Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Is there anyone who knows how and has been successful in growing German chamomile from seed?
When I lived in Southern Ontario, I could get plants from a garden centre; not so living out this way.
My local garden centre owner had met someone who has grown it but cannot remember who it was.
The last two times I tried, a couple seedlings showed, then died. And that was with good sun and spritzing with water.

Hey! i heard this stuff was horrible to grow from seed.....so i had to try it.
i used a mushroom tray from the store (well a few of them) and filled with dirt....i punched some drainage holes in the bottom. no reason why a flat of any type wouldn't work. then just regular "miracle grow" potting soil from good old TSC (it was on sale LOL). i then filled the trays, water them down, topped them up, then put the seed on the top of the damp dirt and sprinkled a handful of soil over the top and tapped it down lightly. i put the trays on a heat mat (which i think is what made the difference). they sprouted SLOWLY - like almost 2.5-3 weeks to come up, then i just abused them, watered them when i felt like it (but i didn't let them dry out), and they did amazingly well.....i started them in a greenhouse that was nice and warm in the sun, also, i didn't start them in march, but waited until april when the night temps could be kept above 0 in my greenhouse with a simple heater and the heat mats going. i think the bottom heat was the most important thing-OH and i also covered them with plastic to keep the humidity in for the first 2 weeks until i saw the seedlings, then uncovered them because i didn't want to deal with damping off.
hope this helps!!!!!

April, huh? I will try that.
Have not heard of using a heat mat. I will have to think on that one. But, perhaps, I will start them in a warmer room.
And cover them until they sprout.
And all this... just for some nice, sweet, chamomile tea!

The fresh is so much better than bagged dry stuff.
The flowers are a bit short lived and it seems to flower all at once....so iactually missed a lot of flowers because "i will pick them on the weekend" lol. By then theyd dropped a lot....ah well. I still got a bit.

I had a volunteer bunch sprout on my lawn last year, no idea where it came from...the seeds must have traveled in wild bird doo-doo. If it pops up again this year, you're welcome to come and take it :)

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:07 am

I had a volunteer bunch sprout on my lawn last year, no idea where it came from...the seeds must have traveled in wild bird doo-doo. If it pops up again this year, you're welcome to come and take it :)

Not meaning to rain on your chamomile offer, but that was probably Roman Chamomile, the ground cover variety. However, it is a very nice plant and smells great when walked on. German Chamomile is what I'm wanting to grow; it can grow to 18 - 24 inches high.

I have some seeds somewhere. They are so tiny that it seems a daunting prospect to actually plant them.

When I was checking out what I thought was wild chamomile in my veggie garden, I found a plant with feathery leaves and blooms that look like little pineapples with no petals. Amazingly, it is called Pineapple Weed and it turns out that the pineapples make a decent cup of herb tea that tastes slightly of pineapple :)

Linda

My 18-24 inch tall german chamomile was anything but, the stuff was easily 30 inches.....i think it liked the horse manure.....

The seeds that I planted have sprouted after 4 days!! Yay! I hope I don't kill them by accident.

Thanks for the reminder. I will try planting mine.

Linda