How to Save Your Garden Seeds9669536
Most serious gardeners save seeds. It's simple, it is practical, and it will save you some cash. Here are a few saving tips:
Packaged Packaged seeds should be saved in their original packages. Merely fold the top or use a little 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 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 very best place to shop your packets is in a large jar or coffee can in the refrigerator. Keep them cool and dry, and most will final numerous seasons. Remember 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. (Nicely, you can save from hybrids, but they won't produce the exact same hybrid plant from which they came... you will generally get one 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 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 require much special therapy prior to packaging them.
Package in paper envelopes, becoming 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 used in your gardens or shared with buddies.
As with commercially packaged seeds, house packaged should be stored in a cool, dry place that is free from insects or rodents. A coffee can in the refrigerator is perfect.
Checking Germination You can't determine if a seed will germinate by looking at it. There are two methods for house gardeners to verify the germination. (Germination indicates that they'll sprout and grow the germination percentage is simply the percentage that are viable.)
1. Simply location one or two seeds in every cell of a six pack starter cell pack, and see how many germinate. Or, 2. Place 10 to 20 seeds in between two or much more moist paper towels, and see how many germinate. The paper towel method is utilized by virtually all laboratories but, care must be taken to maintain the towels moist and warm. You can use a large plastic bag or cellophane to help keep the towels moist.
Verify germination several 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.
