Do I remove the rocket seeds from their pods before storage?

when they are brown and dry, i would remove them from the pod and store in a paper bag/envelope. keep them cool and in the dark.

Thanks for helping. The pic above is the first batch that was planted. This is closest to being ready to collect seeds from according to what you say. I have a larger amount that has lots of white flowers and leaves. It looks quite pretty at the moment. Thanks again.

im not trying to cause an argument and i dont know any better seaburn but im not called nosey for nothing lol.why do you have to take them out the pod? cant you just store them in a paper bag ? its just that you would have nice little natural packages of similer amounts foe ease of planting if you didnt.just wonderd lol

well theres an idea. Just for storing them then?

it reduces the chance of having the eggs of any insects that would nibble on the seeds. I have lost seeds to very small critters before. the pods will also shed the seeds later. and alternative ideas are what takes us forward so no worries np. :o)

The seed pod can also start to rot more easily than actual seed. In nature the seed is shed from the pod once ripe.

cool just thaught it was a valid question now i know and we all learnt something lol

Might try both ways just to see what happens. Two envelopes one with the pods left alone and one with the removed seeds. I will wait until they are hardened off and brown before I take the pods in anycase. Thanks everyone for all this helpful information.

Have fun Samba - this is how we all learn so let us know the results.

NP it was and is a valid question :-)

thank you moon grower we will learn something bye next spring i guess lol cant weight already time to hybernate .no not realy im going to make some dramatic changes in my back garden.you lot will have to weight till there done lol

Good stuff. Can't wait.

me either lol

well, its time to plant the rocket and as promised I will keep you all posted as to how my seeds perform after being kept in pod (before storing) and the other batch which was removed from the pod before storing. I will let you know if there are any noticable differences during the growing stage and taste tests. So far, on looking at the seeds, there are no visible differences.

Will keep you posted.

cool i look forward to it . in my mind nature put the pod round the seeds to protect them.

Go for it!

Sorry, I haven't had time to post any sooner, but I have had time to look after the garden. Although the news is not exciting really. The two separate batches of rocket seeds grew and there are no differences between each of the batches at all. I found the rocket seeds that were (on the whole) still in the pods a bit more messy to sow than the ones already taken out of the pods before storing. So thats it, one whole years experiment completed! Enjoy the rest of the summer!

P.S. The rocket is fantastic this year, not one green fly on them so far. I'm really pleased.

ow cool definatly worth a try then . thanx for that .

Yes do, and I suppose it will mean free rocket for life! With the heat lately my rocket is 'just' trying to bolt, but I'm keeping it well watered and pulling the bolting stems off straight away, but once my next batch of rocket has grown I might let them go to seed and then collect the seeds for storage. Next year I plan not to plant as much at any one time because there is so much, even though we can almost eat it with everything, it could become wasted if we are not careful. Thanks!

I always take the pods off and ensure they are fully dry by putting them on a tray in the summer house for a few weeks. After that I put them away in an envelope and only take the seeds out of the pods when I am ready to plant a batch. I have been doing this for a few years now and have plenty of rocket throughout the growing season

That's a better idea. That way you don't loose seeds whilst they are drying on the stems. I lost some because the pods tend to open before I got to them. I'll try that this time. I have a fresh batch growing from shop bought seed at the moment they are doing well in this nice April climate.

sounds interesting . both ways have there pros and cons .

This is going to sound like a real amateur question, mainly because this is my first year of really taking a keen interest in gardening and growing edibles.

Anyway, at the risk of embarrassing myself, here goes:

There is a lot of talk of pods and flowers when collecting seed from Rocket. I actually planted rocket early summer in seed trays in the greenhouse and then planted them out. It has been a successful venture and the leaves are delicious, nice and peppery. The plants are now in the stage of going into flower. What I did was cut the pods before they opened into flowers and have those now drying into an envelope. However I have suddenly thought that perhaps I jumped the gun and actually need to wait until after the flowering stage for the plants to to be fertilised and produce seeds. Is this correct?

In simple terms my question is this: Do you cut the tops with the little green pods before the plant flowers or wait until after flowering when there is a 'seed production' stage.

The more I think about it and think of other plants the more the latter seems to make sense. Any advice would be welcome, I'd love some rocket again next year...

Sorry Huwster you removed immature seed from the plants - this will not germinate. You need to wait until the plant has flowered and produced seed pods and let those dry before collecting the seed.

samba dont worry you got to start somewear and an answer to a question is only easy if you know the answer .

I apologise if I shouldn't be commenting in such an old thread, feel free to delete if this is a problem.

I have a question regarding harvesting Rocket seeds.

Do I need to wait until all flowers are gone from the plant before removing seed pods? I have a number of plants gone to seed and many of them have lovely fat looking seed pods. However, all are still flowering higher up the plant and I don't want to ruin my chances by taking the seed pods too early.

I appreciate any help you can give me on this, cheers x

No problem with your asking the question here - though only those of us who originally commented will see. Wait until each seed pod is fully dry before removing from the plant, simply let the others flower. One or two seed pods will give you all the seed you need for next year.

Looking at the photo and a separate comment about white flowers, is this a commercial variety of rocket rather than the wild rocket?

I'm certain that all my plants flower yellow. And the leaves continue to grow very healthily in spite of plenty of long flower stems and developing seed pods.

They may be benefiting from the odd combination of a very sunny, very well-drained site with regular heavy watering.

I've yet to determine at what point in the year cropping becomes impossible.

Rwgray I would have thought they were commercial not wild. Unless I was given the seeds? I can't remember the colour of these particular flowers but I do recall rocket have yellow flowers. I haven't grown them for a few years. This post was from 2009. Glad you found this as I haven't been on this page for a long time!