How to Save Echinacea seeds: quick and easy way for how to save coneflower seeds 

Amen to that! I love saving my own seed. Save tons of $$$.

7/10 is actually a solid germination rate… - a botanist

Wow you got fleeced hard. Live and ya learn!

You are very welcome Lauren! This is by far the best way to harvest Echinacea seeds! It's so easy

That is awesome Grace - enjoy and good luck!

Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful, and let me know how it works for chives.

Excellent Carin - congratulations on your seedlings. Growing from seed is the way to go - you just need to have patience, but it is so economical!

Should I plant these seeds this fall or wait until spring?

You're going to have a lot more plants now! Enjoy Samm.

You are very welcome - this way is much easier! Good luck!

Thank you! I agree, this is the easiest way to save the seeds! And it's quick and clean.

Great video. Thanks. I had my coneflowers planted in July and after a hot summer in zone 6b many turned black and died... so If I were to remove seeds from the dead coneflowers do I store them and when do I plant them to germinate and produce more flowers?

Thanks MK. I'm glad you found the video helpful. To answer your question, you can store the seeds in ziplock bag if they are fully dry. Or in an envelope. Keep them somewhere out of the sun and at room or cool temperatures, and dry (no musty basements). For how to grow and germinate the seed, I've written a step by step guide at our website. There is also a short video in the article. growitbuildit.com/how-to-grow-coneflower-from-seed/ I hope this helps! Let me know if there is any other questions.

Thanks for your reply. When the heads turn black in the fall- should I cut them off and then use the seeds to sprinkle around the garden... I’m thinking maybe in October being that I live in the east coast. I watched your video but wasn’t sure about October being the right time to sprinkle those seeds.

You are correct. When the heads are brown/black. Also, when the stems turn brown where it attaches to the head. But also, and this is important, if you start to notice bird damage on the heads you should consider getting them right away. Birds really like to eat the seeds.

You're going to get a lot of them - good luck!

You are quite welcome. This method is the best - no poking your fingers on the hard spines.

Thank you! I'm really glad you found it helpful!

Thanks man. I appreciate the support!

Thanks! Hope it saves you some time! Thanks for watching! We have a bunch of articles, too, on the blog growitbuildit.com/ about saving seeds.

Lol - I know the feeling. Getting tired of ripping them apart....sorting through the chaff.

We’re can I get these seeds l live in northern lreland thank you

@PatriciaMolloy they are normally available on Amazon

Just wait till Fall and you can score all the seed you'll ever need.

There is always next year!

@@growitbuildit yup! And your video will help, defo, thank you for sharing!

Thank you sir! I'm happy you found it useful. This method is soooo much easier than ripping apart the seed heads by hand!

You are very welcome Pablo! I'm very happy I could help you out!

Excellent - good luck to you!

You are very welcome!

Excellent! That is the kind of comment I like to see. Growing your own stuff from seed is the way to go! Good luck Graciela!

You are very welcome Alena!

Nice! Just know that if you are taking seed from a hybrid, it may not produce the same plant. If your variety is a cultivar, then you should be good.

Hi - I will be having a video later this year on the entire life cycle. But, if you want to learn how to grow these you can check out our article here for growing purple coneflower: growitbuildit.com/how-to-grow-coneflower-from-seed/ It gives step by step instructions on how to germinate the seeds. My method works, I've germinated hundreds of seeds over the years. I'll try to remember your comment and update you when the video comes out in a month or two.

You are very welcome Hera!

I was sure that those pokey things are the seeds. Now I know how they look

Thank you - glad you found it helpful!

You are very welcome Debbie! Good luck germinating the seeds .

You are welcome Debbie!

You're welcome Caren! Good luck for next time

You are very welcome V! I'm happy you are finding it helpful!

You are very welcome!

You are very welcome! I have an easy process to germinate Coneflower Seeds here that you may find helpful too. growitbuildit.com/how-to-grow-coneflower-from-seed/

You're very welcome!

You are very welcome Richard!

You are very welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful.

Thank you - it's a great method.

You are very welcome! Good luck saving your seeds.

You are welcome Caren!

Going for half and half is a good strategy!

You are very welcome! Good luck

You are very welcome!

They can germinate if you just scatter the seeds. Just know that some will be lost to birds/rodents eating them

Hi - these seeds don't require any stratification. I would just start a few seeds in 4" pots outside in early March. They could then be transplanted in ground sometime in May. You shouldn't expect blooms until the second year. And the plant should be really big by year 3. I have a detailed "how to" at our site here: growitbuildit.com/how-to-grow-coneflower-from-seed/ Just make sure you protect the young seedlings from rabbits and deer. I use liquid fence, and it works great.

@@growitbuildit Does the liquid fence protect against squirrels, in your experience? For some reason, squirrels love to bite off the flower heads in full bloom and leave them on the ground. :(

I have never had a squirrel problem like you describe. But I would say it is worth a shot. Concentrated rotten eggs is the main ingredient

@@jenniferlonergan8481 realize this comment was made a year ago, hopefully you have already found a solution to your problem... If not (I'm in Va) I do wonder if it's actually the squirrels that are the problem. My neighborhood is full of Oaks and as a result full of squirrels aswell lol and I had the same issue where something was biting or snipping rh heads off my flowers and leaving them either dangling or on the ground below. Because of our massive amount of squirrels I instantly assumed that they were the culprit. However after intently watching (to the point my neighbors likely assumed I was a bit off in the head! Haha) I realized it was NOT the squirrels. To my surprise... It was actually birds! Granted this was not specifically on my coneflowers at the time , though they do manage to sporadically get a few of those too, they seemed to focus mainly on my tulips in the spring (snipping them off before the bloom even opened!) But move on to other flowers throughout growing season. After a lot of research trying to figure out why, the best guess I have is some type of pest... And it's not that the birds themselves just hat the flowers, but that they recognize there is/are insects either burrowing in them or eating on them. One suggestion was a type of cut worm,but I've actually seen the birds (usually diff species of song birds) so I assume it's an insect that is within the stem itself, and the birds are then getting to them. Using some organic generic pesticide around the base of the flowers though seems to have dramatically taken care of the problem.. applied the first year and by the second didn't have to apply anymore as the problem was gone... Whatever it was lol I tend to try and avoid pesticides at all cost (great advice I once got: If your plants aren't being eaten even a little bit rhen they aren't a part of the food web!) However it has gotten so bad it almost defeated purpose of having them to begin with lol So if addressing the squirrels doesn't take care of the problem, definitely suggest trying that route. Best of luck!

You are quite welcome!

That works too! Good idea.

Thank you gypsea! I'm glad you found it helpful!

You are very welcome Carol.

They are incredibly low maintenance flowers

You are very welcome Roxy

Absolutely - it works for all the plants with disc-flower heads.

Thank you Lula! Good luck collecting. For Bee Balm, the same method does work, but red bee balm has many other difficulties. I detail them in this video. In a nutshell, the seeds can easily fall out of Monarda didyma, and they don't seem to produce much seed either. See here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Uie_FtfITUE.html

That sounds really cool.

Hi - you are most likely correct in regards to the babies not being like their mother due to hybridization or cloned cultivars. I've got to tell you though, the original straight natives are often the best for pollinators.

You can, but some of it will get eaten by birds and rodents. But if you got a ton, then go for it.

Yes, it is this simple. Give it a try!

Hi Connie. It doesn't exactly work for hybrids. Usually a hybrid will either be sterile, or the seed will revert back to one of the parent plant genetics. But if your plant is a cultivar, then this would work just fine. And thank you for watching. I'm glad you are enjoying them.

@@growitbuildit wow, good to know! Thank you. I had to look up and clarify what "cultivar" means ...I get it. Thank you again, Have a great day!

Hi, you just need to make sure the seed is dry! Leave it in a cool dry place, like a closet for a few days before bagging it up. I just put seed heads into a brown paper bag, then toss them in a closet for a week. That dries just about everything out well.

In my experience a high percentage will germinate. But I've never taken data on Echinacea germination rates. They are pretty easy to grow, and if used the following year you should have very few 'duds'.

Hi KG, you can sow them any time once the temperatures start to warm up in the Spring. Echinacea purpurea needs no cold stratification. Other Echinacea types should be winter sowed though.

Yes it does.

Growit Buildit Great....Thanks!

Hey - I made a different method for Black Eyed Susan Seeds. You should have a look. It completely removes that chaff! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dAiS2y_FODs.html

Growit Buildit nice! Thanks again!

Hi, I store them indoors. A cool dry place is best for Echinacea purpurea seeds.

Hi Nicole - it is better to wait for the flowerhead to turn brown/black, as it allows the seed to mature on the plant. Cutting them early risks the seeds viability as it may not fully form. There are small mesh bags with a drawstring you can buy to put over the heads. I do that with some species and they work great. They are here (affiliate link): amzn.to/3c3KEFK

Excellent Kate - I'm glad I could help you out!

Hi Andy - if an area looks a bit disturbed, it can work. Go scatter them then walk on them. Otherwise, I've spread the plants the old fashioned way. Just growing some or letting the 'volunteers' grow a bit, then transplanting in Spring or Fall. You could try seed bombs too - that is where you get some slightly moist clay/dirt, and press the seed into it, then let it dry. You can then toss the 'seed bombs' to areas and they will have a decent shot at germinating.

Hi Michele - Echinacea purpurea (common purple coneflower) needs no cold stratification of any kind. Other species of Echinacea do though, such as Echinacea pallida, Tennessee Coneflower, and Narrow-leaf Coneflower.

That is what we generally do too. But I find by November they are pretty much all gone.

Echinacea purpurea (common purple coneflower) have no special germination requirements. So you can start them in pots and then transplant outside once they get several sets of true leaves. Or, direct sow in Spring works well too. As of now (early July), it is definitely early enough to start some new plants.

Hi, if the stem is still green then the seeds may still be drawing nutrients from the plant as they form. That is the reason I wait to collect them. But if you harvested when the stalk was still a bit green they would probably still germinate. Just maybe not as high a rate.

Growit Buildit how long after the leaves 🍁 have gone will it take to go dry ?

​ @tospicy4ya Hi - hard for me to give a straight answer as I haven't ever paid close attention to the time to go completely dry after blooming. But typically it is about a month afterwards for most plants. At least, I start checking after a few weeks/month. Letting the seed mature should increase the viability. I will say this though, if you start to see damage from birds, or birds directly one them eating seed, you should either put some netting over them or just cut them off and hope that they are viable. Once the Gold Finches discover the seed....it doesn't take long for them to clean out most of them.

Hi Mel - It sounds like you were either too rough, or perhaps the seeds were immature.

Hi - you just store them until you are ready to plant in Spring. Somewhere cool/dry and out of direct sunlight.

@@growitbuildit OK Thank you 😊

You're welcome. Good luck!

Hi Angela, when dry they can be stored in a plastic bag in a cool dry place, out of direct sunlight. Plant them in early Spring about 1/8"-1/4" deep.

@@growitbuildit thank you kindly!

Hi Helen - if it is a 'cultivar', as in a natural mutation that has been propagated for sale, then yes. But if it was a hybrid, then probably not. You certainly could try though.

Yeah - it happens. I was late getting to some seed on another species this year too.

Hi Nancy - I make sure they are completely dry and store them in a plastic container, zip lock bag, or just an envelope. You can plant them in October too, but you run the risk of rodents or birds eating them.

You can start Echinacea purpurea (most common type of Purple Coneflower) anytime. Other Echinacea species generally need to be planted in Winter, or at least experience a period of cold stratification.

The seed usually takes a while to fully form after blooming. And I think that it needs to stay connected to the stalk for this to happen. But, it doesn't hurt to try with some. If you do it and get them to germinate, please tell me because I would like to know!

Its best to let them completely die and dry out on the plant itself to fully disengage its absorption of nutrients to the most of its ability. You may get seeds still if you deadhead early, but would you rather grow from a seed thats 95% fertile, or 100%?

Hi - if you can protect the seedlings from Rabbits and Deer, then Spring is the way to go. Your plant will have a full growing season in the ground and add a lot of root mass. It would therefore bloom more the following year than if it was started in late summer. As far as starting in trays vs direct, I prefer trays. Direct sowing does work, but you always have a risk of birds or rodents sniffing out and eating the seed.

Yes, if the seed is still there, then by all means.

@@growitbuildit Thank you for the quick reply. I will give it a try.

Hi - the chaff will not harm the seed at all. Separating it makes it easier to know how many seeds you are planting, and that it looks cleaner, but that is all.

At this point in the growing season, I would winter sow the plant. I'm on the border of zone 6/7. If you were further south, and felt you could keep the seedlings alive, you could sow now.

Hi Nick - it can be done with any coneflower. But - if it is a hybrid, then you should get one of the 'mother' plants used to make the hybrid. If it is a cultivar, aka a naturally reproducing funny color, then you get the same plant.

@@growitbuildit Do you know if the cultivars have any nectar because I have a red coneflower cultivar and I've never seen anything on it ever. I'm guessing it was bred just to be EyeCandy for the grower.

I really couldn't say for sure Darcy. But if nothing visits the flower it's probably a good indication that it isn't that valuable for the pollinators. You should plant a straight species next to it and compare the activity.

Yes - they aren't difficult at all. This article tells you how to plant the seed, and other info. growitbuildit.com/echinacea-how-to-grow-purple-coneflower/

You have to stay on top of it. Once the finches find them, they can make them disappear very quickly.

You know Angie, I bet the seeds germinate inside the head. If you are very gentle, you can probably separate them.

You are very welcome Binh! I'm glad you found the video helpful.