Seed Saving
Collecting seeds is one way to take your passion for gardening to the next level.
Collecting and saving seeds can be appealing for many gardeners; it is a way to preserve traits of the plants you love, carry on cultural traditions and save money. Not only that, you can also connect with the community by passing along seeds to family, friends and neighbors.
Before Harvesting
In order to produce healthy, viable seeds, you need to ensure the plant develops properly. By providing the right care, you can grow strong, healthy plants with fully mature seeds. This includes proper irrigation, fertilizing, weeding and pest control required by that species.
It’s important to note that some species need certain biological and climate conditions to go to seed. For example, many biennial plants must experience cold temperatures at or below a specific threshold (30°F to 60°F) for a particular length of time (two to ten weeks) to produce seeds. This includes brassicas such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale and collards, and root crops like carrots, beets and onions.
It also helps to understand the different ways pollination leads to seeds. Open-pollination means the flowers are pollinated naturally by insects, birds, wind or other natural agents. You generally want to choose seeds from open-pollinated plants and avoid those of hybrids.
Hybrid varieties (often labelled “hybrid” or “F1” on the seed packets) are a result of controlled pollination between parent plants of the same species. The goal of this process is to create a plant with specific desired traits. While you might like the characteristics of your hybrid, its seeds may not produce offspring with those same traits. Some hybrids are also patented, and it is actually illegal to save and distribute seeds of patented plants.
When saving seeds from open-pollinated species, you might want to limit “cross-pollination” with different varieties of that same species. This can cause the offspring to have different traits than the parent. Otherwise, you might be surprised with unexpected characteristics, like biting into a hot pepper that came from a sweet pepper parent.
Make sure you know the scientific name of your plants, because anything with the same scientific name has the potential to cross-pollinate. To make sure the seeds retain the same characteristics of the parent plant, you must “isolate” the different plant varieties. Plant them away from each other (See Table 1 in this UF/IFAS publication for specific distances) or stagger the planting so that they are not flowering at the same time. You can also avoid cross-pollination by simply planting only one variety of each crop.
With that being said, if your desire is to experiment and create new varieties of a certain species, you can allow those plants to cross-pollinate and see what happens! New varieties can be created that are more suitable for the local climate while still retaining the desired taste or quality. Just know that the seeds of the cross-pollinated plants might produce offspring with different characteristics than the plant they grew from.
The easiest seeds to grow and save are from plants that self-pollinate. Their flowers have both pollen-receiving and pollen-producing organs, so they do not need other plants to pollinate. Tomatoes, beans, lettuce and peas are good examples, although they can occasionally cross-pollinate as well.
Harvesting
Seeds can be collected from annuals, perennials, vegetables and fruits in your garden with varying degrees of ease. There are different methods for each type of plant, depending on the way the seed grows on that species.
For flowering plants with seed heads, wait until the flowers have dried up, and snip off the dry, brown seed head. Seed heads and seed pods need to be air-dried after they are harvested. You can spread them out on newspaper or in a shallow box. Once they have dried out, you can shake seeds loose from the pods or seed heads.
The easiest types of seeds to save are those considered to be “dry seeds.” These plants include beans and peas such as green beans, pole beans, black eyed peas, sweet peas and pigeon peas. They will dry naturally on the plant, as long as you wait until the beans and pea pods turn brown. Remove the seeds from the pods after harvesting. Other plants that have dry seeds include lettuce, okra, basil, mustard, sunflower and corn.
For plants with “wet seeds” held inside a moist fruit, you’ll want to clean and dry the seeds more thoroughly. For example, tomato, cucumber, squash, pepper, eggplant, watermelon and papaya all have wet seeds. After removing the seeds, let them sit in a bowl of water to loosen some of the pulp. Smear the seeds out across a paper towel and let sit. Once they are dry, you can remove any leftover particles.
Crops that are edible at the same time that their seeds are viable include peppers, tomatoes, melons and winter squash. This means you can harvest the seeds when the fruit or vegetable crop is ready to be eaten. Some plants require you to leave the seeds on the plant long past the edible stage of the fruit or vegetable. This gives the seeds time to mature. Plants that need this extra period include cucumbers, eggplants, summer squash, peas, beans, cowpeas, okra, brassicas, lettuce, amaranth, corn and many herbs.
Seed Storage
Keep dried seeds from different varieties in separate paper envelopes and label them with the plant’s name and the date collected. It is best to use paper envelopes to store your seeds; if there is even the slightest bit of moisture present, mold can develop. Keep the seeds stored in a cool, dry place until it is time to plant. This could be a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator or a dark closet with a dehumidifier. Some people choose to store seeds in the freezer, but this can be tricky as seeds have to be very dry before freezing or the seeds can die.
Of course, not every seed you save will grow; it’s all part of the process. But when your seeds do flourish, it can be immensely rewarding to watch them sprout from the earth, knowing you helped sustain the lineage.
Also on Gardening Solutions
More from UF/IFAS
- A Beginner’s Guide to Producing and Saving Open-Pollinated Seeds for North Florida Farmers and Gardeners
- Starting Your Garden with Seeds
- UF/IFAS Joins Florida Wildflower Foundation To Form Statewide Native Seed Partnership
- Webinar Recording: Seed Saving for Your Garden with Tia Silvasy, UF/IFAS Extension Orange County