How to collect and store vegetable seeds?

Despite the abundance of colorful bags with seeds of vegetable crops, their contents do not always please the buyer. Cherishing the hope of obtaining miracle cucumbers or unusual peppers and eggplant, you can collect an unprecedented miracle as a crop, but absolutely not those vegetables that the gardener was counting on. And a big resentment settles in the soul to deceivers and self-trusting. To avoid these unrest, you can independently collect the necessary seeds on your site. Naturally, there are certain rules for growing planting material and storing it, non-compliance with which will give the same results as buying from market fraudsters.

General Tips for Getting Good Seed

It is most advisable to allocate a separate plot for growing vegetable seeds. On such a plot (relatively small), plant 1-3 plants, the fruits of which will go to seeds in biological ripeness. But you can simply choose from the most typical biological characteristics of the plants growing on the corresponding bed and mark them as future seed plants (for example, a bow) On long-climbing plants (cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, peas, etc.), you can highlight the lash with which then work separately.

To get varietal seeds, the site must be in optimal conditions:

• in a bright place, away from the wind rose and drafts,
• in sufficient spatial isolation, which is especially important for cross-pollinated crops,
• grow only 1 cultivar, if several varieties of the same crop, then see the previous paragraph,
• the site should be kept in absolute cleanliness, as weeds can drown out cultivated plants, pollinate (single-family, for example, cruciferous) and serve as a source of disease and a temporary refuge for pests,
• the testes must be absolutely healthy,
• care and treatment at the seed site should be performed especially carefully: timely watering, top dressing, protection from pests and diseases, the timing of harvesting and further processing.

Features of the collection of vegetable seeds

We collect seeds of cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins

The lower first cucumbers are left on the testicles of cucumbers on the lashes of the first order until fully ripened. A fully ripened testis is thick-bred, brown or light brown in a fine mesh. The peduncle, dried to blackening. Cucumbers are left on the bush or harvested and stored until soft.

When preparing seeds, the fetus is cut from 2-4 cm at both ends, leaving only the middle, there are the highest quality seeds. Cucumber is cut in half and the seeds are taken out along with the pulp (pulp). The liquid mixture is spread in a wide-necked container (deep bowl, jar, other containers) for 3-4 days for fermentation. Do not add water during fermentation. During this period, the room temperature is maintained at +22 .. + 25 ° C. When the foam rises, fermentation has taken place and the seeds will easily separate from the pulp.

At the end of the fermentation, the seeds from the pulp are washed under running water, dried with a paper towel and left to dry completely. At home, you can immediately select the heaviest quality seeds. To do this, the seeds must be placed in saline. Rinse light ones that have surfaced, and wash heavy ones that settle to the bottom of the tank under running water and dry at room temperature until fully cooked. Qualitatively dried seeds prick a palm under compression.

Seeds of ripe fruits or even slightly immature are taken from zucchini and pumpkins. The seeds of overripe pumpkin fruits can be used as an anthelmintic medicine or a pleasant fried dessert for the evening in front of the TV. In overripe fruits of pumpkins, by the way, and in watermelons, too, low germination and the ability to germinate are still in the fruits. All other processes (without fermentation) are performed as in cucumbers. The best seeds are large, located in the center of a ripe fruit.

The fruits of cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchini, which have fallen under frost, are transferred to an enclosed space, gradually warmed and seeds are secreted. Seeds must be allocated before January, otherwise they will germinate inside the fruit.

How to collect tomato seeds?

From the beginning of planting, the most well-developed tomato plant bushes typical of the variety are noted. On healthy selected bushes, a bow is tied to the peduncle to the marked testis on the 2-3rd hand. The fruit is on the bush to full biological ripeness, but not rotten or overripe, that is, it is painted in typical red, burgundy, pink colors and shades. To the touch soft, but not rotten.

Fruits are removed at the beginning of biological maturity if the bush begins to suffer from late blight, although such fruits are not recommended to be selected. Unripe fruits are ripened on the windowsill or in another suitable place.

Mature seeds are separated from the pulp with the skin, placed in an appropriate container and create the same conditions for fermentation as cucumbers. Fermentation of tomatoes in cool weather lasts 4-5 days, in hot 2-3 days. The solution fermented with seeds is washed under running water. Pure seeds are dried. Like cucumbers, they can be immediately divided into light and heavy salt water.

Seeds of sweet, bitter and gogoshara pepper

Pepper is prone to over-pollination, so sweet, semi-sharp and spicy varieties should be in 100 meter spatial isolation. The best testes are fruits harvested in biological ripeness (can be removed and brown), located in peppers on branches 1-2 orders of magnitude and on the main stem of the gogoshar. Boxes crunch when squeezed. The color is typical for the variety (yellow, red, orange, dark red to burgundy at gogoshar).

The harvested fruits are stored in the room for up to 7 days, but they are monitored so that the box does not become soft. Seeds of softened, overripe fruits subsequently lose some positive qualities (germination energy, seedling quality).

When isolating seeds from the capsule, the cap with the peduncle is cut in a circle. Seeds are separated into a prepared container. Spread on a drying sieve or towel under the sun. Dry seeds are ground to better separate from each other, winnowed, removing the husk, and packaged in paper bags. Seed material retains germination for 2 to 3 years.

Collecting Eggplant Seeds

Eggplants are almost self-pollinated plants, but in the south their cross-pollination is also observed. Varietal isolation in the south is at least 300 m, in the northern and middle regions the distance can be reduced to 100 m. Therefore, it is better to grow testes only one variety.

The highest quality eggplant seeds are the first 3 fruits (the best is the 2nd). The rest must be removed so that they do not select nutrients for their growth and development. After picking, the fruits are left for 7-10 days indoors at a temperature in the range of +10 .. + 12 ° С to soften the pulp. The ripened fruits acquire gray, brown, brown-yellow and other colors. Seeds in the testis become hard (important!). On ripening, the fruits are in a room with a moderate temperature of +12 .. + 15 ° C for 15-12 days.

To isolate the seeds, the fruits are ground: cut into lobes, grind on a coarse grater (mature seeds do not suffer) or sieve. In a container of water, the seeds with pulp are crushed and washed, separating the seeds. With stirring, the flesh and light seeds float, while the heaviest, highest quality seeds settle to the bottom. The seeds are not left in the water, but immediately rinsed and spread on burlap or smooth moisture-proof towels made of natural fabric. If you leave the seeds wet, they begin to swell and germinate. Dried under a canopy or in the sun, constantly mixing, until flowability.

Carrots and other umbrella

In all umbrella plant species (carrots, celery, dill, parsley, parsnip and others), flowering, and hence the formation of seeds, begins with a central umbrella and first-order umbrellas. The rest must be pinched off. To obtain high-quality seeds, 8-12-15 umbrellas are left on the plant. Large, ripened root crops of medium, for a given variety, size are left in root-crop umbellate for seed production. Their seeds will form a more branched aboveground mass with large umbrellas and seeds.

The browned inflorescences are cut off, tied into a loose bundle so that they do not rot, do not mold from a fungal infection, and are dried in a suspended state in gauze bags. You can lay the cut inflorescences on paper and ripen. Umbrellas that are fully ripe are stored until spring or are crushed and the seeds are separated from the seed debris by winnowing. Purified seeds are stored in canvas bags at room conditions.

Onions and other types of onions

Under the onion testicles, well-ripened and preserved bulbs are selected. The mother plant should be hard to the touch and not have sprouts (green peeling is allowed). Varietal pollination is possible, therefore, significant varietal isolation (up to 600 m) or the cultivation of one of the varieties is required.

With the full formation of onion capsules and cracking some of them in umbrellas, the testes can be removed. The testis is pulled out with the root and dried in the room, if the weather is damp, temperatures are low. In dry, warm weather, ripe umbrellas are cut off with a leg (part of the arrow). Indoors or under a canopy spread on burlap and dried.

Umbrellas have loosened, so as not to froze and not mold. The dried-up umbrellas with the opened boxes of seeds are hulled by hands, winnowed and stored in canvas bags or glass tightly closed containers.

Beans, Beans, Peas

It is easy to collect seed plants of these crops. At the beginning of ripening, developed bushes of beans, beans, lashes of climbing varieties of beans and peas are noted. You can generally wait until the pod or bob ripens. With biological maturity, the surface of the fruit will acquire a whitish mesh coating, and the color of the valves will become yellowish-brown, dark yellow, light yellow or other shades. In general, the fruits will begin to dry out, rustle in their hands. If a little seed is required, then the largest blades and pods are cut with scissors and sent for ripening on a burlap under a canopy.

Hulls or pods are husked or husked 1-3 weeks after complete drying. If the testes are collected with a whole bush or lash, then they bind loose bundles and hang them indoors, and peel them in their spare time in autumn evenings. When peeling, small, blackened, diseased grains are immediately discarded.

Ripe bean has varietal color, very hard. Harvested ripe beans and pods in the first half of the day in dry weather, after dew. Immediately after the rains, autumn drizzle, you can’t harvest. Grain can sprout in pods and shoulder blades or swell and die upon repeated drying. Before ripening, lashes and bushes are inspected and cut out all small, young underdeveloped pods and beans (shoulder blades) so that all nutrients go into the seeds.

Seed Storage

The safety of seed is a very important stage in the independent procurement of seeds.

Seeds are cleaned of garbage and laid out on paper bags or bags of natural fabric. In cellophane bags and other synthetic materials, seeds often mold from the released moisture and lose quality, and can die completely.

The following data is written or put on the bag: the name of the crop, variety, type - early, middle, late, year of collection, shelf life.

Prepared seeds are put in a box and stored in rooms where there is a constant temperature and low humidity (it is not recommended in the kitchen, there usually humidity changes significantly).

The optimum storage temperature ranges from 0 .. + 5 ° C, humidity is not higher than 55%. At elevated temperatures (more than + 20 ° C), the fruits dry out. Some gardeners store a box of seeds in the hallway on a shelf, if there is no other room.

Shelf life of seeds

Knowing the shelf life of seeds is very important. Usually it is 1-3 years, but there are types of vegetables whose seeds retain germination for 10 years or more, increasing the germination capacity over the years or not losing it. The below supporting table will help you find your way. In order not to lose data, they can be entered in the garden diary.

The article does not show all vegetable crops whose seeds can be harvested independently for several years without loss of germination.

We will be grateful for your advice on the methods of harvesting seeds and their storage.

Watch the video: How to Save Tomato Seeds - Seed Saving Series (April 2021).