Dahlia seed?

How do I know if the "seed" I'm harvesting is actually seed. Is there anything to look for? My Dahlia variabilis "Fireworks" flowered and the so called seeds are ready to be harvested. I don't want to waste my time harvesting chaff...

Thanks,
Elsa

Hi Elsa,

They look a little like boat oars, which no doubt you have found out. If you take a shallow bowl outside on a semi-windy day, and crumble the dried flower heads, and sort of pour them from your hand to the bowl over and over, a lot of the bad ones will float away. ALL the chaff will float away except some petals that might have dried or the calyx of the flower.

Then if you pour them on a white plate, look for the bad ones -- ones with a frayed end (barely visible, but it's there) have already tried to geminate, and ones that are flat or really rough are not viable. The ones that you can slide across the plate easily are good ones. They just skate along. They should have some heft to them and also they have a bulge and are not flat if you look at them closely. (They rock if you press on one side of the other...bad ones are flat and don't rock at all.)

A final check will come when you put them in a plastic baggie -- the bad ones tend to stick to the sides throughstatic electricity, as does the chaff, and those are ones to take a second look at.

How do yo know they will germinate? I'm not sure...you just have to have faith, I guess.

The first flowers of the plant have the most seeds, and the best seeds...the fattest ones. :)

Hope this helps,

Suzy

Thanks Suzy,

It surely helps. So far the ones I picked looks like chaff only. Will keep looking and hoping.LOL!

Enjoy your day,
Elsa

I found what I've been looking for... can't miss it.
Thanks again, Suzy

Yay!!! My descriptions aren't so good sometimes, so I keep trying to say it different ways that might make more sense...kind of gets lengthy. LOL!

Suzy