Ornamental Millet?

Anyone started this from seed? I bought a plant last year and collected seed. Would like to know the best way to germinate it, and how many weeks before planting?

Thanks!

Sandy

we planted some last year.
It dropped seeds and reseeded it self. What a mess, be careful.

Paul

I grew Purple Majesty millet last two years....grows easily and reseeds if allowed. Just weed out any unwanted starts as they pop up and you shouldn't have to much trouble keeping it under control.....or do what I did and harvest the majority of the seed before it drops or the birds have a chance to scatter it.

RikerBear

I cut off a bunch of the seed parts and stuck them in the bird feeder. Not a bird touched them. Do I have weird birds or what? I kept a couple of heads to harvest the seed. They were beautiful in last years garden.

I don't remember my birds figuring out that it was food till the second year......purple just isn't normal to them I guess :-)

RikerBear

I'll bet it would be beautiful in a wreath.

Hmmmmm....I'll bet it would at that. May just have to try that next Fall.

Since Purple Majesty is a hybrid, what kind of a plant did you get when it reseeded itself?

I planted some last year, both from seed and from plants from a nursery. They didn't do much. They grew only a couple of feet high, but they did get a flower head. Because it's a hybrid, I didn't try to collect any seed, I hope it does reseed, maybe it will do better that way.

I got purple majesty again....appeared to be no difference from origonal plant and that of its offspring.
I did find that for best color and growth it needs to be planted in bright direct sun. Those in a cooler shadier area stayed 'greenish' and never achieved the full 'purple' coloring.

RikerBear

Mine were in full sun and they definately were dark purple.

Someone suggested that once the seed head developes, they stop growing and perhaps that is what happened to the ones I bought.

If you start them from seed, I would put more than one seed in each pot (at least that is what I will do on my next attempt). Perhaps 3 .... depending on how large a pot we are talking about. You'll get a much nicer/fuller looking plant.