Ahoy,
I left several of my onions and leeks, which have gone to seed, but I have no idea when and how to collect them! I've been unable to dig out any useful info on the web and in books I own. Almost everybody either treats "gone to seed" as the sign of the devil, or they say something really vague like "collect the seeds". Great.
In terms of when, I've found no guides at all. Do you get them as soon as the pods appear, once they flower, once the flowers seem to fully develop (e.g. leeks go from white to mauve)?
As for what to do with them, I found a few obscure references to drying them out, putting them in cling film in a dark or cold place, soaking them and/or leaving them be. These can't all be right!
Does anyone have, or know of, more detailed information, about when you should collect them and what you do with them?
Collecting seeds
HI Telex,
According to Suzanne Ashworth's seed to seed book the guru says: QUOTE
Leeks
Will produce flower stalks regardless of the day length after experisncing cold weather for 4-6 weeks. Leeks are easily crossed by insects, isolation is reccomended. Leeks that are left in the ground over winter will often produce side shoots known as leek pearls these can be grown to maturity for seeds if the crop from the parent plant is contaminated. Leek seeds are more tightly encased in their seed pods than onion seeds , therefore they do not shatter as readily as onions, so the immediate harvest of the dry seeds heads is not critical.
Onion
Seed producing onions are biennial and require two growing seasons to produce seed. As the days get longer each onion will form a seed stalk and a flower head that contains 100's of tiny flowers. As the seeds form the flower and plant will begin to dry. The seeds are encased in tiny pods that shatter easily. Onion seeds should be harvested as soon as the seeds are mature and the pods start to dry. The seed heads can be bent over a sack and cut from the stalk to avoid loosing any seeds. The seeds heads should be away from sunlight to complete drying.
Hope this is ok for you.
According to Suzanne Ashworth's seed to seed book the guru says: QUOTE
Leeks
Will produce flower stalks regardless of the day length after experisncing cold weather for 4-6 weeks. Leeks are easily crossed by insects, isolation is reccomended. Leeks that are left in the ground over winter will often produce side shoots known as leek pearls these can be grown to maturity for seeds if the crop from the parent plant is contaminated. Leek seeds are more tightly encased in their seed pods than onion seeds , therefore they do not shatter as readily as onions, so the immediate harvest of the dry seeds heads is not critical.
Onion
Seed producing onions are biennial and require two growing seasons to produce seed. As the days get longer each onion will form a seed stalk and a flower head that contains 100's of tiny flowers. As the seeds form the flower and plant will begin to dry. The seeds are encased in tiny pods that shatter easily. Onion seeds should be harvested as soon as the seeds are mature and the pods start to dry. The seed heads can be bent over a sack and cut from the stalk to avoid loosing any seeds. The seeds heads should be away from sunlight to complete drying.
Hope this is ok for you.
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Andy Hamilton
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It's a good habit to get into to start saving all your small containers for this perpose. I keep all my small tins of dried yeast, plastic paracetomol containers and the like. As long as they are sufficiently dried out then they should keep until the next growing season. If you have not got any small containers lying about until you need them then I have used brown paper bags instead, does the job.
First we sow the seeds, nature grows the seeds then we eat the seeds. Neil Pye
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The Other Andy Hamilton - Drinks & Foraging
My best selling Homebrew book Booze for Free
and...... Twitter
The Other Andy Hamilton - Drinks & Foraging