How/When Do I Save My Lambs Quarters Seeds?

[steveoregon]

The leaves on my lambs quarters have started turning yellow, and I believe they have stopped growing for the year. They currently have plenty of seed shoots on the top. I pulled a few inside and examined them under magnification. The seeds are only green, and merely squish in your fingernails.

How much longer does it take for them to turn into the black seeds that I can save & store for next year's crop? This will be the first time I've ever tried to save seeds, and don't have any experience with this.

http://www.justmyfolder.com/LambsSeeds.JPG


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[spicyfull]

I would cover the Seeds with a Juice Bag, tie it off at the Bottom. When the Seeds dry, cut off the Stalk, beat the Seeds in the Juice Bag, pull the Stalks out and you will have your contained Seeds. Or the seeds will fall on the ground and reseed Naturally.......Next Year.

[Mary Kay]

Sounds like good advice ,Spicyful. but I'd leave some on the plant to overwinter...no doubt you'll see you didn't even need to bother saving seeds! But, better safe than sorry.

Mary Kay

[T-Bird]

yeah - lambsquarters is probably something you don't need to save seed off of......

However - you might give some thought to trying to contain them~

[Lavendula]

the main advantage to saving the seed is to plant them where you want them, and so you can plant them in succession, so that you can young, tender plants all season. The stalks get huge and tough so fast with very few leaves, they were so out of hand before I could do much with them. They are related to , and look almost just like Quinoa.

[steveoregon]

I would cover the Seeds with a Juice Bag, tie it off at the Bottom. When the Seeds dry, cut off the Stalk, beat the Seeds in the Juice Bag, pull the Stalks out and you will have your contained Seeds. Or the seeds will fall on the ground and reseed Naturally.......Next Year.

Thanks, everyone. I wasn't sure how long it would take for the seeds to turn into little black specs I recognize as seeds. I will keep checking them. Right now, they are just little green specs that break apart when squished. I assume it won't be long, since the plants are turning yellow. I should have harvested them sooner. Will next year.

I may not have made it clear that I grew these myself from seeds I got on the internet. I don't want to have to order them again.

http://justmyfolder.com/Lambs.JPG