Seed Saving Methods

Winnowing is more usually considered part of the dry process of separating and cleaning seeds from the remains of the plant material that they grew on – this includes the surrounding pods, fruits and enclosing plant material like stems and leaves. This usually happens when the plant has died or…

Seed Storage Storing Seeds  Seeds are small packages of life containing the embryo of a new plant, along with everything it needs to germinate and begin life. Although they seem dead, seeds are only dormant, still alive and breathing within their hard exterior coat. The best way to ensure seeds are…

It is important that seed be dry before storage. By this we mean not just touch dry on the outside but that the internal moisture content is also low. Why is this important? There are three main reasons we care about seed being properly dry:1. Viable storage period2. Mould damage3.…

Post harvest processing, cleaning and sorting Separating the seeds from plants usually falls into two types of processing techniques: Some fruits and the seeds that are inside them will continue to ripen after being removed from the plant once they have reached a certain stage of development. The seeds can…

Harvesting techniques and tips Harvesting seeds to save is a simple and fun activity, although a bit of patience is required to ensure that the best seeds are harvested at the best time. To ensure you harvest seeds that will be viable and vigorous and produce plants with desirable characteristics…

To ensure the seed we save produces what we expect it to we first need to understand the reproductive method used by the variety we’re planning to save seed from. [More detail on reproductive methods is here] If we are growing a self-pollinating variety then we generally do not need to…