How to Save Marigold Seeds will give you step-by-step instructions on how to grow your own marigolds year after year without buying new plants. They are one of the easiest flowers to grow.
How to Save Marigold Seeds
If you’re looking for more gardening tips, The Best Cottage Flowers to Grow and How to Grow Roses will help you on your journey.
Fun Facts About Marigolds
- Heirloom varieties of marigold blooms produce exact replicas of their parents, while hybrid marigold plants will grow flowers that vary from the parent plants.
- Marigolds are edible flowers that look beautiful in salads and cakes.
- The Aztecs believed that marigolds had medicinal powers besides being beautiful flowers.
- Plant marigolds in your vegetable garden as an excellent companion plant to help with garden pests, and attract beneficial insects. Homesteaders like to plant marigolds around the perimeter of their vegetable gardens.
- Marigolds are annual flowers, but you don’t have to repurchase more plants when you save the seeds and plant them in your garden beds.
- For more fun facts about marigolds, check out this article from justfunfacts.com.
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How to Harvest
Wait until after the first frost to cut off your dead marigold seed heads with clean shears at the base of each flower. October is usually the best time to save your seeds at the end of the season.
How to Dry
The best way to dry marigolds is to place them on a paper plate with edged sides and let them dry for at least a week. Remember that moisture is the enemy of seed keepers, so you want to ensure your seeds are thoroughly dry. The edges on the paper plates are an easy way to keep your seeds in place. You could also use another flat surface, like a paper towel or brown paper bag.
Keep the plates of dried marigold heads in a dry place in your home.
After the week is up, place the hulls between your fingers and rub them between your fingers to release the marigold seeds. The seed pods should easily remove the seeds.
What Does a Marigold Seed Look Like?
How to Save Marigold Seeds for Next Year
Save your marigold seeds in a glass jar, paper envelope, seed packet, or a brown paper lunch bag. Add a label to either the glass jar or envelope with the type of seed pod and the date. Place seeds in a dark place like a cool basement.
Giving your family and friends your homemade seed packets as gifts is a wonderful way to spread the beauty of flowers. Create a gift basket with gloves, a gardening book, gardening gloves, and a packet of marigold seeds. They will remember you as the person who encouraged them to grow marigolds and will love you for it!
How to Plant Marigold Seeds
Start your marigold seeds indoors in starter pots before the first frost. If you prefer to plant your flower seeds in the garden, wait until after the last frost date.
Marigold seeds are best planted at least one inch apart, and place seeds no more than one inch deep in the soil. Plant your seeds where they will receive direct sunlight. You’ll soon have a new generation of marigolds to greet your visitors next season.
Saving marigold seeds is a simple and rewarding process, whether you are working with African marigolds (Tagetes erecta), Signet marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia), or Pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis). The large seed heads for African marigolds will form on tall stems, while Signet marigolds produce smaller seed heads.
By saving marigold seeds, you can ensure a bountiful harvest year after year while saving money and preserving the unique characteristics of each variety.
We’ve reached the end of How to Save Marigold Seeds for next year. I hope you enjoyed it!
Let me know in the comments below what your favorite type of marigold plant is and how you use the flowers. Once you start to growing marigolds, you won’t be able to stop.
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Thanks for stopping by. I’m so happy you found us!
Bonnie
Friday 15th of September 2023
Can you pull the plant mid sept and hang to dry. Then harvest? Thanks
Kelly
Sunday 17th of September 2023
Hello Bonnie! It depends on your area. I would look at your zone and see when the best time to harvest your marigolds are. - Kelly
K Carlton
Wednesday 23rd of November 2022
An avid marigold seed saver and planter, I read this article and realized that except for one thing, you are the ONLY source I've read who does this almost exactly as I do. This year I had marigolds all over my yard - in every bed and along the sides of my driveway, etc. Have never enjoyed more beautiful annuals, and there were hundreds. I plant mine using an abundance of seeds, and they grow into Marigold Bushes, as I call them. Areas sometimes 2 -3 feet by 2-3 feet. This year I had mixed colors everywhere of my burgundy and burgundy and orange flowers. Everyone who saw them fell in love, even my daughter in NY who has said she would never waste her time on annuals. Your photos of the seed heads were so great and so in keeping with the way I collect mine. I don't purposely wait until they are brown and dried up, cutting them much earlier in the process, as your photos show. I also put mine on paper plates with edges and store them on top of my kitchen cabinets until Spring. The only thing you didn't mention is that I either cut off or pinch off the remainder of the bloom and pull my seeds from the seed heads. Lots of trouble, but a fun winter project over the cold months. I find it very meditative. That way, my seeds are never stuck together - each one is separate. This year we got an early freeze, and I actually cut off some blooms rather than lose them. I'll dry these the same way but have kept them separate just to see if they will germinate after being plucked so early.
Thanks from one marigold lover to another. Kathy C in Hanover County, VA outside of the Richmond area. This is 1/23/22.
Kelly
Wednesday 23rd of November 2022
You're very welcome Kathy! I live near Raleigh now, so we are practically neighbors! I love going to a huge antique mall you have up there. Gorgeous area. - Kelly
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[…] easy to save seeds from Marigolds also, so you can grow your own year after […]