WOULD YOU KNOW HOW TO HARVEST YOUR OWN SEEDS FROM FRUIT AND VEGETABLES, IF YOU REALLY NEEDED TO?
The great debate....BUY Seeds.....it's cheap and they do last a few years if stored properly, OR....HARVEST your own. But what if you could no longer buy seeds. Would you know all the details on each plant on how to harvest your own. Well this post is just going to give you the basics, common knowledge in general about harvesting both Flower, Fruit and vegetable seeds.
If you are planning to harvest your own seeds, then you should AVOID purchasing hybrids, which are artificial and usually designed for only one planting season. What you want to buy is heirloom and/or open-pollinated varieties, which are natural and produce crops that yield continuously reproducing seeds.
Harvesting and storage techniques require particular attention because they impact seed quality. To achieve the best results, one must harvest at the right time, clean with the proper techniques, and dry and store in optimum conditions.
Something to consider during harvesting, do not collect seeds from disease-infected plants; whatever ailment infected a plant will be transmitted to all future ones. You also want to allow seeds to fully ripen before harvesting, and pick seeds from the healthiest of your crops.
One common mistake that people make is that they either do not dry their seeds out enough or they dry them out too much, you want a good balance of moisture. Just use your best judgement to assess the moisture level. Separate seeds from one another so they can dry evenly. Small ones dry faster than large ones. Caution: drying seeds too quickly will cause them to shrink and crack, air drying is best.
Once the seeds have dried, put them in an envelope or a breathable bag (e.g., paper or cloth), and place in a dry, cool area. Once they are stored you want to avoid air getting to them.
Label each bag to allow for simple identification of your different seed varieties, using a permanent marker.
In the early spring indoors you will want to test the viability of your seeds in a small area before you begin large scale planting.
I hope this post will encourage you to give it a try. Remember each and every plant is very different in the way you harvest your seeds, so do your research so that you get the best chance at a good crop from these seeds in years to come.
Happy Trails
Sources:
https://permaculturenews.org/2015/10/12/how-to-harvest-your-own-seeds-from-fruit-and-vegetables-for-propagation-into-nursery/
https://www.growwilduk.com/content/how-collect-and-store-your-wild-flower-seeds
Monsanto those punks make it hard to save seeds sometimes.
I'm in the process of letting my lettuce bolt so I can attempt to harvest some seeds from it.
There are many seed catalogs and on-line stores to get heirloom or non-hybrid seeds from.
Good info. My wife and I save and buy seeds. We have even saved Hybrid seeds. The Hybrid will revert back to one of the original plants. Good planting to all.
Good advice!! I have saved many seeds in the past and only use heirlooms. I like heirloom varieties the best anyway.
Really enjoyed this post, I both save and harvest my seeds.
After some trial and error, I harvested cherry tomato seeds from plants that I grew from organic seeds that some friends gifted. A couple seasons later, and I now have third generation cherry tomato seeds.
Did the same with chili peppers, snapdragons, chard, calendula (had a HUGE plant), spinach, ruccola (rocket/arugula), and malva (mallow).
inspirational
great advice!!
Great post!
Following you :)
I usually just replant from the same year rather than storing seeds. If there were a mysterious apocalypse that required me to store seeds I'd most likely keep them in a root cellar.