Why and how to save seeds

The why to save seeds I've said elsewhere, but it bears repeating. If you are not saving seeds and growing your own food, you are at the mercy of others for your very survival. Think about it this way, you are homesteading, right? Why? Likely it is for food independence. If you only buy someone else's seeds or plants, and never save your own seed and start your own sets from your seeds, how independent are you really? Sure you have dodged the unknown pesticides issue, and also have the ability to store what you've grown for the winter. When spring comes back around though, you have to go buy your seeds and sets and start all over. Saving your own seeds also lets you develop and improve an existing strain of a vegetable into something more suited to your region, or your personal taste. That's an advanced discussion we might get into later, but for now lets just know that it is possible.

Saving seeds is actually a simple process. You simply let a given plant mature and put out seed pods that are left until fully mature. Then it is a simple matter of picking, cleaning and drying the seeds. Storage of seeds can get complicated, but a cool dry place (refrigerator works well) and an air tight container are best.

Forgetting the difficulties of maintaining genetic purity for a moment, lets assume you have grown corn from an heirloom seed you were given or purchased. You decide you like it so much you want to grow it again next year. Pick out at least 12 plants that are the healthiest, strongest, and best bearing plants, and save the best ear of corn from those plants. So you have at least 12 ears of seed marked. Leave these until the plant dies, dries out, and the ears droop. Pick the ears off the stalk, remove the husks, and set the ears in a cool dry place to finish drying out for at least 4 weeks. When the kernels are completely dry, remove them from the ear. Now you have a pile of seeds mix them up in a bag, and when you have time, get a scoop full out and spread them on a table. Separate them into two piles. "The best" seed goes into one pile, the others go into "the rest" pile. You are looking for correct color, and large for type size. These should be true to type, and the most mature, healthiest seed of the bunch. When you have separated your entire harvest, sort through "the best" ones again. You will end up with "the best of the best" for your seed stock that you will hand pollinate, and isolate, and maintain as seed stock. The seeds from "the best" pile are what you plant in your garden for food. By repeating this process year after year you will gradually develop your own improved type of vegetable. Oh and that pile labeled "the rest"?? It will be the bulk of the seeds saved, and most will be good seed. You can feed it out to birds or livestock, or plant it. It will grow a crop, and may actually have a few outstanding example plants that you want seed from. The best part? You have your own source of seeds, and can save that $20 to $200.00 cash you have been spending for seeds and plants.


So corn is an example of a dry seed that is cleaned by removing it from the ear, and letting the silks and husks fall away or blow away from the kernel or seed. What about a cucumber? or Tomato? These are wet processed. The fruit must fully mature, that means it is so ripe (but not rotten) that you do not want to eat it. Mash it open, and gather the pulp and seeds into a jar. Fill the jar with water, and let it sit. Pour off the water and any thing that is floating, and re-fill the jar. Let it sit for three days. Repeat the rinse and sit until you end up with only clean seeds at the bottom of the jar. Dry the seeds and store next to the corn seeds in a cool dry place.

You said "Storage of seeds can get complicated" could you go into more detail on the storage aspect?

I have never saved seed. I have used seed that my dad has saved, but never saved my own. I never really thought about why save seed. I just thought it was to save money, or because you like a certin type of tomato. I never thought about the fact that I rely on a corporation somewhere to supply my seed.

Now that I have been reading your posts about seed saving, I will have to give it a go. I will warn you that I am thick headed, so I will likly ask you a lot of questions along the way.

God bless,
Chad

The complications in storage of saved seeds come in when you try to maintain the viability of the seeds you have grown, harvested and want to save. Some seeds will germinate well after 5 or more years of being properly stored in a cool dry place. Others may only remain viable after two years when stored in the same conditions. High humidity, and temps over 60 degrees will drastically shorten the time the seeds can be held in storage and still be expected to germinate. Each species of plant grown for seed must be evaluated for seed germination rates individually to determine how many seeds to save, and how quickly the saved seeds need to be used.

If I had the information I would gladly post a chart, but I do not have that much information at this time. The best thing for a seed saver to do is to check each year, before planting, how many of their seeds are likely to germinate. 10 or more (more is better) seeds are placed on and covered with a wet paper towel and kept warm (70 degrees F) and wet, for 12 days. The percentage of seeds in the sample would indicate the percentage of seeds stored that are likely to germinate. 50% or less is considered unviable seed, and should be discarded, and fresh stock obtained.