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Being able to save seeds is quite an important part of getting to true sustainability. Who wants to have to keep going out to buy seeds? This segment will get you started and give you a good overview of the essentials of seed saving.
Note that I do not always save all my seeds. Yeah, it’s a time thing – I don’t always have enough time to do everything. But I do save some seeds each season to get experience. Realistically, seeds are usually so prolific that it is easy to save enough to last me for several years supply. For example, I save enough vetch seeds in one year to last me for at least three years. So the following few years I save seeds from other types of plants. When I run low on vetch, I’ll go back to saving them again.
Note that this segment will only get you started, and I highly recommend you take the full seed saving expedition to go much deeper into seed saving. For example, while the video below recommends you save seeds from at least five plants for genetic diversity – and that is a great place to start – the seed saving expedition goes into much more detail on exactly how much you need to have for true genetic preservation.
But lets get you started with the basics first.
Hey, you are doing great – awesome job on staying with the expedition! Not too much further to go and you’ll get that honor emblem added to your profile.
FUN FACT: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the single-seeded fruit of the giant fan palm, or Lodoicea maldivica, can weigh 44 lbs. Commonly known as the double coconut or coco de mer, it is found wild only in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Coconuts really are huge seeds!
Watch this video, do the homework, and then take the quiz.
Homework:
Start getting together the material you’ll need to save your own seeds. The videos showed mason jars which is an excellent choice. Other old jars with tight fitting lids (like from mayonnaise or peanut butter) works great too.
Did you notice how they included paper towels inside the jars to help reduce moisture? That’s a good thing, but you’ll also want to get something extra to absorb moisture. In the video they mentioned silica gels. There are some gels specially developed for seed saving which change color when they are saturated (it turns pink to green – kinda cool). You don’t need to get that fancy though – I often use kitty litter. You could also simply use dry clay.
All of the above materials can be re-used over and over again. You simply put them in a low heat – like 150 to 170 degrees F for a few hours. They dehydrate and are ready to be used again to keep you seeds nice and dry.
Something else you might want to consider. I like to use envelopes for individual species of seeds. And I then store a bunch of the envelopes in ammo boxes (see the videos I did in the resources links down below). I particularly like “coin envelops” which are small and a great way to package your seeds for giving away during seed swaps. I bought a box of 500 which is still lasting me after many, many years.
Here is a quick tip for getting started with seed saving. The easiest plants to start saving seeds from are beans, peas, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes. They produce seed the same season as planted, are mostly self-pollinating, and generally don’t have a lot of cross cross-pollination issues.