You can either buy the spider flower seeds or collect them yourself. Purchased seeds do not require any special pre-treatment; you can find these in specialist shops and garden centers but also in well-stocked hardware and garden centers.
How do you sow spider flowers correctly?
To sow spider flowers successfully, sprinkle the seeds on moist potting soil, cover them thinly with soil, keep them evenly moist and keep them warm at a germination temperature of 18-20°C. The spider flowers should germinate after 2-3 weeks.
Collected seeds should be really well ripened. If they are whitish and light, then try to let the seeds ripen. Ripe seeds are dark and often grayish or almost black. Dry the seeds thoroughly and then keep them dry and cool until sowing.
Preparations for sowing
The spider flower seeds may germinate better if they are exposed to the cold for a short time, as happens in the garden during the winter when self-sowing. You can put the seeds in the refrigerator for a few days. Storage in the freezer or freezer is less recommended as the temperatures here are too low.
Sowing the spider flower
From around the end of February or March you can grow the poisonous spider flower indoors or in a heated greenhouse. Scatter the seeds on moist potting soil. As light germinators, they may only be thinly covered with soil and should be kept evenly moist.
Place the growing container in a warm place, for example near the heater, and ensure an evenly warm temperature of around 18 - 20 °C. The spider flowers should germinate after about two to three weeks. But sometimes it takes a little longer. Then the conditions may not be optimal and should be checked.
Planting out the young plants
The young plants are still very sensitive to cold. Slowly get them used to the fresh air and the sun. To start, only put the young spider flowers outside for a few hours a day. Only after the Ice Saints, i.e. around the end of May, can the plants be planted in the garden bed.
The most important steps when sowing:
- Sprinkle seeds onto moist potting soil
- only cover very thinly with soil
- keep evenly moist
- keep warm
- Germination temperature: 18 – 20 °C
Tip
If your seeds don't germinate on time, check the germination conditions, the spider flower is a bit tricky.
