Garden Tips - How to Harvest Romaine Lettuce Seeds

Learn how to collect Romaine lettuce seeds after drying the flowers on the stem in the garden. When I want to gather seeds, I let my plants "go to seed" (I don't trim the tops off when they start to flower). Once the flowers die and the seeds dry, I cut or pull the tips from the stems and then sort the seeds and place them into envelopes. I have had friends put their seeds in plastic bags or seal them in containers (or try to refrigerate their seeds) and in every instance, their seeds molded. I keep my seeds dry and store them in paper envelopes. I also try to store them in a location that is not likely to attract critters/rodents (ie. I don't store them in my garden shed or basement/attic). If you do have potential problems with critters, you can store the whole seed box in a larger plastic container to keep the critters out, but still leave the seeds in their paper envelopes and make sure all of the seeds are fully dry prior to sealing them into a plastic container.