Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [seeds]

Small embryonic plant usually with stored food for germination

A seed is a capsule containing an embryonic plant with enough initial food for germination.

The most common form of plant is by growth from a seed, ahead of other kinds of propagation, such as cloning from suckers or cuttings. Seeds are the result of sexual reproduction which involves fertilization of a by pollen from the same or a closely related species.

Use this tag for questions about identifying, obtaining, storing and germinating seeds.

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What is a good method for extracting the earliest-viable seeds from young pumpkins?

I am in need of a good strategy to extract the earliest-possible batch of seeds from an upcoming batch of white pumpkins (I may have a few available within a month). My main uncertainty is at what size a pumpkin needs to be before extracting seeds…
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When should sunflower seeds be harvested?

I've got a few giant sunflowers that are hanging pretty low. I peeled off a few seeds around the outside just to see what they looked like and they look pretty big. They're fairly light though, not dark like the seeds I planted or the seeds you…
Peter Turner
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Do vegetable seeds have a shelf life?

I bought vegetable seeds a few years back. I tried planting them this year but am having mixed results (very few are sprouting). Do seeds have a shelf life/expiration after which they will not germinate? I am trying to figure out if the problem…
JStorage
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What are common places to try for alternatives to commercially available seeds?

Australia has a problem in that most garden and building centers where you can buy seed usually only sell one or two brands and there is such limited variety e.g. beans, lettuce, tomato etc. Also, the country being isolated, there are several…
going
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Are the seed pods of giant sunflowers normally empty?

So, I'm attempting to harvest sunflower seeds from some giant sunflowers I planted an age ago. Unfortunately, there's nothing inside the seed pods! I believe the sunflower was a 'giant', it may have been a mammoth though (actually it may have…
Peter Turner
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How should I store my chili seeds for planting next year?

Should I let the chili mature on the plant, cut it open and take the seeds, dry them and store in a cold, dark and dry place? Or is there more to it than that.
Dan
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Can I grow a pistachio tree from seed?

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. So I know I have the right soil and conditions to grow pistachio trees. But can I just plant a pistachio seed and grow a tree or do I have to go buy the tree?
Darlene
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How should mustard seeds be collected?

This is probably a simple question but I just want to know any common advice for collecting seeds from mustard greens. 4-5 self-seeded mustards (Brassica juncea) popped up in the autumn and I just let them go to be green manure, but I've neglected…
Lisa
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How can I speed up germination of habanero chili pepper?

I planted some habanero seeds a week ago. Most of the websites said it need 2 weeks to 3 weeks to germinate. What is the best condition for its germination? I am in Hong Kong and having a 29 degree Celsius temperature on average. How much water does…
lamwaiman1988
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What to do with 250 seeds!

I bought a packet of seeds that comes with 250 seeds! There's no way I have the space to plant 250 Silverbeet plants in my backyard, 10 plants maximum. What should I do with the 240 leftover?
Joao Noch
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What is the best way to germinating seeds in compost?

So far, I had germinated my seeds using the paper bag approach. I must say that it was quite successful. Having said that, I have an almost-zero success rate when I try to germinating seeds directly in compost. I tried to germinate spinach, radish,…
kidra.pazzo
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Is it better to plant many seeds in one hole or few?

I don't quite understand why so many tutorials, photos and videos show people planting a bunch of seeds together in one hole. Is there some benefit to this? I have very little experience with gardening, but common sense tells me that planting just…
user1306322
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What vegetables/seeds/fruits at the grocery store can be viably replanted?

I have a crude understanding that planted seeds should be non-hybrid non-gmo open-pollinated in order for their offspring to be as good as the parents. If I try to use organic produce from the grocery store to start different varieties of plants…
Rick
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Can I grow a cherry tree from seed without stratification?

I'm going to grow a cherry tree from a seed. It's not that easy though and I need some time and patience. I have experience with pine tree and orange, though these are quite easy trees to grow compared to cherry and maple. At the same time I saw…
rush
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Is "Days to Harvest" measured from planting date or sprouting date?

I have several Ferry-Morse seed packets, which, on the back, show what the expected "Days to Harvest" is. I am wondering if this "Days to Harvest" should be measured from the date I planted the seeds or the date I saw the sprouts first coming up?
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