With all the Monsanto crap going around it's becoming more and more vital to save our seeds. Creating seed banks between organic farmers will help create a sanctuary for these genetics and special veggies that are being put in danger by Big AG. Seeds from plants grown in your own backyard are going to be more adapted to grow in your own backyard, naturally the plant passes on the genetics that will help the seed survive in that specific area. When I realized this, it smacked me in the face, why buy seeds from crops grown who knows where, when the seeds from your own crop are more adapted to your environment? As a newbie farmer, there are so many techniques that are foreign to me and, b/c I frequent this forum so much, why not have all my resources in one place. This is why I believe we need to have a forum to discuss seed saving practices. I have just started harvesting my Golden Bantam corn crop and would like to save those seeds. I started reading and came across this: (more geared towards bigger corn productions, but the basic principles are told) With tomatoes I've read that you let one bunch fruit and pluck all the other flowers off while letting that one patch mature, plucking off all new flowers will allow the plant to devote it's energy towards seed production. Not all these techniques are intuitive, which is why I think we can all benefit from the tips and tricks we have for seed saving.
Smart move on your part, You will save $ and get satisfaction out of it to! As far as the tomato thing I pluck the bottom leaves off of the transplant and plant it deeper burying the plucked off portion so as to add more roots to the plant. Then as it starts to grow pluck the first few sets of flowers off so as to strengthen the plant by not allowing it's energy to go to the fruit to early!! When I see a good healthy mater I pluck it and take the seeds from it and wash them thru a fine meshed colander . Then place them in the sun to dry and place them in a marked envelope for the next year. I think you need to make sure that the golden cross bantam is not the hybrid variety.If "memory "serves me correctly the hybrid's won't produce good seed .Also if you plant hot peppers to close to your sweet peppers they will cross.Good luck and happy gardening
http://www.ufseeds.com/Early-Golden-Bantam-Corn-Seed.item was my source for this corn. I guess we'll see when I try to plant re-seed it. And i hear ya on the pepper thing, do tomatoes cross-pollinate too? I would assume yes, but....nature has her surprises.
Great thread! Stuck! Tomatoes are self-pollinating, but they can cross via wind and pollinators, dependent upon how closely different varieties are spaced. General guidelines for spacing heirloom varieties to keep them 'true' is 25 to 30 feet. Some recommend planting corn, pole beans, or another tall crop between varieties to lessen the odds of cross-pollination, covering with insect blanket, etc...
So I've got some very dry corn cobs now. I'm going to break off some of the kernels and sow to see if the seeds are viable. I'll be saving more seeds than what I can plant next season, so what is the best way to save seeds, long term? 1 Cob got me about 5 packs-worth of corn seeds. Never buying corn seeds again...
Usually I just go to the web to get my seed saving info but other day at the beach during a conversation on seed saving I remembered I had a book on the topic and since I was wondering how to save my calaloo seed and the sun was too bright to see my tablet I grabbed the book when I ran back to the house to get my tea. Pretty good book lol, got it for free years ago and never opened it really (i own thousands of books)
Hey stevebomb, nice corn seed stash! FWIW, I store my seed packs in the fridge, in a container with a tight fitting lid, with about an inch of uncooked rice in the bottom of the container. The rice absorbs moisture, which helps keep the seeds dry. Storing my seeds this way has done well for me for quite a few years, so that's how I store them. I don't have any other place to keep them with consistent cool temps, so the fridge is it for me. I think it's really cool that you're saving seeds from your garden!
Good ideas, doin, i'll def use rice or something for moisture control. I really like the idea of me and my family only using seeds from things we've grown in the past, has a very nice independent feel to it. Going to be harvesting sunflower seeds, soon, another thing i won't buy again. Edit: So for storage what I've got going on, right now, is a big freezer zip-loc bag filled w/ a cup of rice. I have my saved seeds in envelopes, individually labeled, which are just sitting in the rice. I put this in the fridge. I think it should work to preserve them.
This is a good thread, I will be keeping my seeds from my garden this year so I can use them next year. And possibly give some good seeds to family members a friends that want something extra to do in the summer. Also, about tomatoes. It's also recommended to plant tomato plants in different spots every year or so. Tomatoes have a lot of fungi below the soil that you can't see. It's not the grower's fault, it's just a tomato thing. So change up where you decide on tomato placement every year. So let me get this right, take seeds from your favorite plants in your back yard garden, let them sit outside to dry, and bag them up for growth next year?? How is the best way to store seeds?? Cool, dry, place??? Never done this before. Is it okay to keep the dried seeds in let's say....a old perscription medicine bottle? Or what would be the recommended storage?
Keep your seeds in a dry cool place and they will remain viable for a long time depending on what seed you save. Another thing about tomato's is they are a member of the nightshade family along with potatoes and peppers. You should rotate your plantings every five years on these plants to keep your garden productive and keep problems to a minimum.
ive found that saving seeds from a '' store bought bell pepper '' dont work too good. i dropped like 100 seeds and maybe had 3 sprouts... it may work if u have store bought seeds. and saved them, and this year i did the same thing you did. with corn seed.. ive grew store bought corn 3 times this year with no sucss. so i plucked some guys '' sweet corn '' cobs that he let dry in the field [ proablly for hunting purposes ] but if i can get that corn im growing to look like his did. then ill be good.. corn growing really pisses me off. ive grew 3 crops this year and picked nothing, but now im using a 2 times a week liquid fertilizer solution thats more stronger in '' urea'' type nitrogen corn likes urea,
Personally I like heirloom varieties, the seeds stay true when you save them, and I've found if you save seeds from grocery store tomatoes (and other veggies) they don't come close to producing anything like the fruit they came from. The possible exception *might* be some squash seeds that aren't over-hybridized, but I can't really tell because I have such a tiny plot I can't grow decent crops anyway. Grocery store seeds yield tiny plants with small fruit, supposedly the seeds revert back to parent genetics, and it's hard to understand how a good crop came from such tiny plants, but there ya go. These geneticists likely know how to develop seeds that grow fruit for a farmer but at the same time you have to buy seeds if you want a good crop; you can't save seeds. It's a conspiracy!
I save in paper envelopes, if there's any moisture at all in a plastic bottle of seeds, fungus could wreck them (I assume). Dry is best. I don't refrigerate anymore either; I got such a huge seedbank quickly that it just takes up room, and so what if they get old and the germination rate goes down, so long as I get some good plants I'm good.
I haven't ever preserved corn seeds, but my understanding is that they don't last long even when you do. Tomatoes are easy, but there's a process. You let them sit around for a couple of days in water so the membrane breaks down, then gently overflow the water, bad seeds, and other plant material, and dry and store the rest. The real trick is making sure your tomatoes are pollinated by the right tomato, assuming you want the next generation to produce tomatoes that look like the fruit they came out of.