How to Save Your Garden Seeds957255
Most severe gardeners save seeds. It's easy, it's practical, and it will save you some cash. Here are a couple of saving suggestions:
Packaged Packaged seeds should be saved in their original packages. Simply fold the leading or use a little bit of tape to safe 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 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, too.
The best location to store your packets is in a large jar or coffee can in the refrigerator. Maintain them cool and dry, and most will final numerous seasons. Keep in mind 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. (Well, you can save from hybrids, but they will not produce the same hybrid plant from which they came... you will usually get one of the parent varieties used 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 fairly 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. These from beans and most flowers don't require a lot unique treatment prior to packaging them.
Package in paper envelopes, becoming cautious to label the envelopes to identify 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. Simply shake the dried flower heads in a large envelope or can and you will collect hundreds, if not thousands, that can be used 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 perfect.
Checking Germination You cannot figure out if a seed will germinate by searching at it. There are two ways for home gardeners to check the germination. (Germination indicates that they'll sprout and develop the germination percentage is simply the percentage that are viable.)
1. Simply place 1 or two seeds in each cell of a six pack starter cell pack, and see how numerous germinate. Or, two. Location 10 to 20 seeds between two or much more moist paper towels, and see how many germinate. The paper towel method is used by practically all laboratories but, care must be taken to maintain the towels moist and warm. You can use a large plastic bag or cellophane to assist maintain the towels moist.
Verify germination several weeks prior to the time that you will require to begin so that you can replace any cultivars that have extremely low or zero germination.
