Seeds for Saving

This is the time of year I think about saving seeds, an important task in preserving the diversity of plants available to future generations and, on a more personal note, being able to grow favorite varieties which are hard to find and are well suited to my garden’s particular micro climate.

There are some things you need to know before saving seed. The most important is if the parent plant is a hybrid, an “open pollinated” or “heirloom” variety. A hybrid variety is a plant which is the result of crosspollination between two genetically different parent plants. Seed collected from hybrid plants does not result in plants resembling the parent plants and often is not even be as tasty as the parent plant. So, for the everyday gardener it is a waste of time to collect their seed as you never know exactly what it will produce. I look on the seed packets and plant labels for the word “hybrid” or “F1” next to the plant name so I know NOT to collect their seed.

On the other hand, “open pollinated” or “heirloom” varieties are plants whose seeds will produce plants similar to the parent plant but only if they are not allowed to cross pollinate (by bees and other insects) with another variety. Cross pollination can take place when two or more varieties are planted close together. So, if you are planning on saving seed it is important to plant the varieties, far apart from each other, in two different parts of the garden to keep them well separated. For example, if I plant a lemon cucumber and a green slicing cucumber close together, the seed collected from either plant will most likely not be true to the parent plant, but will produce a plant with a mixture of qualities from each parent and each seed will produce a different mix of qualities. The possibilities are endless.

Many of our edible plants are pollinated by bees or insects but there are always exceptions to the rule and they are tomatoes and beans. They are both self-pollinated and rarely if ever insect pollinated so if they are not a hybrid, their seeds will be true to the parent plant. I have read recently that peppers, eggplant, and peas are not likely to cross pollinate even though it is possible, so you can collect seed from them, even when they are planted close together. But always remember, with Mother Nature, nothing is for sure!

It is the cucurbit family (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and melons) you must keep separated by about 200 feet to avoid cross pollination. I don’t have that much room in my garden so, if I wanted to save cucurbit seeds I would have to grow only one variety and make sure my neighbors garden is more than 200 feet from mine.

The next installment will contain more information of saving seed.

Pumpkin seed. (photo by Libbey McKendry)