Hi All,
As a lurker, I'm entitled to ask one question once in a blue moon (I
hope!). Here's the question:

I have been growing my own bedding plants rather successfully for the past
two growing seasons but I have noticed something that irks me a bit. I have
collected my own seed from my plants and have used it to start seedlings for
the next year, but from a rather generous collection of marigold seeds, I
have had a total of three plants grow from two trays, with three seeds
planted in each cell and a total of 48 cells for each tray. So I go to the
Canadian Tire (exclusive for us Canucks ya know!) and pick up three paks of
marigold seed and put two in each cell and almost all appear! Am I missing
something here when I collect the seeds? I have had this happen with coleus
too but most of the others I gather such as snapdragon, are fine. I was
going to take a deep tray with some growing medium next year and 'carpet
bomb' the thing with seed and transplant what comes up!
Just wondering!

Buzzy

--
== Buzzy's Stall Wall ==
== www.buzzys.net ==
== "Have you tried freeware?" ==

Buzzy wrote:

Hi All,
As a lurker, I'm entitled to ask one question once in a blue moon (I
hope!). Here's the question:

I have been growing my own bedding plants rather successfully for the past
two growing seasons but I have noticed something that irks me a bit. I have
collected my own seed from my plants and have used it to start seedlings for
the next year, but from a rather generous collection of marigold seeds, I
have had a total of three plants grow from two trays, with three seeds
planted in each cell and a total of 48 cells for each tray. So I go to the
Canadian Tire (exclusive for us Canucks ya know!) and pick up three paks of
marigold seed and put two in each cell and almost all appear! Am I missing
something here when I collect the seeds? I have had this happen with coleus
too but most of the others I gather such as snapdragon, are fine. I was
going to take a deep tray with some growing medium next year and 'carpet
bomb' the thing with seed and transplant what comes up!
Just wondering!

Buzzy

--
== Buzzy's Stall Wall ==
== www.buzzys.net ==
== "Have you tried freeware?" ==




I tried saving Marigold seeds a long time ago and got the same results,
I don't remember much about it, didn't presue again.

Kevin

No luck with marigold but great success with coleus and fibrous begonias.=


Fran=E7oise.

it's me wrote:

Buzzy wrote:

Hi All,
As a lurker, I'm entitled to ask one question once in a blue moo=
n (I
hope!). Here's the question:

I have been growing my own bedding plants rather successfully for the=
past
two growing seasons but I have noticed something that irks me a bit. =
I have
collected my own seed from my plants and have used it to start seedli=
ngs for
the next year, but from a rather generous collection of marigold seed=
s, I
have had a total of three plants grow from two trays, with three seed=
s
planted in each cell and a total of 48 cells for each tray. So I go t=
o the
Canadian Tire (exclusive for us Canucks ya know!) and pick up three p=
aks of
marigold seed and put two in each cell and almost all appear! Am I mi=
ssing
something here when I collect the seeds? I have had this happen with =
coleus
too but most of the others I gather such as snapdragon, are fine. I w=
as
going to take a deep tray with some growing medium next year and 'car=
pet
bomb' the thing with seed and transplant what comes up!
Just wondering!

Buzzy

--
=3D=3D Buzzy's Stall Wall =3D=3D
=3D=3D www.buzzys.net =3D=3D
=3D=3D "Have you tried freeware?" =3D=3D




I tried saving Marigold seeds a long time ago and got the same results,=

I don't remember much about it, didn't presue again.

Kevin

On Sat, 15 Mar 2003 18:45:12 -0500, "Buzzy"
wrote:

I have been growing my own bedding plants rather successfully for the past
two growing seasons but I have noticed something that irks me a bit. I have
collected my own seed from my plants and have used it to start seedlings for
the next year, but from a rather generous collection of marigold seeds, I
have had a total of three plants grow from two trays, with three seeds
planted in each cell and a total of 48 cells for each tray. So I go to the
Canadian Tire (exclusive for us Canucks ya know!) and pick up three paks of
marigold seed and put two in each cell and almost all appear! Am I missing
something here when I collect the seeds?

Many commercially-available seeds are hybrids, which don't breed
'true' to their parents, even in the areas of fertility. They're
designed/bred to produce one annual crop of pretty sophistucated
plants. One (this one) assumes seed companies have ways to separate
sad-looking seeds from the stars. You know if you examine seeds from
almost anything that there are fat 'uns and thin 'uns. This one also
assumes commercial seeds are saved under optimal conditions -- collect
at exactly the right time, dry, cure, refrigerate, whatever --
meticulously. I really don't expect all the seeds I casually collect
from a flower or veg to be ready for prime time. I always have tomato
seedlings coming up around the place I had a tomato plant (or tossed a
tomato on the compost pile), but not anywhere *near* the number that
would appear if every cherry tomato seed that hit the ground produced
a plant.

Still, a marigold blossom produces, what?, 100 seeds? Plant 'em thick
and clip off the stragglers.

Hi Buzzy - The plants that you collect seeds from are hybrids and they are
not viable seeds. F1 hybrids do not set viable seeds. Buy your seeds and
enjoy successful plantings.

Derryl

....
Hi All,
As a lurker, I'm entitled to ask one question once in a blue moon (I
hope!). Here's the question:

I have been growing my own bedding plants rather successfully for the past
two growing seasons but I have noticed something that irks me a bit. I
have
collected my own seed from my plants and have used it to start seedlings
for
the next year, but from a rather generous collection of marigold seeds, I
have had a total of three plants grow from two trays, with three seeds
planted in each cell and a total of 48 cells for each tray. So I go to the
Canadian Tire (exclusive for us Canucks ya know!) and pick up three paks
of
marigold seed and put two in each cell and almost all appear! Am I missing
something here when I collect the seeds? I have had this happen with
coleus
too but most of the others I gather such as snapdragon, are fine. I was
going to take a deep tray with some growing medium next year and 'carpet
bomb' the thing with seed and transplant what comes up!
Just wondering!

Buzzy

--
== Buzzy's Stall Wall ==
== www.buzzys.net ==
== "Have you tried freeware?" ==

The message
from "Derryl Killan" contains these words:

Hi Buzzy - The plants that you collect seeds from are hybrids and they are
not viable seeds. F1 hybrids do not set viable seeds.

Of course they do. The seeds of an F1 won't produce identical flowers
to the plant they came from; but in a plant like marigold, that hardly
matters. All of them will flower and the flowers will be pretty.

The OP may not have collected or stored her home-grown seeds very
well, resulting in poor germination. They need to be collected on a dry
day when they are fully mature, dried off in a cool dry atmosphere to
prevent moulds forming, and stored in a cool dark dry frostfree place. I
put mine in old envelopes which I store in biscuit tins (protects
against mice/insects)in a cool cupboard.

Janet.

You will get better germination from plants that are closer to the species.
The great big marigolds, sometimes called African marigolds, I find to be
very poor at germination in the second year. The smaller French ones do
better, and the signets do the best of all. I have found this with cosmos as
well. The taller older varieties self-sow like crazy and more or less come
true from seed. The new smaller variety, sonata, which is more desirable in
most garden schemes does not self-sow nearly as vigorously, and when it
does, I have found that the second season's flowers are smaller.
"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Derryl Killan" contains these words:

Hi Buzzy - The plants that you collect seeds from are hybrids and they
are
not viable seeds. F1 hybrids do not set viable seeds.

Of course they do. The seeds of an F1 won't produce identical flowers
to the plant they came from; but in a plant like marigold, that hardly
matters. All of them will flower and the flowers will be pretty.

The OP may not have collected or stored her home-grown seeds very
well, resulting in poor germination. They need to be collected on a dry
day when they are fully mature, dried off in a cool dry atmosphere to
prevent moulds forming, and stored in a cool dark dry frostfree place. I
put mine in old envelopes which I store in biscuit tins (protects
against mice/insects)in a cool cupboard.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough wrote in
:

The message
from "Derryl Killan" contains these words:

Hi Buzzy - The plants that you collect seeds from are hybrids and
they are not viable seeds. F1 hybrids do not set viable seeds.

Of course they do. The seeds of an F1 won't produce identical
flowers
to the plant they came from; but in a plant like marigold, that hardly
matters. All of them will flower and the flowers will be pretty.

The OP may not have collected or stored her home-grown seeds very
well, resulting in poor germination. They need to be collected on a
dry day when they are fully mature, dried off in a cool dry atmosphere
to prevent moulds forming, and stored in a cool dark dry frostfree
place. I put mine in old envelopes which I store in biscuit tins
(protects against mice/insects)in a cool cupboard.

Janet.

The marigolds most of us grow in our gardens are either derived from
Tagetes erecta (referred to as either African, American, or Aztec
marigolds) or Tagetes patula (French marigolds). Signet marigolds are
another species, Tagetes tenuifolia. F1 hybrids within a species
(between 2 African marigolds, or between 2 French marigolds) will produce
viable seed, and I have had many instances of hybrid French marigolds
self-seeding in my flower beds.

Now for the caveat... A triploid hybrid can be created between African
and French marigolds. They are sterile, and because of that are known as
mule marigolds. The plant size and flower size tend to be intermediate
between the French and African marigolds. Since they do not set seed,
they can use that extra energy to put on more flowers. A list of
varieties can be found at
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening...03900006.shtml - they have
them categorized under "Marigold-Polyploid Hybrids".

So if the variety was not a mule marigold variety, you should have
fertile seed set. In that case, I'd look at your storage conditions.