Friday, November 22, 2013

Saving Seeds - A (Very) Basic Look


In the Bee Keeping world you always see the phrase "All Bee Keeping is Local". I have found this to be true for the most part not only with bees but to gardening as well.

I suspect that there are some gardeners out there that can tell you what variety of plants do best in any given local area or at least on a regional level but for most of us it's a hit or miss type of affair.

How many times have I looked at a type of plant and saw it's growing conditions seem to fit what I have only to find out it just wouldn't grow. Or it would grow but seemed to attract a certain pest that attacked it mercilessly. I have seen some plants that would flourish while it's siblings of the same variety would die.

Aside from the obvious sustainable or survival reasons for keeping your own seeds it also allows you to selectively breed many varieties specific to your own garden and fields. The problem with seed saving is that you could write a book about it and still not touch on the specifics for each individual variety of plants.

Some are very easy to save. The grain and bean varieties are super easy. You pretty much just allow them to dry on the stalk or vine naturally and then gather them up and save em for the next year. Other types are harder. I find Tomato seeds to be a real pain as they require a fermentation period in order to become viable. In many varieties you either have to allow the normally edible part to grow past the point it is normally harvested in order to hit the seed stage or you have to let a specific part of the plant flower which is not normally done. Broccoli is a good example of the former and squash is a good example of the latter.

Many plants have more than one way to collect and save viable seeds as well. Back to my tomato nemesis I have read a number of different  ways and steps to save them and put them through the fermentation process yet after many failures I took a different route with some success. I simply let the fruit hang on the vine until it was rotting and then bit the bullet and pulled seeds out of the rotting mess with my fingers. My guess is that was the natural fermentation process that is normally interrupted when the fruit is picked.

I have to admit it doesn't always work either.

Some seeds require a freezing or cool period in order to become viable as well.

Saving seeds is really a requirement for sustained small farming and gardening. As I hope I explained it also is such a varied and wide subject with local specifics most of us feel at first it is some kind of secret knowledge those in the know refuse to share. It's not a refusal to share it's a matter of personal and local experience that almost cannot be explained.  All I can really do is explain how I would go about saving seeds from a plant I want to keep.

I flip through the few gardening or small grain books I have that go so far as to touch on saving seeds. Many of them won't go there I warn you and none that I have found really explain everything. Again I suspect for the reasons I have given.

Second I literally "google" it. Do an internet search. I have found that is the best way to find out little hints and tricks for specific varieties of plants.Take notes, print out the steps others recommend and then keep your own notebook on what you did that works.

My final step when there is a plant I want to save and I cannot find any good directions on saving the seeds? Well I let that particular plant have it's own space and live it's life unmolested and make sure some of the fruit or whatever is allowed to fall and rot. Often times by observing how the plant manages it's own reproduction you can determine when or how to either collect the seeds yourself or allow volunteer plants to grow unmolested in the Spring by creating a small area you do not disturb.

I have on several occasions discovered volunteers of specific plants I thought I had lost in the Fall because I botched the seed saving process. To my delight they turn up as volunteers ready to carry on the tradition. Volunteers are a whole other post but in many cases giving a plant the right conditions to produce volunteers can also give you valuable insight in how to save it's particular seeds.

I know this post isn't a lot of help and has big holes in it. I am simply attempting to explain why finding information on seed saving is so frustrating at times and how to get to the specific information you need.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!




11 comments:

  1. If your region has a very distinctive mix of foods (like we do in the South) that is always a good starting point. But I agree, that anything else is very hit or miss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Russ - Ya there seems to be a never ending amount of advice on the subject as well.

      Delete
  2. This link goes to a guy who has had a bunch of landrace gardening articles in Mother Earth News. He tries to get as much genetic diversity in his garden as he can and then selects the best results. Here is a link and from there you can move around his site. I kind of think he is on to something that will play a role in the post collapse future. Kind of sounds like what you and I need to figure out.
    http://garden.lofthouse.com/adaptivar-landrace.phtml

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a nice site. He is doing almost exactly what I am doing or maybe I am copying him is more precise.

      I have to draw the line at some plants, especially tomatoes as I have a clientele now for specific varieties.

      Delete
  3. PP,
    I don't ferment tomato seeds when I save them.
    I never heard of any such thing until about 4 or 5 years ago. The internet is full of goofy ideas.

    I save tomato seeds by placing the seeds from a very ripe OP tomato on a piece of paper or paper towel. I allow the towel or paper to completely dry (10 days or so). I store the towel or paper in an paper envelope or plastic bag in my cupboard.

    When I want to start the seeds in the spring, I rip the paper & seeds together if they are good an stuck and plant them. If I can pick the seed off I do and plant if alone.
    It has work for my entire gardening life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Granny...I have done it your way too and the seeds will remain viable for a little over 2 years and then the germination rate begins to drop. By fermenting the seeds I understand that they will remain viable for 6 or more years. I haven't had any seeds that old to prove it though.

      Delete
    2. In a sense GM I think we are saving the seeds the same way and that is probably also fermenting them a bit by allowing them to remain in the rotting fruit.

      I had also not considered the long term viability thing MB. Good catch!!!

      However I and I assume GM, rarely keep seeds more than a year or so. Maybe the fermentation process is over kill in a way?

      Delete
    3. i'm with Granny on this one although i save my first tomatoe that goes ripe from each variety and let it get way over-ripe (possible fermentation?) and then cut it open and put all of the seeds into a jar of water and rinse and rinse and rinse the goop off. then dry them on a paper towel and once they reach that certain "feel" of dryness, i put them in little seed bags and store them until next year. i have used those seeds at least 2 years and some varieties i have used 3 years.

      your friend,
      kymber

      Delete
  4. PP,
    When I first started saving seed from my garden I bought a copy of Seed To Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. I think Amazon still sells it. Best seed saving book in my library. It is always on my reread list for the winter. The only thing I really like about winter is a wood fire to sit by and more time to read!
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie - I will have to look into that book. Seed saving is never something the garden book authors seem to go very in-depth into.

      Thank you for the info!!!


      Delete
  5. PP - really good post about saving seeds! you and Russell are right tho...it's best to find some farmers or old timers and ask them what grows well, and then of course, there is always trial and error. back in the city where we had been gardening for years, i knew what did well and what didn't. this is our third garden season here on the island and the variables that must be taken into account are crazy - first off, it can be rainy and windy 5 minutes away and sunny and bright here?!?!?! then there is the salt-filled air to consider. and the wind. needless to say, some of the more delicate veg (like peppers) do not appreciate this climate!!! however, they were thriving in the greenhouse! we are learning. as for saving seeds, i pretty much just dry them on screens on the porch (after rinsing them, if need be) and then once they feel dry enough, i put them in bags for next year.

    anyway - i am going to check out the book that Julie above mentioned, too. again, good post buddy!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment. We like comments. Sometimes we have even been known to feed Trolls.