Seed Saving Made Simple

These tips will enable you to grow your favorites again next year without spending a dime

For most of today ’s gardeners , thegrowing seasonbegins with aspringseed catalog . But for those who save seeds from year to year , the next uprise time of year begins as the current one come to a close . Why go to the worry of saving come each yr ? There are a number of reasons : Seed deliverance is a fashion for gardeners tosave money , increase self - enough , adjust varieties to local conditions , and preserverare varietiesthat might not be wide available . Saving your own seeds should not be daunting . get bit by bit with a few of your favorite annual crops ( flowers or vegetables ) , and comprise other types as you raise more comfortable . Here are a few basics to get you set off .

Start with an open-pollinated source

Open - pollinatedvegetables and flower , includingheirlooms , are by and large the only character of plant that you may successfully propagate , yr after year , with homegrown seeds . Hybrids ( also referred to as “ F1s ” ) produce seed that will not grow into the same plants reliably ; they ’re rigorously good for one generation . So if you ’re looking to bring through seed , stay off from a seed packet boat labeled as “ intercrossed ” or “ F1 . ” If it does n’t list those term , chances are that it is an open - pollinated mixture and you should be hunky-dory .

Tip : Once your seeds have been in good order grow , harvested , and stored , look at sharing some with friends and neighbors or at cum swop . The more gardeners there are growing a plant , the less potential it is to vanish .

Learn your plants’ life cycle to know when to harvest

Watermelons , sugar , andeggplantall produce come in their first year of growth , and we refer to them as “ yearbook . ” Winter radish and kale require a flow of cool temperatures between their initial growth form and their seeded player - producing phase , and so we refer to these as “ biennials . ” It is significant to bonk when your flora will produce source and when those seeds are ready for harvest . noggin , lettuce , peas , spring Japanese radish , flowers , and herbaceous plant produce seed in one year , and the seed are ready to harvest when the flowers or seedpods dry out and the seeds become hard . Tomatoes , melons , squash , and watermelon make seeds in one year , too , but their germ are ready to glean just after the point at which the fruit would be eaten .

Clean the seeds using a specific method

Seeds should be cleaned soundly after harvest , which might necessitate one of the following technique :

1. Rinsing

Pepper , melon vine , andsquashseeds simply need a rinse after they are scooped out of the ripe fruit . Put the seeds in a colander , and rinse them with cool water to take away as much clinging material body as possible . permit them to atmosphere - ironic before storing .

2. Fermenting

Tomatoand cucumber seeds do good from a brief period of fermentation after they are extracted from the yield . Scoop out the seeds , succus , and a minute of pulp , and localize the textile in a container . lease the mixture sit out — not in unmediated sunshine — at room temperature , and stir the commixture every day . After two to three days , good seed will make up to the bottom of the container . decant off the pulp , wash the seeds well , and set them out to dry .

3. Threshing and winnowing

Dense , dry seed , like noggin and some blossom , can be separated from chaff ( fuel pod , flower share ) by threshing and winnowing . Threshing involves applying force to seedpods to crack them open and unloosen the seeds ; for beans and pea , occupy a pillowcase with dry bean pods and stomp on it . Once the source have been thresh , pour the subject matter of the pillowcase or other container in front of a devotee . The lighter chaff will be shove along away ( winnowed ) , while the heavy cum will fall down down into a waiting bucketful .

4. Screening

scratch germ and many flower seeds are too light to winnow . To classify seeded player and chaff after threshing , use a mesh topology material ( hardware material or o.k. - bore colander , for deterrent example ) that allows seeds to pass through it but overtake the chaff .

| BASICS |

Get an understanding of the birds and the bees—and the wind

seed are produced — as humans are — through sexual urge . Pollen produced by a parent flora interacts with a flora ’s stigma ( which might or might not belong to a dissimilar works ) , fecundation hap , and a seed is formed . The operation of moving pollen from an anther to a stigma ( pollination ) necessitate gravity , insects , wind , or other transmitter . Several plants have the ability to pollinate themselves , while others do not .

If pollen moves between two like parent , the semen produced will grow into plants that looking at , taste , and grow like those parent . If pollen move between two dissimilar parent ( with few exception , these parents must belong to the same mintage ) , the seeds bring out might be quite dissimilar than either parent . Keep the stream of pollen between like parents only to save seeds that will develop up to look and sample as you expect . If you ’re concerned about inadvertent crossing - pollination , you could do this by web off your plant and pollinating by hand .

To put it another path , ‘ Brandywine ’ tomato + ‘ Brandywine ’ tomato plant = ‘ Brandywine ’ Lycopersicon esculentum . ‘ San Marazano ’ tomato + ‘ Brandywine ’ Lycopersicon esculentum = ?

Store seeds in a cool, dry, and dark place

ejaculate should be completely dry before store them . A seed will shatter when struck with a hammering or snap flawlessly when crumpled if it is dry enough for storage . depot seed somewhere that is cool , wry , and dark ; any moisture or light could activate sprouting , which ruin seeds ’ viability . It is important that the seeds are keep up at a fair consistent temperature ; they should avoid regular freezing and unthaw phases , which can also ruin their ability to reproduce . With right depot , seed can stay workable for many years .

Harvest only healthy seeds

harvesting seeds from your healthiest plants , never from morbid I . Do n’t bother retain onto seeds that come out dehydrated , discolored ( picture of corn cum , top left ) , musty , or damage in any way . wait , rather , for a come that is plump and uniformly colourise ( pic of corn germ , top right ) . pull through seeds for a single variety from many different fruit and as many dissimilar plants as possible . This increases the likeliness of having a harvest of come that will bourgeon dependably and bring forth healthy offspring .

Grant Olson is the public - programs manager and a seed - preservation educator withSeed Savers Exchangein Decorah , Iowa .

Photos , except where noted : Danielle Sherry ; David Cavagnaro / courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange ; Todd Meier ; Grant Olson / courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange ; Ann E. Stratton ; Michelle Gervais

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