Should I stop Dill from flowering? And how to harvest seeds?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,


I got some Dill that is starting to flower. The plant is about 2 foot tall. Would pinching off the flowers allow the plant to grow more? Let's say I let it flower, when and how do I collect seeds? I also hear you can eat the flowers. I never tried it, what is a good way to use flowers for culinary purposes?


Another question, I let this Dill grow and never pruned it. Let's say I grow it again next year, would regular pruning help it? Thx

[smaxey843]

well, I have no dill experience, but in the case of most herbs that I've read about, when the plant starts to flower, the taste of the product becomes very bitter, which makes sense, instead of putting all of the plants resources into becoming a successful plant, the plant will refocus on reproduction and care less about its own wellbeing. again. I'm not an authority on dill.

[rainbowgardener]

If you let the dill flower, eventually the flowers turn all brown/tan and the little round seed pods turn brown (they start as oval green buds, that shrink into single seed). It is very visible. At that point they fall off very easily.

It is a choice between letting it make dill seed (which is used in cooking also) or cutting the flowers and letting it keep being dill weed (the "leaves"). If you keep cutting the flowers off, it will be bushier and make more dill weed.

The dill can be used pretty much at any stage, for whatever you use dill for. The dill flowers are good for pickling with.

[PunkRotten]

How late will Dill grow? In other words, lets say I keep pinching the flowers at what time should I harvest the entire plant before it is too late? Will it grow up until winter?

[cynthia_h]

How late will Dill grow? In other words, lets say I keep pinching the flowers at what time should I harvest the entire plant before it is too late? Will it grow up until winter?

The answer to that last question depends on *where* in SoCal you live. On the coast? Probably a year-round plant. In the mountains? Pay attention to your first average frost date.

Have you learned your Sunset climate zone yet? That's a critical piece of information when growing plants in the West. See the Sunset Western Garden Book or check their website, https://sunset.com , for more information.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[soil]

when the seed head is almost dry, which means the seeds are pretty much brown but they don't fall off when touched. lightly bend them over and put the head into a paper bag. then cut the seed head off and let it dry until the seeds easily fall off the plant. then you can plant the seeds and have even more dill than one plant could ever provide.

[PunkRotten]

How late will Dill grow? In other words, lets say I keep pinching the flowers at what time should I harvest the entire plant before it is too late? Will it grow up until winter?

The answer to that last question depends on *where* in SoCal you live. On the coast? Probably a year-round plant. In the mountains? Pay attention to your first average frost date.

Have you learned your Sunset climate zone yet? That's a critical piece of information when growing plants in the West. See the Sunset Western Garden Book or check their website, https://sunset.com , for more information.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

I looked it up and I am in zone 19.

[cynthia_h]

In Zone 19, "Thermal Belts around Southern California's Interior Valleys," dill is likely to over-winter successfully. The only month shown as a non-growing season is the period from mid-December to mid-January, and the 20-year average low temps range from 27 to 22°F. Unless they stay at the hard-freeze temps of 25° or lower for three days, I would expect dill to survive or, at the least, re-seed.

I've had hard freezes here in the Bay Area (26°F for three nights) and kale, broccoli, rapini, and chard all survived. Parsley, too, now that I think of it.

Cynthia

[PunkRotten]

Dill is an annual correct? So I can leave it growing till the end of the year, let it seed, and then harvest?

[rainbowgardener]

No. Most of us here in the north treat it as an annual, but like many such, I think it is actually a tender perennial. That means for you in SoCal it should be able to stay in the garden year round. I'm thinking it may be one of those shorter lived perennials that tends to die out after a few years any way, but I know that it pretty readily re-seeds itself. So plant it now, let some seeds go and you should always have dill in your garden.

You still can do what you said, just don't harvest so much that you don't leave some for the plant to feed the roots.

[PunkRotten]

So if I let the flowers grow and get seeds, after this has happened will the flowers disappear and will the plant continue to grow?