Last year a neighbour gave me some shallots (no name on bag). We got some very tasty onions from them. I missed a couple when harvesting and they are now going to seed. Is it feasable/a good idea to collect and use the seed? Any tips welcome!
Jackie
Always worth a go with alliums, but they are insect pollinated so can be hard to isolate... I'd say go for it, but then I'm an allium fiend.....
Thanks Chriscross, we didn't grow any other alliums and neighbour a field and a half away...and he had the same variety :) How do you know when seed is ready to harvest? Apologies if this is obvious/daft question ::)
An allium flowerhead can develop in three distinct ways, first it can open up as a small cluster of very small onions in which case just let them grow there adn when the stalk bends down to drop them on the floor put a pot under it .
It can devellop as a true flower in which case it will look a lot like a chive flower on a large scale. Insects will pollinate it, beels and they get planted....I'm trying to get some seed off my elephant garlic this year, due to white rot I can;t reuse my own sets and it's too expensive to replace my entire stock commercially...s adore them. Once the flower has set the bits at the base of each individual flower become a miniature seedpod, as the thing ripens and dries so the onion itself starts to become dormant, the seeds can be shaken out of the pom-pom like seed head in a similar manner to nigella or poppies, though thye have one big seed container and an allium has lots of small ones.
THe third method is to form a lot of tiny bulbils on a structure that superficially resembles a flower. At the end of the season the head can be broken down into individual bulbi
Thanks for such a detailed answer. That's super. I'll have a good look after work. Sorry to hear about your Elephant garlic :(