Marigold seeds.

The marigolds I currently have in the garden are flowering profusely. They came from garden centre seeds I germinated and grew back in March/April.

Obviously once the flowers are done they wither and die. Today I have harvested my first proper dried out flower head and it was certainly ready because the seeds just fell out of the spent pod.
There are maybe 30 seeds in total, so eventually I will end up with many many hundreds if I harvest them all.

I will keep these safe and sow them next year. However, am I wasting my time doing this? Is there a slight chance, or even a certain chance, that the seeds may not even germinate or, if they do, the resulting plants will be small and straggly and not even flower?

It's ok sowing seeds for the season after but not if the quality of the plants are going to drastically deteriorate year on year.

 

Unless there is a reason you suspect the seeds you have collected are not viable, there is no reason why they shouldn't germinate and flower next year.
How well they thrive and flower obviously depends on site and weather.

 

Is this French or African Marigolds or the old Pot marigold, (Calendula).

 

These are French "tiger eyes".

 

I wouldn't bother saving seed, they maybe? sterile hybrids and are pretty cheap to buy fresh seed next year.

 

This is exactly why I asked the question. By the time I've messed about with my own seeds only to discover they're all duds, the season will be half way through leaving me limited time to sow "proper" seeds.

Factor in the price of a packet of seeds and you may as well go down the more assured route in the first place. My curiosity has got the better of me though, I will certainly try and grow some of my own seeds next year just to see what happens now.

 

At least with marigold seed you can bet if they dont germinate in a week in a propagator they are probably dud.

 

just try them now!
i think itll work. if they look developed, black and shiny, they are probably good to grow.

 

We harvest many seeds from our plants ...marigolds, nigella, corncockle, corn poppies, sweet peas, morning glory...to name a few. We have always had good germination. Yes it can be hit and miss but why not give it ago.

 

I've just done this myself - harvested from some corn marigolds. They came up in about a week (unheated) and are going great guns already! I thought I might try and overwinter them in my new greenhouse, see how they get on.