What happens to coleus flower spike after its done?

i've had a black coleus growing in the house this year and its almost finished flowering now. i was wondering waht happens to the flower spike after its done. do i just leave it?? and can you collect seed from them??

moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic

 

Lukey, I've never let a coleus make a flower spike, since the foliage is the big attraction. Some of a plant's energy goes into making flowers and then seeds and I prefer my coleus to concentrate on making leaves. I'd go ahead and cut the flower spike off.
Since coleus are hybrids any saved seed might be sterile, and surely won't come true to type. Your black coleus likely would turn out to be another color entirely.

 

thanks i did grow it for the foliage, but i was more than impressed with the flowers. i have a huge flower spike on top and 2 of the side shoots have flowered too, it looks good. im ready to snip them off though as there just making a mess

 

I have flower spikes on mine, too. They really just make it ratty looking, but I have had them reseed in the flower bed. I didn't plant any this year and I have several of them around the house. they look just as nice as the parent plants. You can cut them off before they finish developing or try to collect the seeds and see what you "get" with them next year. May be the same, similar or totally different.

 

i really like the idea of not knowing what im gonna get when i sow them, i find that really appealing

 

Hi Lukeypukey, I have grown the same coleus variety for over twelve years in my garden. Each year, around the end of August, I let them go to seed and then harvest the seed in September/October. I plant over two dozen plants per year from my seed saved from the previous year. I also plant them during the winter because they make the perfect houseplant. Needless to say, I have many, many interesting leaf patterns. I have some with broad flat leaves, curly leaves with rippled edges, lance shaped leaves, and all the colors imaginable except blues and true lavender. Every year when I plant my collected coleus seeds I am excited over what colors and leaf-shapes the new plants will exhibit. I am never disappointed. It is true though, once you let the plant go to seed the foliage suffers. If I am using a coleus as a houseplant I keep the spikes pinched away.

I have hundreds of seeds saved this year so I think I might offer some for a sase in the seed exchange today or tomorrow.

 

just pinched out my flower spikes, i'll save these for any seed. can't wait to see the resulting plants. kathyd are you sowing indoors all year round?? and can i sow them as soon as they are ripe??

 

Yes, I sow them all year round, I actually use the tip of a moistened pencil to pick them up and space them about a 1/2 inch apart on top of the seed starter. I've had problems with them getting diseased when they are sown too thick. They seem to have what I call a "pouting" after they first sprout, and take a long time to develop their first two sets of true leaves. After that, they do pretty well. I always refrigerate mine for a few weeks after I harvest. I don't know if they need it, but I do it just in case anyway.