Seed saving?

[Urban_Garden]

Wow, two topics in one day. -_-

So does anyone here seed save? Most of my vegetables are OP and I'm currently saving seed, I'm happy to say I just harvest pole bean heirloom seeds and they are drying as I type!

Food independence rocks.

[TZ -OH6]

I save seeds for the easy things, tomatoes, peppers, squash etc.

[soil]

I save and grow almost everything from seed, I love the variation you get from open pollinated seed.

[rkunsaw]

I save seed from okra,peppers,and peas.I saved some dill seed this year although it usually seeds itself.The okra is supposedly a hybrid, but I've been using the same seed for years.
Larry

[farmerlon]

I just saved some Butternut Squash and Purple Hull Pea seed this week.
Also, I plan on trying to save a lot of tomato seeds.

[Ozark Lady]

Help!

I have looked over seed saving tutorials...
Folks say, oh I save easy seeds: like tomatoes.
What is so easy about tomatoes?
Okay, last year, I just picked seeds off my plate onto a paper towel. They stuck and were ugly, but hey, they did germinate and grow fine.

I want seeds that look nice enough to trade or share this year.
So, I tried fermenting...
I either try to get them out too soon, and it is just a mess, or I wait too long and it is gross.
Forget it.
I just came across another pointer on putting them on paper, with proper spacing... but they will look terrible.

And isn't fermenting suppose to get rid of disease? I will say it does... it rots everything!

Okay, I am saving some ugly seed for myself, but how do I save seeds for sharing?

I am dehydrating the tomatoes, So, I have sliced them, removed the seeds and put tags on the little dishes, and now I am stuck... but, I do have the meaty parts in the dehydrator!

If I save a seed for you... what would you want me to do to prevent disease etc?

[TZ -OH6]

Fermenting can get rid of more diseases than just drying with the goo on, but its not that great. Most home gardeners don't save seed from diseased fruit so its not a big deal like it would for a farm where you are filling up 5 gal bucket of tomatoes to extract seed.

For chemical prep that will get rid of diseases...

Soak fresh seeds in 10% trisodium phosphate solution (2-3 teaspoons per 1/4 cup water) for 15 minutes followed by a 1 minute bath in 10% chlorox bleach, rinse well and dry.

The TSP will dissolve gel and germination inhibitors from seeds, killing many diseases. The bleach will kill even more diseases.

TSP powder is available at hardware store paint departments. It is used as a grease and mold stripper to clean surfaces befor painting.


When fermenting, the seeds are ready when they no longer feel slimey when you rinse them. If they are still slimey they tend to stick to the drying surface.


What are difficult seeds? Cucumbers and things that you have to grow a second year to bolt and flower like Cabbage. Too much waiting involved.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

And isn't fermenting suppose to get rid of disease? I will say it does... it rots everything!

Haha! Mine had fruitfly maggots in the cups of two of the varieties that I fermented. HAAAA!

I was a first time tomato seed fermenter this year and I found it to be extremely easy. I just squished my seeds and gel into red plastic cups and wrote the names of the variety on the cup with a sharpie. I added a little bit(maybe 1/4 cup) of water and covered the cups with a sammich baggie left open at the bottom for circulation. Every day for 3 days, I would swirl the stuff in the cups. They stunk on the 2nd and 3rd days But not enough to stink up the kitchen or anything (I kept them on top of the fridge, as it was the only horizontal space left with out tomatoes on it). A few of the cups had 1 or 2 fruitflies in with the plastic but no swarms or anything...just a couple that got stuck in there. On the 4th day, they were scummy on top and I decided it was time to rinse them.

I just put the cup under running water until it was full, then waited a few seconds for the seeds to drop back to the bottom to pour off most of the water. I repeated this process until the water was clean and clear. Then I dumped them into a small screen type strainer and pushed the seeds around with my finger while running them under more water.

When I was satisfied with their cleanliness , I plopped them on a labled paper towel, and let them dry on top of the fridge for about a week. They look just like the ones out of seed packs. When they were dry, I put them into a baggie, papertowel and all.

I would be happy to trade with y'all They are all OP so I don't know what you'll get, but I only saved the ones that I tought did the absolute best, both in flavor and productivity.

[Ozark Lady]

My husband is a house painter, he likely has some tsp areound here somewhere, they use it in pressure washing homes.

Maggots in the fermented seeds, and you put your finger in it? (I need a shudder icon!)

Maybe that is my problem, lots of fruit flies, so, I put it in a dish, then sealed it in a bag, to keep the flies out of it. It has this green hairy stuff, and everything that isn't liquid is stuck to it.

I saved Pak Choi seeds so easy, just collect the pods, let them dry a bit more, then crack them open. No maggots, not stink, no mess.

My cabbages are from last year, and they still haven't bloomed as of yet!

Cucumbers are easy to get seeds, just let them get ripe, like really ripe, not rotten, and open them up like a watermelon... simple.

Tomatoes has been the hardest seed of all for me to save and keep them perty! Oh I can save them, and they germinate, but...

The only disease I have is BER and that is stress not really a disease.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

The maggots rinsed off with the first couple of cup rinsings. lol I would never willingly touch a maggot! GAG

They have to have some air flow, or they won't get the yeasts they need to ferment. They'll just get moldy

Just try it one more time...no shuddering necessary

[garden5]

What types of tomato diseases can be carried over with the seed? Some of my toms are getting anthracnose, and I'm hoping it won't carry over to the seed.

[rainbowgardener]

I save seeds from the easy things and I never considered tomatoes easy. Anyway I grow all hybrid tomatoes and they likely wouldn't breed true.

Mainly I collect seeds from all the flowers, especially all the annuals. But I think this year I will see what happens if I save some bell pepper seeds. It's also a hybrid variety, so who knows what I will get, but might be worth trying. Maybe let some of the basil go to seed at the end of the season, haven't tried that before.

[gixxerific]

I have basil self seeding all over. Well not all over if you consider the Borage that is self seeding ALL OVER!!!

Not seed saving in the sense you are talking about but still.

Oh yeah still pulling little tomato sprouts every week.

[applestar]

I don't consider my seed saving techniques up to par for trading, but I like to save seeds anyway.

For toms, I just do the easy method. Rinse seeds/gel in small mesh strainer, pushing out anything that pushes through, then float the contents in a bowl of water -- good seeds will sink -- pour off water and anything floating, fill bowl one more time, pour off most of the water, then back in the (cleaned) strainer. Blot off moisture from the bottom on a towel, then either let dry a bit or immediately dump on a labeled pre-creased 1/2 paper towel sheet. Re-fold tuck in the flap and let dry completely before storing.

1/2 sheet is folded in 1/3s both ways.

[TWC015]

I saved seed from some Brussels sprouts plants earlier this spring. These are easy in my area because the plants overwinter without protection.

I was amazed at how much energy the plants stored over winter and how vigorous the plants were in the spring. Each plant is very productive; I got about 10,000 seeds from one plant.

Lettuce and peppers are also easy to save for me.

[garden5]

I have basil self seeding all over. Well not all over if you consider the Borage that is self seeding ALL OVER!!!

Not seed saving in the sense you are talking about but still.

Oh yeah still pulling little tomato sprouts every week.

Oh, the tomato volunteers! I've had em coming up all year....whenever I would put out some of my compost-dirt, the little seeds would germinate. When I consider just how many tomatoes I've composted already, I'm sure that I'll have plenty more for next year .