Fantastic spherical flower balls with individual flowers that are reminiscent of shining stars - this is the ornamental onion at its most beautiful. After flowering, its numerous seeds emerge. What should you know about them?

Ripe allium seeds are black

How do the seeds look?

The seeds of ornamental onions have the following properties:

  • small
  • glittering
  • smooth-skinned
  • unevenly shaped
  • mostly slightly pointed
  • square
  • black
  • are in seed pods that burst open when ripe
  • like to sow themselves

Where do you get the seeds from?

Ornamental onion seeds are rarely available on the Internet. But one or the other provider offers them at a reasonable price. Make sure the seeds are fresh and not overlaid!

If you want the seeds of a certain variety but can't find them online, you can buy the bulb of that variety and wait for the plant to self-seed after flowering.

When are the seeds ripe and how long are they germinable?

The seeds of ornamental onions ripen at different times depending on the variety. Ornamental onion plants that flower beautifully in May produce ripe seeds in July/August. Others that do not flower until August have set their seeds in the fall.

Check the seeds before harvest! Are they light brown or even green? Then they are not ripe yet! They must be colored black. It is best to sow them immediately. Otherwise they should be stored in a dry and dark place. They remain viable for 3 years.

Germinate the seeds

Without a little background knowledge, it's not uncommon for seeds to fail when trying to germinate. But what is the difficulty?

The problem is that the seeds are cold germinators. This means that they have to go through a cool period and only then germinate in a warm place. So if you want to grow the seeds at home, you have to expose them to an artificial cold period.

tips

An ornamental onion grown from seed takes 3 years to flower for the first time. Keep this in mind if you intend to grow the crop from seed.

Category:

Indoor plants