Chives

[anddawe]

Should I thin chives after they sprout or just let all of them grow?

[Shawn]

Hello and welcome to the forum anddawe!  

I have never grown chives myself but from what I see on the forum, you let them grow and trim the tip 1/3 (it may be more) of what you want to harvest for use or to freeze or dry.  

MaryL seems to be one that grows wonderful chives.  When she pops in maybe she will see this and help you more.  You can check out this thread of hers (it is page 2) to see her chives and how she cut them.

Also (I have not done this so I am not totally sure) do a search for Chives and see who else has them growing and see what they do


Sorry I was of no help.

[ladyjane]

Welcome to the group.  Sorry, I am rather new and have not grown chives but I do have a seed pod for them.  Let us know how things go for you.  

[Rialle]

Sept 21, 2018 1:18:14 GMT -5 anddawe said:

Should I thin chives after they sprout or just let all of them grow?

Let all of them grow. Having grown two kinds of Chives now (even though they weren't all AG seeds), I wish I'd planted more seeds per pod. I didn't thin my Chive plants at all and they are slow growers, which makes a larger amount to potentially harvest better. The regular Chives were from an AG pod, and I didn't thin it. My other two pods are Garlic Chives I grew with the Grow Your Own kit and I should have put more seeds in (I think I put in 5 or 6 per pod). As it is, I never have enough Chives for what I want to use them for. lol

I did top my Chives off at 1/3rd for a while and they did well, but now I cut them down about an inch above the label and they continue to grow back. Chives are more forgiving that way, in my experience.

[MaryL]

Most definitely don’t thin them. You need each and every stem the company seeds the sponges with.  (And I add more)

As to how to harvest them, it took me a disastrous error multiple times to realize my mistake (a mistake that others probably would not have made  ). I initially would take an entire stem at a time, nearly from the bottom, and then it never grew back - I weakened it too much.  And soon enough I had no stems. I agree with Rialle that once established you can take well more than a third off the top.  An established chive garden is such fun - you’ll have fresh chives daily.  They grow faster than basil!  Enjoy!

[anddawe]

Thanks for the replies. Mary’s pictures were really helpful.  Once I figure out how to post a picture I’ll share how my chives are doing.  

[brenwren]

This is an herb I failed at growing several times. They just never seemed to grow or fill out after sprouting. They were from Aerogarden.

[Shawn]

Aug 21, 2019 11:50:00 GMT -5 brenwren said:

This is an herb I failed at growing several times. They just never seemed to grow or fill out after sprouting. They were from Aerogarden.

I just tried to grow some.  Never growing before I only added 5 seeds.  Well not much happened so I added more seeds and now they are starting.  I restarted 3 times before I succeeded.  As soon as I saw some green I loosened the dome then removed it once I saw more.  If I did not they would die.

I ditto anddawe.

MaryL has some photos in her garden corner dated 6-15-18 , an updated project and the chives are great. I also had trouble with chives.

Mine would grow spindly and flop over.

[clumsythumbs]

Aug 21, 2019 11:50:00 GMT -5 brenwren said:

This is an herb I failed at growing several times. They just never seemed to grow or fill out after sprouting. They were from Aerogarden.

I grew the AG Herb kit and the chives held up really nicely. They were some of the first to sprout and grew up really fast. Hope your next time is more successful!

[danastl]

We are growing some (from an AG kit), we did not thin and just kept the top timmed to keep it "in line" with the other herbs. It was taller than the basil for a while!

It's been just at a month for the chives, we've used a few trimmings in soups, etc.

Here are our chives, with basil plant in the background.

Nice and healthy looking!

[clumsythumbs]

Sept 1, 2019 10:47:49 GMT -5 danastl said:

We are growing some (from an AG kit), we did not thin and just kept the top timmed to keep it "in line" with the other herbs. It was taller than the basil for a while!

It's been just at a month for the chives, we've used a few trimmings in soups, etc.

Here are our chives, with basil plant in the background.

I had the same "issue" with my chives vs. Basil! The first 30-45 Days the Chives kept hitting the hood. Eventually the Basil outgrew it (but not by much). I essentially used them the same way-- snipped for garnishes and added to dishes here and there. I add a lot of basil and chive snips to the tops of eggs. I felt this was a great way to use them, as mine grew like weeds (sometimes upwards of 1-2" in a day)! Healthy looking garden!

[Sher]

This is an old thread, but I just learned something new from it.  I only have one long chive in my new herb garden.  I think I will pick up some seeds tomorrow and add several to that pod.

[snuffaluffalee]

I've had such bad luck growing chives. They come out so spindly. Maybe the extra seed trick will help.

[Shawn]

I over seed my pods.  I ting I need to put even more on top.  However I do get them to grow.