seed saving for beginners (tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce)

Presented by Grant Olson

2012 Seed Savers Exchange Webinar Series

Seed Saving for Beginners

Our mission is to save North America’s diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Seed saving is the process of saving seeds from open-pollinated fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers & herbs.

Traditional agriculture relied on seed saving to maintain farms and gardens year after year.

When you save seeds from a particular plantvariety, you want those seeds to grow into a plantthat is identical to its parent plants. This trait isknown as varietal purity.

An open-pollinated variety exhibits varietal purityand breeds true from seed; open-pollinated varieties are maintained by allowing a natural flow of pollen between plants of the same variety.

When pollen flows between different varieties within the same species, this is known as cross-pollination.

Cross-pollinated seed is not ideal for seed saving, especially when you want to preserve a variety.

seed saving for beginners: beans, lettuce, tomatoes

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Is your plant a Hybrid or an OP?

Hybrid plants will not reliably produce seeds that will grow up to be like its parent(s).

Open-pollinated plants can produce seeds that will grow up to be like its parent(s).

Popular Hybrid Tomatoes:Sun Gold, Big Boy, Early Girl, Celebrity

Popular Heirloom Tomatoes:Brandywine, Amish Paste, Black Krim

Kingdom: PlantaeDivision: MagnoliophytaClass: MagnoliopsidaOrder: Fabales

common name: beanbinomial name: Phaseolus vulgaris

Family: FabaceaeGenus: PhaseolusSpecies: vulgaris

P. vulgaris will only cross with other P. vulgaris beans. It will not cross with runner beans (P. coccineus), lima beans (P. lunatus), or fava beans (Vicia faba).

What is your plant’s Species?

Is your plant Mature?

population size and plant health

seed drying

seed storage

Tomatoes – Solanum lycopersicumtomato seeds are ready for harvest when thefruits are ripe

scoop or squeeze out the seeds into a tallcontainer

add a bit of water to the container, let thewater/seed/pulp mixture ferment for one tothree days

fill container with water after mold develops onthe surface, stir the mixture, and pour offfloating seeds, pulp, and mold

spread seeds out to dry on a screen or coffeefilter, stir seeds around every day

tomato seeds are dry enough for storage whenthey break rather than bend under stress

Beans – Phaseolus vulgarisbean pods should be left on the vine to dryuntil they are brown and crisp

pick the pods from the plant when the beansinside are extremely hard

split pods by hand or fill a feed sack or pillowcase with seed pods, tie the opening shut,and jog in place on top of it to remove seeds

winnowing can be used to separate chaff fromseeds – pour seeds/chaff from one basket toanother, letting the wind blow away the chaff

dry bean seeds on a screen until they pass the‘shatter’ test

Lettuce – Lactuca sativalettuce seeds are ready for harvest 2-3 weeksafter the plant has flowered

leave the plants in the ground and harvestseeds over the course of a few days by visitingthe plant and shaking the seed heads into a paper bag

to clean the seeds, use a fine mesh screen that will allow seeds to pass through but will restrict the white ‘feathers’ and larger chaff

seeds are dry enough for storage when theybreak rather than bend under stress

Thank you! Questions?

2012 Seed Savers Exchange Webinar Series

For more information please visit these resources:

Seed Savers Exchange website: www.seedsavers.orgForum: forum.seedsavers.org

Online Yearbook: yearbook.seedsavers.org

To learn more about seed savingRead Suzanne Ashworth’s Seed-to-Seed

Visit www.seedalliance.org for the free publication, A Seed Saving Guide for Gardners & Farmers