How to Save Your Garden Seeds802063
Most severe gardeners save seeds. It is easy, it's sensible, and it will save you some cash. Here are a couple of saving suggestions:
Packaged Packaged seeds should be saved in their original packages. Merely fold the leading 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 much more sensitive to moisture in the air... so, if the seed company took the time to wrap them in foil packets, you ought to, as well.
The 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. Keep in mind that seeds are food, 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 will not create the same hybrid plant from which they came... you will generally 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 totally 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 do not need much special therapy prior to packaging them.
Package in paper envelopes, becoming careful to label the envelopes to determine the contents as nicely as the year of harvest.
Flowers that readily self-seed as annuals, such as plume celosia, are perfect candidates for saving. Merely shake the dried flower heads in a large 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, home packaged should be stored in a cool, dry place that is totally free from insects or rodents. A coffee can in the refrigerator is perfect.
Checking Germination You can't figure out if a seed will germinate by searching at it. There are two methods for house gardeners to check the germination. (Germination indicates that they'll sprout and develop the germination percentage is merely the percentage that are viable.)
1. Merely location one or two seeds in each cell of a six pack starter cell pack, and see how many germinate. Or, 2. Location ten to 20 seeds in between two or more moist paper towels, and see how numerous germinate. The paper towel technique is used by virtually all laboratories but, care must be taken to keep the towels moist and warm. You can use a big plastic bag or cellophane to help maintain the towels moist.
Check germination a number of weeks prior to the time that you'll need to begin so that you can replace any cultivars that have extremely low or zero germination.
