Seed harvesting from your own plants

[ladyhk13]

I would like to know if any of you harvest your own seeds from your plants. If you do, could you please share what ones you do and your technique? I have several and I'm not sure which way to do it. Like sweet banana peppers...when do you pick the pepper? Do you take it when it is yellow and then open the pepper and take the seeds out and let them dry or do you let the pepper dry on the plant before picking? I also have sorrano peppers with the same question. I have thai peppers that are very small (but pack a whallop!) and they are best dried for storage so do I go ahead and take the seeds when the pepper is dried and then cut it open? The same question for your herbs.....
How are you storing them them?

[ladyhk13]

Also, how do you harvest seed from items like potato and make them last throughout the winter without rotting?

[JustAPrepper]

I have the book Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. It's one of the most recommended sources out there for saving seeds but I find it overwhelming. All the information is there but the format of the book is hard to follow...for me, anyway.:p

Saving seed is going to be an issue for us and we know that, because our garden is so small. Some things need to be left for months and that takes up valuable real estate in our little Patch. Right now, I am still experimenting with seeds to see what varieties grow best in our area so I haven't done much saving but I did get some Lettuce seeds this past Spring. I got one harvest out of the plants before the weather turned hot and they bolted. It took about two months for them to completely flower out. Once they did I bent the stalks in to a pillow case and cut them off the plant. Then I took some safety pins and secured the stalks inside the case (kind of hard to explain) then I brought the cases inside and hung them so the seeds could dry. As I get time I pull a stalk out and harvest seeds out of the dried "fluff". It's very time consuming so I decided to do a germination test a couple months ago to see if I had done it right. Turns out I did. They sprouted in a few days.

Potato seeds are nothing more than baby potatoes as far as I know. DH grew some in tubs last Spring (true seed potatoes that he purchased - not potatoes from the grocery store because they are treated) but our harvest was so small it was pitiful. One (Florida) gardener I follow wraps her "seeds" in newspaper and keeps them in her closet until the next planting season. Her crops are amazing so if we ever get that far I'm going to try her method.

[ladyhk13]

I picked the "flowers" off of one of my lettuce plants and they are sittting on a paper towel on my counter...it is all fluffy and I haven't taken any seed out of it but I guess that I got the right part then? The potatoes were ordered last season from an heirloom company and I didn't get them all pulled up. While digging the other day I found some that were still small and 2 that actually had green leaves growing up through the ground. I took the smaller taters and put them in a brown paper bag in the pantry and the ones that were actually growing I put in a pot, don't know if they will survive the winter or not. I don't know if the others will stay "fresh" until spring though? I know they aren't treated so maybe they will be ok? I hope. I had lettuce in a pot and when it all died back (the same one I got the seeds from) I thought it was done but all of a sudden it started growing all over again. I had kind of tapped the stalks into the pot as they dried so I am assuming that they are good. AND I'm getting a second batch of lettuce before winter by accident, cool huh?

[ravensgrove]

So here's my experience on seed saving...which I have done for years. I have successfully saved everything but lettuces. Its a real pain and the seed is so unbelievably tiny its a pain in the arse and then after all the work I only had like a 10% germination rate.
Choys, cabbage, carrots and other tubers et all, let flower but before they drop pollen grab them, hang them upside down tie them with twine or the like and store in a dry place. Then shake the seed out later.
Everything else I take straight from the fruit and rinse all the goo off and dry on paper towels. When you store your seed be sure it has oxygen. NEVER STORE SEED IN A FREEZER.
Potatoes, we just keep 5 lbs of potatoes whole in a clutch outside under some tires. In the spring I pull them, and plant them out...we plant in tire stacks here because our ground is so rocky.
Corn I just take a cob, peel the husk off and let it sit out in the house for a couple weeks until it drys out, then scrape the kernels off.

Seed saving is one of those things I think people make sound like brain surgery and my Mom and I just snicker as we put our seeds on paper towels and call it good.

[JustAPrepper]

Raven, I really appreciate your experience. For me, I can't store potatoes the way you do. Too hot and humid. They'll rot before the next plant and we have no basements or cellars so we have to find other ways of keeping things cool and dry. Newspaper to catch surface humidity and the lowest part of the house, some where on the floor, is always going to be the coolest as cold air sinks. Not ideal but it's all we got.

On your root crops...how long did it take for them to flower? It took my Lettuce a little over two months total. We could care less about saving seed from Lettuce in a SHTF scenario but the opportunity presented itself so I took it and I learned a few things. How long does it take for root crops like Carrots and Beets and Cole Crops like Broccoli and Cabbage to flower out? I plan on letting a few of these "go" this fall to watch the process but would like to hear your experience.

Lady...I really got nothing on the potatoes but if it were me, I'd let your potatoes go and see what happens (I'm always game for a new garden experiment). Keep the leaves covered with hay or mulch and see if they "over winter" and start growing again in the Spring. Maybe Raven has better advice.:)

[ladyhk13]

Prepper good idea on the potatoes...got nothing to lose. I never got any flowers from my carrots in order to get seeds so I don't know if I'm doing something wrong? I couldn't get my purple onions to grow either. I have a few that didn't rot or anything but are very small, should I put them in sawdust or something and try to replant them in the spring?

[JustAPrepper]

Lady, Carrots are Biennials. I think that means they need two seasons to produce seed. Did you leave them in the ground long enough?

No help on the Onions. I've tried seed and two different kinds of "Starts". Seeds were a bust so far as was one of the Starts. The other grew but they were very small, about half the size of my fist. They were good and sweet, just very small. The ones that actually worked were green onion looking things from Walmart. No identification but they grew bulbs. The ones that failed were true Onion Starts from Tractor Supply. Big Fat Fail.:(

[ladyhk13]

Prepper, OOOOOOPPPSSSS! Well, guess that would explain the odd carrot in the garden but I still wouldn't know how to harvest the seed from them or when. I guess I'll give up on onions and just use the wild ones that grow in the yard if I have to and learn to eat as the seasons permit. I could dry them I suppose.

[ladyhk13]

Do you have any idea why this thread isn't listed with the other new posts? It looks like no one can see this unless they pull up the food section. When I click on "new posts" this doesn't show so I wonder if this is why no one else is inputting. Ideas?

[bacpacker]

I save a few things so far. It's something I need to do more of. You all have some good info on here.

We usually keep seed from all our winter squash, melons, cantaloupes, peppers, tomato's, beans, okra, peas, cucumbers, corn, most anything heirloom. For potato's we just save back what we harvested and in the spring I cut them up with each pice having an eye. Some of this we pick, cut up and clean out, some dries first. None of it has been much of a big deal.
I just have never tried any of the cole crops, greens, carrots, or any stuff like that. That's what I need to work on.

I have planted potato's in the fall Sept/Oct. I clean out a 4-6" trench and fill the bottom with leaves at least a third of the trench, then put the potato's in, then more leaves. and some dirt op top. They came up the next spring and grew well. All the ones we dug that fall were very clean in the leaves. They were decent, not the best we have ever done, but better than I've had the last 2 years. The wife and I were just talking about planting some next week, if I can find enough seed.

[bacpacker]

I'm saw it on new post. Hmm

[bacpacker]

You to Lady.

[ravensgrove]

Getting things to bolt..which is what you are after...requires heat. So its best if you want to catch seed to plant things out of season actually. So do summer cabbage etc. You'll get minimal return, but they will bolt and you'll get seed. To get seed off carrots leave them in the ground over winter, the top will die back and come back in the spring, as soon as the heat comes it will get a funky flower, most roots are this way. In the fall I plant roots and brasillicas. We will harvest as long as they produce, in the spring they will come back around and bolt as the heat comes and this is when you get seed. Is that clear as mud?

We have a lot of humidity here its WA...lol. I still find if I clutch potatoes in straw and then cover them with tires, they will winter over. A note on seed potatoes....personally seed potatoes suck for me. I even had better luck with a sack of potatoes from the grocery store.

As for onions when are you planting them? The common mistake is planting them in the spring. All bulb sets...bulb onions, garlic, jerusalem artichokes, daffodils, narcissus, tulips et all...should be planted in the cool fall. There is something about a freeze that they actually need. Green onions you can start virtually any time from seed.

[ladyhk13]

Aha! So why do they sell them in the spring???? I'm a retard..............

[ravensgrove]

Because people will buy them LOL. If you go into your local feed or hardware store now...you'll see all sorts of bulbs for planting and various winter wheats etc. This week we planted all of our garlic and onion sets + couple hundred narcissus and red, white, blue tulips for the Hubby.

[JustAPrepper]

Raven, that kind of makes sense about planting out of season to promote bolting BUT...I'm wondering if down the gene pool you wouldn't be promoting plants that bolt too soon or if you might be saving seed from inferior plants since they aren't growing in their optimal climate or conditions. I thought the whole purpose was to save seeds from the best plants to help preserve the line. Your thoughts?

[ladyhk13]

I got some garlic in the ground but pulled a muscle in my neck and shoulder so I've been out of commission for about 3 days now. The garden has been totally taken over with weeds and these tree like things with thorns all over them! They are horrible with huge roots!! I've never seen these in FL so I don't know what they are but they grow fast.
I grew 1 Huckleberry plant as an experiment and it grew really well so I am going to take the berries and harvest all the seeds and put them up. I'll use the seed I already have for next year and rotate each year.
I have such a weed problem here that do you think if I plant my stuff closer together it will choke out some of them?

[bacpacker]

The tree like things you mentioned sound like Locust. We have those around here and the small ones sound just like what you have. Little ones grow quick. Large ones make great fence post. I have several in my vinyard for a arbor set up. I helped my dad put these in the ground when I was 9-10 Years old. He pulled them out when he got rid of the cows 25 years later. There as solid now as they were when I was a kid.
Sorry to hear about the muscle pull. That sucks.

[ravensgrove]

Justa: possibly, clueless that was just how I was taught to do it when I was young, and always have...so there ya go. LOL.

Lady Have you tried mulching? I mulch all my beds to keep the weeds down. I hate weeding. I always suggest if you want to limit using pesticides to plant atleast 50% more than you want to harvest. That way you can just let critters have theirs, insects tend to cluster on one plant so long as you aren't bombarding them with chemicals, at which point they will spread out through your whole crop, looking for unchemical touched plant. You can truly put alot of food in a small square foot, much more than you might think, which does minimize weeds as well. A good point of reference is the Square Ft Gardening series.

[ladyhk13]

Raven: I put down a bed of straw, then dumped all of our grass clippings on top of that...it's almost like walking on a cushion it's so thick! I don't know what else to do. I haven't used any pesticides except for fire ant killer since they took over my raised beds. They were horrible this year too. I actually did the sq ft gardening with my raised beds this year but it didn't do so well so I'm going to try again next year. I even got great soil trucked in that the growers use. I know I probably should water more...I did put in a drip hose but I don't know how good those things actually are.

[ravensgrove]

Is it possible the weeds came in with the soil? When you bring soil in you have to be careful, that happens sometimes and they can over run you. Outside of mulching, planting thick, and working the beds every day...I am not sure what to tell you to keep weeds out.

[ladyhk13]

A couple of years ago I had my husband go to the neighbor to get cow manure and told him to bring dry manure. Well, I went out there and he had dumped about 5 buckets (tractor) of manure that was dry on the outside but green on the inside. DUH! He said "well it was dry" I wanted to scream. So I know ever since then I have been fighting all the grass that was still growing inside the manure and even though I have dumped new good soil on top and straw and grass clippings, and the mulch on the plants the other stuff still grows up from underneath. I don't know how to get rid of it or how long it's going to take to get rid of it. We are going to burn the garden as soon as it all dries and hopefully be able to keep it away from the garlic.
We'll see. Maybe this year it will be better.....between the weeds and the japanese beetles eating my apples it's crazy here!

[ravensgrove]

Oh that explains it...oh no! :(