General Guidelines to Seed Saving
Remember the adage "What you reap, so shall you so." Well, that can be taken quite literally in the world of seed saving (with the exception of plants that easily cross-pollinate like the "easy" and "difficult" seeds to save). If you harvest small tomatoes, you're likely to get small tomatoes. If you harvest the first tomatoes of the season, their offspring will be more likely to produce earlier in the season.
When choosing which seeds to harvest consider the following:
When choosing which seeds to harvest consider the following:
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After you save the seeds, make a note of why you chose these particular seeds, where you grew them, and when you harvested them. This process will help you to learn from your plants and to start creating the varieties that work best for your location.
Seed cleaning
We have a set of three seed saving screens that can be borrowed. If you are interested in borrowing the set or a screen, please contact Ms. Newburn at [email protected].
Here is a do-it-yourself seed cleaning machine for the super motivated.
Here is a do-it-yourself seed cleaning machine for the super motivated.
How long are my seeds good for?
Here is a chart by Seed Matters that give you an idea of how long seeds last. If your seeds are old, just plant a few more to make up for possible poor gemination. If you have rare seed, don't plant them all in one season. You could lose everything.