Permaculture in New Zealand

Seed saving, by Aleena La'ulu

Seed Saving
And
Seed Raising
An introduction to seed saving for the Community Seed Exchange

This booklet has been put together for you to help you get started. It covers the basics of saving seed and growing plants from seed. There are many books specifically written on seed-saving that are mentioned in the seed exchanges instructions for use.

The main seasons for collecting seed are Autumn and Summer. When harvesting crops, let some plants go to seed so that you can save it. It must be harvested, cleaned, dried and stored properly.

Choosing a Variety for its seed
Choose a variety with qualities that suit your tastes and preferences. Choose the best-tasting, most vigorous and disease resistant varieties in your garden and the resulting seed will have those qualities. Save this seed to plant and the following year the result will be a sub-variety that is specifically suited to your microclimate and location. Seeds raised become customized to your site and personal preferences.

Some varieties grow better in certain locations than others, and some are more resistant to pest and disease. Planting only open-pollinated seed is important because their seeds can be saved. Hybrid seeds produce a very uniform first-generation crop; genetic diversity among individual plants is low and saving their seed tends to be unpredictable.

You will need to be a constant observer in your garden. If a few individual plants bear fruit earlier than others, you can select seed for that trait. Decide what qualities you want and like. You may choose for flavour but for someone else it might be pest resistance or drought tolerance. Think about your location, climate, pest and diseases present in your area. Save seed only from healthy, disease-free plants that are hardy or drought tolerant in your garden. Choose several Separating the seed from fleshy fruit such as tomatoes or strawberry spinach
1. Open up the fruit to expose the seeds.

2. Smear the pulp onto a paper towel and leave to dry in a hot-water cupboard or some other warm dark area. Or squeeze pulp and seed into a jar and fill the jar to ¾ with water. Leave for 2 days and shake the jar a couple of times a day.

3. When the seeds appear dry, separate and place them in a paper envelop to finish drying. They can then be stored in an airtight jar. Labelled and dated.

Testing Seed viability
Most seed remain viable for a long time, but others, like carrots and parsnips, germinate well only in the following spring. Test the germination rate of your seeds first before relying on them for your spring planting. To do this, plant approximately on a wet paper towel inside a plastic bag and leave them in a warm spot to see how many germinate. If you have less than 50% germination, that is o.k. for this seed exchange as it is not a commercial set up, just a way for communities to swap seed within their local regions.

plants from which to save seed – this helps to protect the genetic diversity of the variety. Always label your seed plants so you don’t accidentally eat them. You might like to keep a journal recording your seed selection and the reasons why you chose them.

Saving Seed
The first step is to determine if the plant is an annual, a biennial or a perennial.

Annual
Annuals flower and produce seed in one season. They are the easiest plants from which to harvest seeds. Many are self pollinating, although some require cross pollination.

Biennial
Biennials flower and produce seed in their second year such as parsley

Perennial
Perennials are most often propagated asexually; however, some are propagated from seed like annuals.

Seed saving techniques vary widely depending on the crop. Beans can be dried on the plant then collected and stored. But beets are over wintered in a cool place and planted out the next spring to bear seed. Tomato seeds may be harvested from the fruit and dried.

Isolate plants that cross-pollinate with varieties and vegetables of the same family such pumpkins and cucumber. This reduces the likelihood of an unexpected hybrid. You can achieve this by separating insect pollinated plants in a screened enclosure and pollinate by hand. Choose a flower from one plant, peel back its petals and brush the pollen against the stigma of the flowers of the plant you will use to harvest seed. Wind pollinated plants need to be separated from each other by a significant distance in the garden for successful results; alternatively you could plan for them to come into flower at different times.

Harvesting and storing seed
Collect seeds on a warm, dry day
Timing is essential when harvesting seed; unripe seed will not germinate, and seed that is left on the plant too long is likely to become damp or damaged by pests. Seed is harvested at the end of the growing season, long after the point when the plant would normally have been harvested for eating. In some cases the seeds need to be extracted from the fruit.
Dry seeds thoroughly in a hot-water cupboard or some other dark, warm, ventilated area. Spreading seeds thinly on a fine mesh screen or newspaper works well. After the seeds are dry, store them in a glass or some similar container, label and date them.

Separating the seed from the chaff
Many plants produce seeds in dry pods and capsules which change colour as the seeds ripen, generally from green to brown or black. The pods and capsules usually split open to release the ripe seeds, so collect them just before this happens.

In a bucket or bowl rub the seeds and pods or capsules between your hands to release the seed. Give the bucket or bowl a shake on an angle. The seeds generally go the bottom and the chaff (empty pods, capsules and small sticks) sit on the top. Remove as much of the chaff as you can by hand. Place seed in a shallow bowl and winnow (blow chaff off the top of the seed while shaking the bowl).

Growing plants from seed
You can purchase a seed raising mix or you can make your own from a mix of well rotted compost, garden soil and river sand. 50% Compost, 50% garden soil and a handful of river sand should do it. Mix together thoroughly and put through a 5cm(1/4inch) sieve. Dampen the mixture before use.

Any old container will do, ice-cream or yoghurt containers are good. Poke holes into the bottom of the container with a nail or screw driver. Place seed-raising mix into a container 4-5cm deep and gently flatten to a nice even surface. Sprinkle seed into the container and cover with approximately 1cm of seed raising mix.

Place containers in an area you won’t forget about them but keep the seed/seedlings out of direct sunlight until they are large enough to handle the harsh elements. Water regularly and watch them grow. I am always amazed at the birth of a seedling.

Feed seedlings a liquid fertilizer as they start to get larger and use up all the nutrients in the soil.

Make your own liquid fertilizer with several leaves of Comfrey into a bucket of water. Cover with an airtight lid and leave for several weeks. Dilute this solution to a weak tea before applying.

Entered by Aleena La'ulu