Collecting Heirloom Seeds

[BReeder!]

Anybody an avid seed collector? A number of the seeds I purchased for the garden this year are heirloom varieties. I would like to attempt to collect some seeds from this years garden for next year. I get the idea of keeping seeds from the healthiest, best producing plants. However, I do not really understand the methods of collecting and preserving seeds. I know I have the following plant types in heirloom varieties: tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin, cucumber, and peppers.
There may be others that are heirloom as well and I intend to continue to buy heirloom when possible and affordable. So if you're experienced with collecting any other type of seeds, please share your knowledge.

 

[azygous]

Yes! I'm a compulsive seed collector. I'll even go so far as to buy a zuchinni from the market and scrape out the seeds and use those for planting instead of paying double for a packet of fifteen seeds. I also do that with melons. The bonus is getting to eat the fruit, so I consider the seeds a free gift.

I collect my seeds, including carrot, seven squash varieties, lettuce, chard, spinach, and other greens in the fall after the plants die. That way the seeds are mature. I dry them indoors, and then package them in paper (not plastic) envelopes so the seeds can breath and store them in a dry, dark place. This keeps them viable much longer.

I'm with you on avoiding hybrids. I feel there's no point in growing plants that are unable to reproduce. A great portion of the seed industry is a criminal conspiracy, and if you look at what Monsanto does to farmers around the world and here in the US, they are certainly more than worth boycotting.

 

[BReeder!]

Yes! I'm a compulsive seed collector. I'll even go so far as to buy a zuchinni from the market and scrape out the seeds and use those for planting instead of paying double for a packet of fifteen seeds. I also do that with melons. The bonus is getting to eat the fruit, so I consider the seeds a free gift.

I collect my seeds, including carrot, seven squash varieties, lettuce, chard, spinach, and other greens in the fall after the plants die. That way the seeds are mature. I dry them indoors, and then package them in paper (not plastic) envelopes so the seeds can breath and store them in a dry, dark place. This keeps them viable much longer.

I'm with you on avoiding hybrids. I feel there's no point in growing plants that are unable to reproduce. A great portion of the seed industry is a criminal conspiracy, and if you look at what Monsanto does to farmers around the world and here in the US, they are certainly more than worth boycotting.

Great advice! Thanks.
Any idea on what things you can harvest before the plant dies? You mentioned melons and zucchini from the store for example. The plant would typically live on past the harvest of a zucchini... How do you know the seeds in the zucchini are fully developed/matured? I'm also curious how to tell this with tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm hoping to get a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden this year. If we like them I'd like to keep the seeds, but telling mature seeds apart from those that are not mature is where I'm struggling.

 

[azygous]

My strategy is a lazy one. I harvest all but one or two plants and let these plants continue to grow, keeping my hands off them. They then mature and die a natural death in fall. This is nature's way of producing mature seeds to propagate itself.

Do you also collect wild flower seeds? I live in the wild and follow the same plan with wild plants, collecting the seeds after the plants die off in fall and early winter. Then I sow those seeds over areas of similar ecological attributes where they don't presently grow so as to extend their range and to preserve the species. A penstemon that is now all but extinct in my surrounding neighborhood due to two decades of drought, now grows spectacularly behind my house. My own wild seed bank.

It's a fun hobby, and it's giving back to nature instead of tearing it down.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Peas are pretty much the one thing I save from year to year. Just leave a couple of pods on the healthiest plant you have and let them dry out completely, the pluck the peas from the dried pod.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Fellow heirloom seed collector addict here! For tomatoes, I pick a perfectly ripe one. Slice it up and put the seeds on a paper towel. Label it and place it in a spot to dry. Et voila! Seeds ready for next Spring!

 

[azygous]

Fellow heirloom seed collector addict here! For tomatoes, I pick a perfectly ripe one. Slice it up and put the seeds on a paper towel. Label it and place it in a spot to dry. Et voila! Seeds ready for next Spring!

I just figured out this method for tomato seeds which are so difficult to collect and dry being in that slimy pulp. I bought heirloom cherry tomato seeds last year and when it came time to collect the seeds, I saved a hand full of the fruit, cut them in half and dried them out. When I plant, I'll just stick one dried half in my seedling cups. Which I need to get started soon for this year's planting. Grow season is so short at my elevation, the seedlings need to get started indoors.

 

[Peaches Lee]

I just figured out this method for tomato seeds which are so difficult to collect and dry being in that slimy pulp. I bought heirloom cherry tomato seeds last year and when it came time to collect the seeds, I saved a hand full of the fruit, cut them in half and dried them out. When I plant, I'll just stick one dried half in my seedling cups. Which I need to get started soon for this year's planting. Grow season is so short at my elevation, the seedlings need to get started indoors.

Some varieties are so slimy! What's been your favorite tomato? I happen to place Black Brandywine above all else but perhaps you have a kind worthy of trying!

 

[azygous]

I can't recall the name of the cherry tomato. But most cherry tomato varieties are sweet and full flavored, and I prefer them to most large tomatoes, although I do try to have at least one large tomato variety each summer.

 

[BReeder!]

I can't recall the name of the cherry tomato. But most cherry tomato varieties are sweet and full flavored, and I prefer them to most large tomatoes, although I do try to have at least one large tomato variety each summer.

We are not growing any cherry tomatoes this year over here. DW finds them annoyingly small I think. I selected Rutgers and Roma. The Rutgers will be for immediate use primarily, while much of the Romas will be canned as sauce and salsa.