How to collect and store seeds for a good harvest

Recommendation points

• What is the difference between a variety and a hybrid
• How to collect annual seeds
• How to collect biennial seeds
• Seeds of carrots and beets
• Cabbage seeds
• How to store seeds correctly

Buying bags of seeds and seedlings in specialized places, some do not think about how plants reproduce in principle. Read: how to collect seeds from annual and biennial crops, how to maintain their maximum germination, touch on the difference between a variety and a hybrid.

Plants can be propagated in several ways – by cuttings or layering (shrubs), mustaches (strawberries and strawberries). But most common garden crops are propagated by seeds. What is a seed?

The seed is already a full-fledged plant with buds, roots and leaves, but still very small. But the development of a full-fledged culture in the future directly depends on the state of the seed at the time of planting in the ground. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out how to properly collect and store seeds in order to get an excellent harvest of vegetables and greens next year..

Seeds can, of course, be bought on the market or in a specialized store, but it is not possible to check them at the time of purchase, and one can only hope for the good faith of the manufacturer and seller. There are times when from the acquired seeds grows completely different from what is painted on the colorful packaging, and time has already been lost, the season has passed. In order not to get into such an unpleasant situation, you need to learn how to grow the seeds of the varieties you like yourself, especially since it is not at all difficult – and you need a little space, no special time and labor is required for this process. The main thing is to learn some simple rules and learn to distinguish between the concepts of “hybrid variety”.

What is the difference between a variety and a hybrid

A variety means that all plants have the same genes. It should be noted that in the wild this cannot be the case in principle, since there is a crossing of different parents. To obtain a variety, scientists take offspring from only one plant and cross it among themselves. Such intrafamilial “incest” is repeated over the years, as a result, no foreign genes remain, and children are always exactly the same as their parents.

If you are sure that you have a variety of a particular crop, then you can safely collect seeds and be sure that the next year the same plant will grow with exactly the same characteristics. Of course, in the garden, various insects can apply pollen from other plants, and after three to five years, the purity of the variety may come to naught. Such degeneration can be prevented if the fruits of the most typical varietal crops are selected for seeds every year..

It is convenient and easy to grow varietal plants – they are, as a rule, standard and need the same agrotechnics developed over the years. But with closely related crossbreeding in a variety, in addition to useful ones, harmful genes also accumulate and are fixed in the offspring.

Practice shows that any variety has disadvantages – instability to diseases and various unfavorable weather conditions. The work of breeders today is aimed at creating new varieties that will not have any drawbacks. However, diseases and pests adapt quickly enough even to new varieties, so in some cases, to obtain the maximum possible yield, you have to use hybrids.

A hybrid is the result of a specific one-time crossing of a combination of specific parents. The seeds of hybrids are obtained by artificial pollination of plants isolated from the external environment. To obtain hybrids, two varieties of the highest purity must be grown in an isolated greenhouse and pollinated by hand. This is what explains the high cost of the obtained seeds..

Hybrids are distinguished by their special strength of growth and high productivity, endurance to adverse environmental conditions and resistance to pests and diseases, that is, they take everything they need from their parents. The most striking example of a hybrid today is the female type of flowering cucumber, that is, those that can set fruits without pollination..

It should be noted that it is possible to collect seeds from a hybrid, however, as a result, unmixed varieties will grow from them, that is, those from which this hybrid was obtained by artificial pollination.

The production of hybrid and varietal seeds requires high precision adherence to certain technologies, without which the quality of seeds suffers greatly. There are times when it is not clear what grows out of colorful bright bags that promise huge yields. Therefore, it is not always advisable to buy seeds in a store or on the market, especially since it is not difficult to get them yourself from various crops growing in the garden. Let’s figure out how to do it right.

How to collect annual seeds

Annual crops are those plants whose entire life cycle (germination, flowering, fruiting and death) takes one growing season, they are almost always herbaceous and do not reproduce vegetatively, that is, by dividing stems or roots. The most popular annual crops that we grow in our garden include: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, peppers, eggplants, peas, beans, radishes, as well as greens – lettuce, dill, coriander and others..

It is quite simple to grow annual crops for seeds, this activity does not require special labor costs and special knowledge and skills, you just need to adhere to some simple rules.

To obtain seeds of dill and lettuce, it is necessary to choose early ripening varieties and it is best to sow them before winter (in early November), after which the beds need to be mulched with humus or peat. Planted in this way, dill and lettuce will bloom 1.5–2 weeks earlier, which means that the seeds will have time to ripen well. It is necessary to remove the umbrella inflorescences at the end of summer, when the leaves on the plants begin to dry out, and the seeds become brown. Cut the umbrellas together with the stem early in the morning and place in a well-ventilated room to dry, after which the seeds are threshed and stored until next season..

To harvest radish seeds, plant them as early as possible in the spring. Plants that have formed a good root crop are left on the seeds, the pods with seeds are removed when they begin to turn yellow and dry, and the seeds themselves turn brownish. It should be noted that if you want to collect varietal radish seeds, you need to make sure that no other varieties of this crop are planted next to the plants left behind, and wild radish does not grow, as the testes can become over-pollinated..

Crops such as beans and peas are picked when fully ripe for harvesting seeds, dried well together with the stems, and only after that the seeds are taken from the pods and put into storage.

To obtain high-quality cucumber seeds, it is necessary to leave the fruits of the first collection, which grow on lashes from the sinuses of the first or second leaf. Such lashes should be pinched over 5-6 sheets. Testes of the early ripening variety usually ripen 40–45 days after fruit set. It is necessary to pick such cucumbers when the leaves and stems are already beginning to turn yellow, and the fruits themselves become brown-brown with a mesh of cracks. After removing the cucumber from the garden, it is put on ripening at a temperature of 17-20 degrees, and the earlier you removed the fruits, the longer the ripening period, on average it is 18-20 days. After the seed cucumber has become soft, it is cut lengthwise and the seeds are selected along with the pulp, put them in a glass or enamel container (in a metal one they will turn black). For three to four days, the seeds are fermented at room temperature, after which they are separated from the pulp and washed well with water through a strainer, then spread to dry in a thin layer on paper, plywood or glass.

In order to get good seed material for squash, pumpkin or squash, it is necessary to collect ripe fruits with overripe coarse pulp. If the fruits are not ripe enough in the garden, you need to put them to ripen in a room at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. Unlike cucumbers, seeds selected from the pulp are not fermented, but are immediately laid out to dry. It should be noted that if you want to get varietal seeds of melons and gourds, you must remember that, in order to avoid over-pollination, you cannot plant different varieties next to each other. This rule also applies to the culture of bitter and sweet peppers..

To obtain good tomato seeds, overripe healthy fruits with well-defined varietal properties are selected, preferably from the first or second cluster. The fruits are cut in half and the seeds are selected with a teaspoon, placing them in a glass dish along with the pulp. Fermented for 3-4 days, after which they are well washed and dried on paper or glass.

After the seeds have dried, they are stored in suitable conditions, which we will talk about a little later. It should be noted that you need to dry seeds at room temperature in a well-ventilated place, avoiding direct sunlight, and in no case use an oven for these purposes..

How to collect biennial seeds

A biennial crop is a plant that has a life cycle of 12 to 24 months. Leaves, stems and roots are formed in the first year, after which the plant goes into a dormant state during the winter months. The next season, such a crop produces a long stem, on which testes appear. There are much fewer biennial plants in nature compared to annuals or perennials. The most common biennial crops grown in backyards include various types of cabbage, beets, carrots, as well as celery and parsley..

It is more difficult to collect seeds from a biennial culture than from an annual one, as already noted, this can be done only the next year, and until that time the plant of the variety you like must be properly preserved. Let’s understand the main intricacies of this process..

Seeds of carrots and beets

To obtain seeds of carrots and beets, before the onset of frost in the fall, it is necessary to select intact healthy even vegetables, clean them of dirt and carefully cut the foliage, leaving the stalks 2 cm long. It should be noted that it is not necessary to leave very large roots on the seeds – they are stored worse and the seeds do not give very good quality.

The tops should be cut off immediately after harvesting, since even short storage with leaves can contribute to the development of dangerous diseases. When selecting root crops, you need to pay attention so that they do not have small lateral roots, and they are even and evenly colored.

Next, the selected specimens are placed in a wooden box with sand and lowered into the cellar. It is important not to let the vegetables wither – in the spring they will grow poorly. The optimum temperature for storage is between 1 and 3-4 degrees, while the room must be well ventilated.

The next year, in the spring, they carefully examine the preserved root crops and select intact ones with well-awakened apical buds, after which they are added dropwise in warm greenhouses or on insulated beds 2.5-3 weeks before planting. Depending on the weather conditions, at the end of April or the beginning of May, prepared root crops are planted in open ground, while leaving the upper part above ground level.

In order to avoid over-pollination for growing root crops for seeds, it is best to select a separate bed, away from other varieties of the same species. Seeds are harvested in mid-autumn, when the umbrellas of the carrots or the glomeruli of the beets dry up and turn brown. Ripe testes are cut along with the stems, dried well in a ventilated room or under sheds, then threshed and the seeds are stored for storage.

Cabbage seeds

To obtain seeds of various varieties of cabbage during harvesting, it is necessary to select healthy, well-formed and appropriate heads of cabbage. Selected specimens should have a non-germinated stump with well-formed buds. It is necessary to store such heads of cabbage in a cellar or other room with good ventilation at a temperature of 1-2 degrees.

We plant seed heads directly into the open ground next year in mid-April, if planted later, the seeds may not have time to ripen. 2.5–3 weeks before disembarkation, it is necessary to carefully cut the stump, while being careful not to damage the main apical bud. The cut should be clean without rot, if even the slightest signs of decay are observed, then such a stump is discarded. Plants cut in this way are stored indoors until planting, while a protective layer has time to form on the cut. If you cut the heads of cabbage right before planting, then there will be no such layer and the mother plant can rot under the influence of high humidity, and the plant will slowly die.

It is best to plant queen cells on a separate bed at a distance of 60–70 cm from each other. The place should be sunny and protected from strong winds so that the peduncles do not break.

It is necessary to care for such a seed cabbage in the same way as for the one that is planted for harvest. It must be properly watered, fed and protected from pests and diseases. How to properly care for cabbage is described in detail in the article “How to grow a bountiful harvest of healthy cabbage without chemicals”.

Seeds ripen by the end of summer. You can collect testes when they are already dry and brown. After collecting, we dry them in a well-ventilated place, thresh them and put them in storage.

To get parsley and celery seeds in the second year of their growth, you simply do not need to cut off the leaves, from which umbrellas with seeds will grow by mid-summer. Umbrellas will need to be cut, dried, threshed and stored either until next year, or sown before winter (late October) to get an early harvest of greens.

How to store seeds correctly

To maintain the maximum germination of the harvested seeds, a number of conditions must be observed. Firstly, all the seed material must be well dried, but, as already noted, not in the open sun or in the oven, but in a well-ventilated place..

Secondly, it is best to store dried seeds in sealed packaging (plastic bags, glass bottles, jars, various plastic bottles). The optimal temperature in this case is considered to be a range of no higher than 5 and not lower than 0 degrees, so a refrigerator or cellar is perfect for these purposes..

If the humidity in the room is very high (the optimal one is 60-70 percent), the seeds begin to live actively – breathe and warm up, germination in such cases quickly deteriorates.

Subject to optimal storage conditions, seeds of various crops maintain normal germination for quite a long time. Practice shows that parsnips have the most “short-lived” seeds – they germinate very poorly in the second year.

Seeds of onion, sorrel, dill, parsley, celery can be sown in the second and third years. Carrots, lettuce, peppers keep good germination for 3-4 years. Radish cabbage, turnips and beets can be stored for 5-6 years, but the older the seeds, the more they will give shooted plants.

All of the above crops are best sown with fresh seeds, which cannot be said about legumes and melons. Seeds of cucumbers, melons, zucchini, pumpkin and squash can be stored for 7-9 years, while seeds of three to four years old germinate best. This seasoned seed produces leaner and more fertile plants. The same can be said for tomato and eggplant seeds..

Before planting seeds in the soil in spring, they must be properly prepared – checked for germination, disinfected and calibrated. For better germination, it is recommended to treat the seeds with various growth stimulants. More details about this are described in the article “Preparing seeds for sowing”.

Growing your own seed is not that difficult. The main thing is to pay attention to the correct storage of seeds and make sure that the seed plants are not over-pollinated in the beds. With a little time and effort, you will not suffer from the dishonesty of some producers and sellers and will always be provided with high-quality seeds, which means an excellent environmentally friendly harvest..