- When are the capsules ripe and the seeds ready for harvest?
- Characteristics of the seeds
- bring seeds to germinate
- tips and tricks
If you want to use the seeds to propagate the lilies, you can be lucky and win completely new varieties. This is absolutely worthwhile for (hobby) breeders. What should you know about seeds and how to sow them?
Lilies can easily be propagated from seeds
When are the capsules ripe and the seeds ready for harvest?
After lilies have finished flowering and the flowers are withered on the plant, the capsule fruits form.
Growing seeds costs lilies a lot of strength. Therefore, you should cut off the dried inflorescence if you are not after the seeds. If you want to harvest the seeds for sowing, wait until the fruits are ripe and burst open. Cut the fruit and remove the seeds. As a rule, numerous seeds are present in the capsule fruits.
The maturity of the capsule fruits reaches its peak in autumn. The upright, up to 7 cm long and oblong-round capsule fruits are brown in color at this time and burst open. They have three chambers inside. There the seeds are lined up close together.
Characteristics of the seeds
The seeds of lilies vary in size depending on the species and variety. They have an average size of 0.5 cm. Furthermore, they are flat, rounded to triangular, narrowly winged and bathed in a light brown hue.
bring seeds to germinate
Lilies germinate irregularly. It can take up to 2 years for a seedling to appear. Other seeds germinate after a few days. Because of this irregularity, it is recommended to sow several seeds at once.
Sowing is done as follows:
- harvest in autumn
- refrigerate or dry
- start sowing between January and February
- Soak seeds in water for 3 days
- sow in seed soil (1 cm deep)
- keep soil moistured
- ideal germination temperature (varies from variety to variety): 15 to 20 °C
- Plant out from May
- Time to first flowering: 3 to 4 years
tips and tricks
If you want to get unusual varieties with different characteristics than the mother plant, you should cross the pollen of different varieties with each other during the flowering period.