth of knowelge in a book that said seeds must be aged for 4 months before sprouting. so i thank you for your answers. i will be letting my seeds keep drying out and i cant wait to sprout my own seeds. thank again

I've taken mature seeds out of plants and stuck them right in the dirt and it works fine. I've done it a fair amount of times.

easy enough

anonymuss said:

nah just put em in the microwave on defrost for 3 minutes.

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pretty sure putting anything you want to live in a microwave is a terrible idea

anonymuss said:

nah just put em in the microwave on defrost for 3 minutes.

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You are a bad man