How to Save Your Garden Seeds7415533
Most severe gardeners save seeds. It's simple, it's practical, and it will save you some money. Here are a few saving suggestions:
Packaged Packaged seeds ought to be saved in their original packages. Simply fold the top or use a small bit of tape to safe the seeds in the packet. If the outer packet included an inner foil packet, store any leftovers in the foil packet.
Some seeds are significantly more sensitive to moisture in the air... so, if the seed company took the time to wrap them in foil packets, you ought to, too.
The very best location to store your packets is in a big jar or coffee can in the refrigerator. Keep them cool and dry, and most will final numerous seasons. Remember that seeds are meals, and improper storage will invite all sorts of pests to your basement or pantry.
Home Harvested You can harvest and save from open-pollinated cultivars but, you cannot save the seeds from hybrids. (Nicely, you can save from hybrids, but they will not produce the exact same hybrid plant from which they came... you'll usually get 1 of the parent varieties utilized to make the hybrid.)
Those harvested from open-pollinated varieties of flowers and vegetables can be harvested when the fruits or flowers are mature, or even beyond maturity. They should be relatively dry and totally free from as much plant "litter" as possible. 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 do not need much special treatment before packaging them.
Package in paper envelopes, being careful to label the envelopes to determine the contents as well as the year of harvest.
Flowers that readily self-seed as annuals, such as plume celosia, are perfect candidates for saving. Simply shake the dried flower heads in a big envelope or can and you will gather hundreds, if not thousands, that can be utilized in your gardens or shared with friends.
As with commercially packaged seeds, house packaged should be stored in a cool, dry location that is free from insects or rodents. A coffee can in the refrigerator is perfect.
Checking Germination You cannot determine if a seed will germinate by looking at it. There are two methods for house gardeners to verify the germination. (Germination means that they'll sprout and grow the germination percentage is merely the percentage that are viable.)
1. Merely location one or two seeds in every cell of a six pack starter cell pack, and see how numerous germinate. Or, two. Place 10 to 20 seeds between two or more moist paper towels, and see how numerous germinate. The paper towel method is utilized by practically all laboratories but, care must be taken to keep the towels moist and warm. You can use a large plastic bag or cellophane to help keep the towels moist.
Verify germination a number of weeks prior to the time that you'll need to start so that you can replace any cultivars that have extremely low or zero germination.
