How to Save Your Garden Seeds3902816
Most serious gardeners save seeds. It's simple, it's sensible, and it will save you some money. Right here are a few saving suggestions:
Packaged Packaged seeds ought to be saved in their original packages. Merely fold the leading or use a small bit of tape to secure the seeds in the packet. If the outer packet integrated an inner foil packet, store any leftovers in the foil packet.
Some seeds are considerably more sensitive to moisture in the air... so, if the seed business took the time to wrap them in foil packets, you should, too.
The best location to shop your packets is in a big jar or coffee can in the refrigerator. Keep them cool and dry, and most will final many seasons. Remember that seeds are meals, and improper storage will invite all kinds of pests to your basement or pantry.
Home Harvested You can harvest and save from open-pollinated cultivars but, you can't save the seeds from hybrids. (Well, you can save from hybrids, but they won't create the same hybrid plant from which they came... you'll usually get one of the parent varieties utilized to make the hybrid.)
These harvested from open-pollinated varieties of flowers and vegetables can be harvested when the fruits or flowers are mature, or even beyond maturity. They ought to be fairly dry and free from as much plant "litter" as feasible. You can rinse tomato and pepper seeds in a colander and dry them for a day or two on paper towels or cookie sheets. Those from beans and most flowers don't need much special therapy before packaging them.
Package in paper envelopes, being careful to label the envelopes to identify the contents as well as the year of harvest.
Flowers that readily self-seed as annuals, such as plume celosia, are ideal candidates for saving. Merely shake the dried flower heads in a large envelope or can and you will collect hundreds, if not thousands, that can be utilized in your gardens or shared with buddies.
As with commercially packaged seeds, house packaged should be stored in a cool, dry location that is totally free from insects or rodents. A coffee can in the refrigerator is ideal.
Checking Germination You cannot figure out if a seed will germinate by looking at it. There are two ways for home gardeners to verify the germination. (Germination means that they will sprout and grow the germination percentage is merely the percentage that are viable.)
1. Merely place 1 or two seeds in every cell of a six pack starter cell pack, and see how many germinate. Or, two. Place 10 to 20 seeds between two or more moist paper towels, and see how many germinate. The paper towel method is utilized by virtually all laboratories but, care should be taken to keep the towels moist and warm. You can use a large plastic bag or cellophane to help maintain the towels moist.
Verify germination a number of weeks prior to the time that you will require to start so that you can replace any cultivars that have extremely low or zero germination.
