Tips for getting started
By Beckie Gaskill – as seen in The Lakeland Times
Horticulture educator Lisa Johnson gave a presentation through the University of Wisconsin Extension teaching about how to plan for a seed saving garden. With the price of food in grocery stores, the wish to be more organic and, in some cases, people finding themselves still working remotely, gardening is on the rise. Planning for a seed saving garden allows gardeners to not only be less dependent on grocery stores for food for themselves and their families, but also to be less dependent on stores for seeds for the following years.
Johnson first spoke about pollination, which is important to any gardener. Pollination is simply the transfer of pollen from the male structure of the flower to the female structure. The two main types of pollination are self pollination and cross pollination. Both can result in fertilization, which brings about seeds.
Pollination can occur in several different ways. It can occur via wind, which is the case with many trees and grasses. Insects, too, are important in pollination. In some cases, neither are needed, as in the case of a closed flower. Johnson said pollination sometimes occurs between flowers of the same plant, and at other times it occurs between flowers on the same or compatible species of different plants. In some cases some plants have separate male and female flowers, which can be on the same plant or on a different plant.
Next she turned to the two types of pollination. Many vegetables are self pollinators. Peas and beans are two examples. Self pollinated plants have homogenous genetics, meaning new plants will look like and act like the parent. This is good news for gardeners who find a specific pea they like the best or a tomato they feel has the best flavor. In those cases, having offspring that are similar to the parent is a positive thing.
With cross pollination between flowers on different plants can bring about genetic variation. This may be helpful in plant evolution because diversity brings about better survival chances. It may bring about strains that are resistant to various disease, for example. However, for the gardener looking to create a seed saving garden, uncontrolled cross pollination can be troublesome at best. The idea with seed saving is to save seeds that will germinate into uniform plants that resemble the parent plants. That may likely not be the case with uncontrolled cross pollination between compatible plants.
Heirlooms and open pollinated crops, Johnson said, are generally considered “pure lines.” Open pollinated varieties have stable genetics and also little variability. They are often grown in large fields where they cross pollinate only with each other. She did say, however, that some genetic “drift” can occur, meaning there will be occasional non-uniform plants that spring up. Those should be discarded before they can pass on their genetics. Heirloom crops are open pollinated crops that have been stable for over 50 years, Johnson said.
In the case of self pollinated plants, these, too, will produce offspring that are very similar to the parent. These plants have flowers that are pollinated using their own pollen and are not usually cross pollinated. All of these varieties are great for those looking to save seeds for future gardens.
Johnson also spoke about hybrids. These are produced by taking the stable, uniform generation plants and crossing them with each other to bring about some desirable trait. It may be earlier or larger flowers, higher yields, resistance to disease or many other attribution a grower is attempting to ascertain through hybridization.
“F1 hybrids” are the first generation of seeds and plants from a cross pollination. These are produces by pure lines. While pure lines take as long as seven or eight years to create, once that is achieved, they can be cross pollinated to create hybrid vigor or any of the other desired outcomes.
The problem becomes when a gardener collects seeds from these F1 hybrids and attempts to plant them the next year, the results may not be what the gardener expected. Some hybrids are also sterile and the seeds will not produce any sort of plant. Some examples of popular F1 hybrids include Burpee’s Big Boy, Celebrity and Early Girl tomatoes as well as the Sweet Success cucumber and Premium Crop broccoli.
Starting seed saving
For those who are just starting to learn about seed saving, Johnson said it is a good idea to start with plants that self pollinate. Crops such as lettuce, beans, peas and heirloom tomatoes are good starting points. These all have stable genetics and will produce offspring that will be similar to parents.
Gardeners can control the pollination of cross pollinated crops, but it is much more difficult. For that reason Johnson suggested starting with self pollinated plants. She then spoke about how to control pollination.
The idea is to not allow insects in to do any pollinating that may cross genetics. Bagging flowers and hand pollinating bagged flowers is one way to do this. Placing a mesh bag over the flowers of an heirloom tomato plant, for instance, would not allow insects in to pollinate those flowers. Hand pollinating can be done with a small paint brush by brushing pollen up from the male flowers and using the brush to deposit that pollen onto the female flowers.
Limiting crop varieties is another way to control pollination. With only one variety of tomatoes, for instance, if they should cross pollinate, it will result in the same genetics.
The other option, Johnson said, would be to leave a large distance between the varieties of plants, thus not cutting down on the chances of cross pollination. This may not be practical, or possible, for some gardeners, but those with enough space could utilize this planting method.
Saving the seeds
Johnson spoke about various types of seeds and how to save them. For beans, she said, seeds should be left to mature on the vine. Then the gardener can pull the plant or harvest the pods as they dry. They should then be put in a cool place for one to two weeks. After that time, they can be shelled an stored in a cool, dry place in a paper bag. Beans and cowpea seeds will keep for three years or more.
For peas, pods should be left to dry on the vine until they are brown in color, approximately four weeks after the last harvest for human consumption. Once the seeds are removed from the pods, they should be allowed to dry for four weeks before putting them into jars. They will remain viable for three years.
Seeds from vine crops such as cucumbers, melons and summer and winter squash can be saved as well, but it is a bit more difficult. Early in the season, these plant have only male flowers. During the middle of the season there are male and female flowers, and then again at the end of the season, when it is cooler, there will be only male flowers. The female flowers will be easy to spot, as they have what looks like an immature fruit underneath the flower. Males will not have this enlarged area under the flower. Before the bees get to these plants, plants should be hand pollinated and the female flowers bagged.
Cucumbers should be harvested after the fruit has matured and is yellow-ish and hard. However, if they sit too long, they will ferment. Once cucumbers are harvested, the gardener simply splits them down the middle, removes the seeds and lays them out to dry before storing them. Cucumber seeds will remain viable for up to five years in the right conditions.
When saving seeds for squash, the squash should be very mature, Johnson said. For winter squash and pumpkins, the outer skin will get hard enough that it cannot be dented with a fingernail. The insides will be spongy. The seeds should be separated from the pulp and allowed to dry for two weeks or more before putting them into storage.
Peppers are self-pollinating, but the flowers should still be bagged. Hotness, Johnson said, is a dominant trait for peppers. That said, should any cross pollination occur, sweet peppers would become hot.
Lettuce is self-pollinating as well. When seeds mature, they become fluffy. They should be cut off from the seed stalks just before they are completely dried and put into paper bags. Stalks should then be dried upside down in that paper bag. After one week, gardeners should remove any seeds still on the stalk and allow to dry for another two weeks before storing.
Johnson said seeds such as those from zucchini and tomatoes need to be fermented before being dried and saved.
Planting for seed saving
As mentioned above, gardeners should think about whether or not they want to save their own seeds before planting. For plants that cross pollinate, varieties should be separated by a good distance. To be completely sure flowers are not cross pollinated with other varieties, even in normally self-pollinated plants, gardeners should hand pollinate the flowers and cover them with a mesh bag or even a fabric bag, which a handy gardener can make themselves.
Another aspect of seed saving that should be kept in mind is that some plants will be used for seeds for the following years, while others will be used for consumption. This may mean planting extra plants of every variety from which a gardener hopes to have seeds. Those looking for more information on seed saving can contact Johnson at johnson.lisa@countyofdane.
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