Never Buy Seeds Again - How to Collect Onion Seeds (& Chives)

Alliums like onions and chives require a little extra effort when collecting seeds. Gardener Scott shows how to harvest onions and chives and prepare the seeds for storage. (Video #483)

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[HevyD]

I save every silica gel pack I find, and put one in every jar of seeds I saved to help keep it dry.

[wesmcgull]

For separating the seeds from the debris, you can use a method called "winowing" (phonetically transcribed). Place everything, after crushing it, in a bucket and pour the content in a second bucket from about 1-2 feet high outdoors when there's a gentle breeze, and repeat until you only have seeds in your bucket. The breeze will blow away the debris. Worked like a charm for collecting my leek seeds. It's a bit less work, in my opinion. :)

[FrozEnbyWolf]

If you don't want to wait for the second year, onions regrown from scraps will go to seed the first year. This should work for most biennial crops, including carrots.

Also, whenever I'm saving seeds, I take the chaff and use it as mulch. I'll often get volunteer plants from any seeds left behind.

[dirtpoorchris]

If you have any leftover/throw-away onions from the store just put them right into the ground as a whole bulb and youll have onion flowers + seeds in a couple months. You dont have to wait for them to mature 2 years. Plus at night the smell of the flowers opening up is just amazing and the moths love collecting the onion flower nectar.

[amymorales]

I put my onion seeds away already, and my chives decided to put out some lovely fall blooms. In the past, I have always let the chives just reseed themselves. Now that I have a better idea of how to save seeds from those pretty pink flowers, I will do that. Thanks!

[Yankeesista]

Gardener Scott, you are in my head! I have garlic chives that have nice white flowers and I want to save the seeds! I need to check to see if they are hybrids! Thanks as always!

[eliandkate]

Brilliant video Scott and very timely 😊

[dubrd]

I harvest my onion and romaine lettuce seeds with as little work as possible. I just wait for the seed head to dry in the garden, cut the stem at its base then bang the seed head into the garden soil where I want the plants to grow. Next I later do not pick the plants I want to grow as they come up and I am done.

[domefamily]

Hello. To separate the seeds from the chaff, could you place them in water. I tried a small amount and noticed that the chaff floats while the seeds sink. Not sure if you should keep them dry though. Thanks for your videos. They’ve been super helpful. 😊

[ghalibnetwork]

AoA/Hi, Hope you fine there Gardener Scott,
Dear Sir Thanks for update such a very informative and nice vlog pl keep it up we are on the way, ok cud you please in detail guide us regarding growing of saffron seed in Pakistani soil plz. hope you never mind, Allah Bless you for this kind 's, Thanks keep happy

[MrJoecordova]

Good afternoon amigo, I live in Denver, this is my first year gardening and you had helped me a lot, I just got a bed ready for garlic. I will use your video to plant them. Also, where do you get your seeds, ? Thank you so much!!

[joycedagostino]

Hi Scott, about a year ago you mentioned on one of your live Monday shows that you sow your onion seed in the fall and you would post a video about doing that. I couldn't find that video. Can you please let us know if there is a video and if not, would like to have the steps on how to plant them in the fall. Sounds like such an easier method than trying to grow and plant those tiny thin onion seedlings in the spring!

[lgarden]

Thanks for sharing. After you gather your onion flowers do you pull and discard the onion plant?

[hugelpook]

In your opinion, which plants are good to plant with squashes to deter squash borer and other pests?

[bevbarry]

Hi Scott. I used to watch you channel regularly for gardening tips in preparation for moving into our dream home 2.5 years ago. Turned out the dream was actually a nightmare and it has taken this long to get garden beds set up. Now that I'm back to it I am back watching your channel regularly. I have a question regarding seed germination. The most recent lot of seeds I planted have not come up within the germination time on the packets. Some are old do this is understandable but others are new seeds from a reputable seed company. I am hoping our unseasonably warm weather predicted for this week will give them a kick start but could you offer a suggestion of what I may have forgotten in my process? All are in either seed raising mix in my greenhouse or well prepared soil in raised beds and I have planted at the recommended time of year. Could it be under watering? Or just a little too early in the season?

[reneejmj]

How do you keep your onions from flopping over and dying. I kept a couple onions with the intention of saving seeds. They flopped over and greens turned brown a couple of months later.

[francoisboulet]

Hi Scott!
I have a question concerning cucumbers seeds!
If I have five different varietes of cucumbers in a 4 X 8 raised bed, do I have to be concerned about cross pollinisation.
All my varietes are heirlooms, not hybrides.
Can I save my seeds without beeing concerne about having « weird » cucumbers next years?
Thank you from the guy in Québec.

[janericvelure]

if you give that plate a bend, like a taco almost, and hold it on a angle and start shaking\heaving the seeds in the air when you hold the plate on a sligth angle, the hevys comes towards you and the ligths go to the topp, seen it done with baskets, with a low rim, and i prefer a paper magasine my self, i hold it with two hands and make somting simelar to a snow showel, smal amonts are better until u get the teknikk, i also belive i get rid of ligth seeds that way, that likly aint so god

[HigginsLawLLCWinterHaven]

do the flowers have to be pollinated first?

[bonnieecker]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with saving 100% of the seed. Chives are hard to eradicate when they take over in unwanted areas (like in the cracks of our concrete patio), so the less than 100% of the seed are PLENTY for me. Also, I wouldn't bother removing all the chaff. It will simply decompose in the soil when planting the seed.