Removing Purple ConeFlower Seeds Hack

On my main gardening blog I posted an entry titled When I Collect Purple Coneflower Seeds that has a photo of what a ripe Purple Coneflower seed head looks like. On another of my gardening blogs I posted an image to help identify the Purple Coneflower Seeds. If you are looking for help in identifying the seeds of a Purple Coneflower or want to know when it is time to collect the seeds look over those two entries on my gardening blogs.

Once you've learned how to identify a ripe seed head and you remove it from your Purple Coneflower plant you'll notice that the seed head is very hard and sharp. The easiest way to remove the seeds from the seed head is to break the cone by crushing it in your hand. I don't recommend you do this with your bare hands to avoid injury- make sure to wear gloves to do this. I find standard gardening gloves aren't thick enough to keep the spiky head from puncturing your skin so I use standard leather work gloves.

Another way to remove the seeds without injuring yourself is to collect the seed heads after you've had some rain or soaking the seed heads overnight in plain water. When the seed heads are wet you can easily pull the head apart and let the seeds and chaff fall on a paper plate or sheet of newspaper. Make sure to spread them out and let them dry for a couple of days so your seeds don't get moldy if you use these methods.

Coneflowers are easy garden perennials to start from seed. You can sow them directly in your garden or start them in a seed starter you make out of a plastic soda bottle. Your Purple Coneflowers will bloom the year after they germinate.

Direct Sowing-Gardening Terms Hacked

Direct sowing has to be the easiest and least expensive method of seed starting for any garden. When you don't have time to make soda bottle greenhouses or use the sandwich bag method or don't want to spend money on buying soil or peat pellets direct sowing your seeds is the way to go. Simply sow your seeds according to the recommendations for planting depth and spacing in your garden or container garden where you would like for your plants to grow. Many of my seeds that require stratification I will just place in the ground where I want them to grow and will let the natural freeze-thaw-cycle do the work for me. There really isn't a more fool proof method of seed starting than direct sowing.

Plant Labels Hack

I was in the greenhouse of a local garden center and came across these plant labels from Ferry Morse the other day. The price is pretty steep when you consider that they're just thin pieces of plastic and you could easily make your own plant labels to keep track of your growing houseplant collection or the seeds you start making mini greenhouses out of used soda bottles. You can make something similar and just as useful by cutting the tops and bottoms off of your gallons of milk or soda bottles and cutting the sides into strips.

If you have kids around then you probably buy a lot of Popsicles and throw away a lot of the wooden sticks. Rinse the sticks off and set them aside to dry and then you can use them as plant labels. Or you could buy a bag of the wooden sticks in crafts stores or dollar stores in your area. A local dollar store sell them 100 sticks for a dollar which is a lot cheaper than these cost.

Don't throw away your mini-blinds as they can also be cut up into strips and be used as plant labels. One mini-blind can produce hundreds of plant labels that could last you for a very long time. If you aren't redecorating your home check out any junk shops or garage sales near you for used mini-blinds, they can easily be cleaned and serve a purpose in your garden instead of taking up space in landfills.

Instant Soup Cups-Hack

I've found myself throwing away a lot of these instant soup cups lately because we have guests and they eat these like crazy. It's not unusual to throw away 10 or more of these cups in one day around here. The other day as I was taking out the garbage and they kept falling out of the bag and it dawned on me that these sturdy cups have a use for gardening.

Take a sharp pencil and poke holes in the bottom and you can use these to start your gardening seeds until they grow big enough to transplant into larger gardening pots or into your garden. If you're propagating plants fill it with your favorite brand of potting soil and stick your cuttings in these and cover them with a clear plastic bag to trap humidity. They're sturdy enough to use for starting seeds under grow lights if you have an indoor garden light set up.

If you're an indoor gardener and have small potted plants in a window that may be too cold in the winter place the potted plant inside (make sure you poke holes in the bottom) this cup. The Styrofoam will act as an insulator and keep the roots warmer as the temperature near your window drops at night

Amaryllis Pollination Hack

If you have an Amaryllis you can easily hack it to produce seeds which you can then sow and produce even more plants that you can share with others, keep for yourself or sell.

Look at the image on the right. The stamen is the slender white stalk that's holding up the anther. The anther is the sack that holds the pollen. These are considered the male parts of a flower. This usually matures before the stigma.


The stigma is on the left and it is the tip of the female reproductive parts of the flower. Notice how the ends are curled back, this occurs a couple of days after the flower has opened and is ready to be pollinated.

If you want to propagate your Amaryllis it's really very easy. Cut the white slender stalk that's holding up the anther and tap it onto the stigma when it look similar to the stigma in the image above. If that seems too difficult then just take a small artist's paint brush and rub it up and down on the pollen. Now look at your paint brush and you should see there is a yellow dust like substance. Now take your paint brush and "paint" the tip of the stigma with the pollen you picked up on the brush.

Your flower soon will start to die because it has lived and completed it's purpose. Which was to attract a pollinator, which in this case was you. Leave the flower alone and let it die on it's own terms. If you were successful after a few days you should notice the swelling of the seed pod right behind the dying flower. Leave everything alone and about 5-6 weeks later your seeds should be ready. You'll notice the seed part start to split open and inside you'll find a lot of black paper thin seeds. Don't let them fool you those are the seeds and you want to sow those soon.

Do you have more than one Amaryllis? Are they blooming at the same time? Take the pollen from one plant and place it on the stigma of the other. It's a good way of making crosses of your Amaryllis bulbs. Your seedlings should be old enough to bloom by their third year.

If you start your seeds in soil using something like the Ghetto Greenhouse stand the seeds on their sides, or you can start them using the Baggie Method. I'll post photos soon of what my seedlings look like. When I do at the bottom of this post you should see "Links to this post" to help you keep track of them.

*edit*
On Sunday March 25th my first seed pod opened. I'll post pictures soon.

UPDATE: 

I started www.AmaryllisBulbs.org a blog devoted to growing Amaryllis bulbs and various tips. If you want to know what to do after the seed pods form check it out.


Here's a video I made showing you how to pot an Amaryllis Bulb.



and one showing you how to pollinate an Amaryllis flower.

Seed Scarification Hack-Sandpaper

If you're starting from seed and need to scarify several seeds using sandpaper can save you some time and hassle. Sometimes the seeds are too small to hold each one while you nick the seed coat or sometimes you have a lot of seeds you need to get started for planting in your garden.

Aside from the seeds all you need is just need a really rough piece of sandpaper to do this. You simply place your seeds on your piece of sandpaper like in the image and then place a second piece on top to cover your seeds.

Place one or both of your hands flat on the top piece of sandpaper and move your hands in a circle going clockwise then do it counter clockwise while pressing down. Repeat the circular motion going in both direction until you notice that you've nicked the outer seed coat sufficiently.

This is a quick and easy way to get many seeds ready for soaking in warm water, if you're not inclined to do nick them all one at a time.

If you're thinking of starting from seed consider starting them in a Ghetto Greenhouse or using the Baggie Method if you don't have the space to create a greenhouses from soda bottles. They're both easy and inexpensive methods methods of starting your own plants from seeds.