by Tim Baker, Northwest Region Horticulture Specialist, MU Extension
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For beginning seed savers, I would suggest starting with an easy crop to save seed from. Many species require special techniques when saving seed. Others don’t, and they are the ones to start with.
There are two main factors to consider here. First is the life cycle that the plant goes through in our latitude.
Is it an annual, biennial, or perennial? Normally, annuals are the easiest to deal with. This would include plants such as beans, lettuce, okra, and tomato. They are considered annuals because they produce viable seeds in their fruit during the same growing season that you planted the seed.
Biennials and perennial need a longer growing season to produce seed than we normally have here in Missouri. Examples of biennials are beets and carrots. To propagate them, breeders and seed savers select the best roots and store them over the winter. The next spring, they are planted and the seed stalk is produced.
The other main factor to consider is how the flower is pollinated. Is it pollinated by insects, the wind, or self-pollinated? This will determine how much isolation is needed to insure that crossing with other varieties of the same species does not occur.
Self pollinated crops are the easiest to deal with. This class includes beans, lettuce, okra, peas, peppers, and tomatoes. Even though they are self-pollinated, some isolation between varieties is best.
Insect pollinated plants are more of a problem. You have to come up with a way to keep the bugs out, because you don’t want any insects to make an undesirable cross for you. If that happens, the seeds won’t bear true to type.
Once you have successfully excluded the insects, your work isn’t over. That’s because you now have to play the part of the insect, and pollinate the flower. Otherwise, you won’t get a viable seed.
If the flower is wind pollinated, you face similar problems to insect pollinated plants. Except here the exclusion methods are even more critical, since the air-born pollen particles are so tiny.
And like the insect pollinated crops, you have to manually pollinate the plant to transfer pollen and produce seeds.
Once the fruit has developed and matured, the seeds may then be collected. Some crops are relatively easy to collect seeds from. Beans are a good example. Just let the pods dry out, preferably on the plant, and shell out next year’s seeds to plant.
Other crops may be more messy. Tomatoes are surrounded by a lot of juicy material which makes it a bit more difficult to get a dry seed.
But plant breeders and seed savers have their ways. Simply press or scoop out the juicy material from the tomato along with the seeds into a clear glass container. Don’t add water at this point. Then let it set a few days, stirring daily. As the mixture ferments, the good seed will settle to the bottom, with almost everything else floating.
After a few days you will get a good growth of mold on top (I didn’t say it was pretty). When you are ready to collect the seed, add water and stir it up. Slowly pour off the trash on top, until the good seeds on the bottom are about to pour out.
Then stop pouring, add water, and pour it off again. Repeat this process several times. Don’t worry if you see a few seeds pour off, since the ones that float are usually not good anyway.
Each time, you will get rid of more non-desirable materials, and the good seed on the bottom will be cleaner. When it’s clean enough for you, drain off all the water and place the seeds on a paper towel to dry.
Each plant species has its own traits and special needs when saving seeds. I would highly recommend picking up a book on the subject, which will go into great detail regarding these requirements.
You may want to even start selecting your own open pollinated lines, which are best adapted to the environment at your specific location. If you really get interested in this, you can even breed your own varieties. Be aware that this is a very long-term process.
Seed saving isn’t for everyone. To be done properly it requires planning and care to insure you are producing the best possible product.
But with the proper knowledge and tools, it isn’t really all that hard to do.
If you’ve done your homework, and are successful, you may find seed saving to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience.