need advice on getting Chives to grow

Roy Harper

10 years ago

Is it to later to sow some in garden (Nov) ?

i tried to plant in summer time no luck or the seeds were bad,can i buy some plants on ebay ?

Featured Answer

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

10 years ago

Roy, You can buy them in little containers at places like Wal-mart, Lowe's or Home Depot or at nurseries in late winter/early spring.

They aren't that hard from seed either. Maybe you had old seed. Chive seed that is more than 3 years old doesn't germinate very well.

You can raise them inside by sowing the seeds in flats about 8-10 weeks before your average last freeze date of spring and then transplant them into the ground, or you can directly sow them into the soil once soil temperatures are around 60 degrees. I think their ideal soil temperature for quick germination is 65 degrees.

Don't get discouraged if your first attempt at raising the from seed didn't work out. There's so much that can go wrong---seed can be old, it can wash away ,some sort of little varmint like field mice or voles can eat the seed before it germinates, or eat the young plants as soon as they germinate, etc. Chives seeds are hard and you can improve your chance of getting germination by soaking them in water for 12-24 hours before you plant them. Or, you can soak them first, then wrap the seeds in a coffee filter or paper towel and put them inside a ziplock baggie. They will sprout right in there. Check every day, and as soon as you see tiny sprouts, then sow the seeds into a flat or into the ground. Often, seeds that are outdoors get dry at the wrong time and fail to sprout, or they sprout but fail to grow. Chives seeds like to be in a moist growing medium in order to sprout. With the weather we had this year, it wouldn't surprise me if rain washed your seeds away. Or, if you waited too late and the ground was to warm, the seeds wouldn't germinate in hot soil and then would rot, blow away or wash away before the soil cooled down again in fall.

I haven't tried sowing them outdoors in the fall but it probably would work as long as the young plants had time to make some root growth and get established before really cold weather hit them. They are cold hardy in general, but maybe not if bitter cold arrives just a week or two after they sprout.

Hope this helps,

Dawn

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Comments (10)

OklaMoni
10 years ago
Roy, where do you live? I could divide mine, come spring. I would not disturb them right now however.

Moni
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Harriett Wahler
10 years ago
Roy, I have garlic chive plants that I would love to share now. They are courser than onion chives, but much hardier in my experience. I live in north Edmond.
Roy Harper thanked Harriett Wahler
Roy Harper
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I just planted some chinese chive the one with flat leaves,but thank you for your offer, am assuming that is what you have?
Roy Harper
Original Author
10 years ago
Long ago we had in garden what i thought was bunching onion,lots of green tops planting one it seemed in no time to grow into a bunch,similar to the bundled onion one gets at a store.

well after searching a long time i come to think what we had back then were chives am 74 soon to have birthday so nostalgia set in (grin) the darn things elude me.
Harriett Wahler
10 years ago
Yes, I have the flat leafed. I also have access to multiplying/bunching onions - they are usually stronger than regular green onions, and grow better in winter. My brother-n-law planted them years ago, and called them 'walking onions' cause the tops form bulblets that sprout when they fall over, spreading the onions out into the garden.
Roy Harper thanked Harriett Wahler
authereray
10 years ago
Roy Harper,

'Nostalgia' is the best part of growing anything including age , nearly every plant that I grow brings back some memory from when I was young. I was very lucky to have grown up with two sets of Grandparents and a Mother that gardened and the best part of my child hood memories are times spent with them in their gardens and harvesting fruits & vegetables that they grew.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
10 years ago
I agree with Auther that 'nostalgia' is one of the best parts of gardening. I have the same sorts of garden memories he does---everything I grow reminds me of something that my Dad, Mom, grandparents, or one or more of my many aunts and/or uncles grew. In some cases, I still grow the exact same varieties of things that they grew. It makes me feel connected to them through my memories, even though most of them have been gone a very long time now. I love nostalgia.
stockergal
10 years ago
My grandmothers both died when I was very young and my mother worked 7 days a week outside of the home, so I did not grow up with gardeners. But when I married, my husbands mother and grandmothers were gardeners. So I was late to the gardening club. But once I put my first seeds in the ground and watched them grow I was hooked. Some of my best memories are of times in the garden. I hope I can pass the love of gardening on to others.

I still laugh at some of the dumb things I did, but that's how you learn right? For example, the first hybrid T rose I had I planted it in shade. Of course when I planted it in spring and the tree had not leafed out yet and so it was beautiful. But by mid summer it would loose leaves and would not bloom, I finally figured it out and transplanted the poor thing to full shade and it bloomed for several years.

heaven help they young and naive. Ha ha
authereray
10 years ago
Roy Harper,

I never had any luck growing chives but I have found it is much easier to grow green onions from seed and they work in place of chives. You can just cut off the green tops of the green onions with out pulling them up and most of the time they will grow back, unless it is late summer and hot & dry. I thought I'd mention this even though you probably would rather have chives.
Roy Harper thanked authereray