How do I save seeds?

The process needed to store seeds varies from one plant to another. In most cases, you will have to wait until the end of the growing season to fully mature the seeds. At this time, you can start the process of collection, cleaning and storage of seeds for future planting.

Start identifying fruits, vegetables or flowers from which you want to save seeds. If you have more than one of the same type of plant, identify the most healthy looking race during the growing season. Seed harvest from your most successful plants to increase chances of growing equally healthy plants in the future. For example, if you want to save seeds from peas, beans, squash, cucumber and eggplant, you should leave the vegetables on the plant until it is around the mature phase to eat it. If the plant has pods, they will rattle when the seeds are ready to harvest. Squash should be left until they are very hard, and the cucumbers should remain on the plant until the Kashy begins.

When the seeds are ready for harvesting, you should gently remove them from fruits or vegetables. If the seeds are wet from damp meat of fruit or vegetables, you must clean and dry them. Place the seeds in a container filled with clean water to rinse them. The viable seeds are immersed in the bottom. Discard all the seeds that hover to the top.

Once the seeds are purely rinsed, place them in one layer on a clean screen for drying. Set the seeds to a cold, shady place. If they become too warm or remain in direct sunlight, they may suffer damage.

Some seeds, such as tomato seeds, must ferment before they are cleaned and dried. Leave these seeds in a clean container with pulp fruit and small amount of water. Stir several times a day. After about three days the seeds will be completely separated by viable seeds on the bottom of the container and poor seeds hovering upe. Discard the pulp and the bad seeds and continue to clean and dry good seeds as described above.

Once the seeds you have collected are drying, they are ready for storage. With some vegetables and mostly flowers, the seeds will be dry when you remove them from the plant. Store the prepared seeds in paper envelopes or clean glass containers. Mark them as a plant and a year. In many cases, you can save seeds for two or three years. For the best results, however, you should plant your stored seeds in the next season.