Raising and saving seed is obviously not for everyone. The gardenerwhose only aim is to grow a few backyard vegetables is certainly notinterested. That gardener to whom the height of adventure is trying anew variety will certainly back away. But the avid gardener who enjoys achallenge, who likes to try something different, who wonders about the"why" of how plants grow - - this person should probably try raising seed. There will be failures, problems and disappointments, but these will onlymake successes that much sweeter.
Gardeners will face discouraging arguments about raising their ownseed, both in what they read and from conversations with other gardenersand horticulturists. These precautions and arguments should be heededand close attention paid to some of the obvious pitfalls, such as:
1. You shouldn't save seed from hybrid vegetables because they won'tproduce true in the next generation. This is indeed a fact. To understandthis completely, you must understand what a F-1 hybrid is. The simplestway to define an F-1 hybrid is to take an example. Let us say a plantbreeder observes a particularly good habit in a plant, but with poorflower color, and in another plant of the same type he sees good color butpoor habit. The best plant of each type is then taken and self-pollinated(in isolation) each year and, each year, the seed is re-sown. Eventually,every time the seed is sown the same identical plants will appear. Whenthey do, this is known as a 'pure line.'
If the breeder now takes the pure line of each of the two plants heoriginally selected and cross pollinates the two by hand the result isknown as an F-1 hybrid. Plants are grown from seed produced and theresult of this cross pollination should have a good habit and good color.
This is the simplest form of hybridization; there are complications, ofcourse. A completely pure line can sometimes take seven or eight yearsto achieve. Sometimes, a pure line is made up of several previouscrossings to begin to build in desirable features and grown on until it istrue before use in hybridization.
To summarize, an F-1 hybrid is the result of crossing two pure linesto achieve the desired result. This seems a lot of trouble to go to butthere are definite advantages. Scientific and accurate breeding programshave made it possible not only to bring out the outstanding qualities ofthe parent plants, but in most cases. these qualities have been enhancedand new desirable characteristics added to the resultant hybrid plants. In addition to qualities like good vigor, trueness to type, heavy yields andhigh uniformity which hybrid plants enjoy, other characteristics such asearliness, disease resistance and good holding ability have beenincorporated into most F-1 hybrids. Uniform plant habit and maturity,coupled with uniformity in shape or size have made hybrid vegetablesextremely suitable for mechanical harvesting.
We can't expect to get all these advantages for nothing. Becausecreating F-1 hybrids involves many years of preparation to create purelines and these pure lines have to be constantly maintained so that the F seed can be harvested each year, seed is more expensive. The problem iscompounded because to ensure that no self pollination takes place, all thehybridizing of the two pure lines sometimes has to be done by hand. Soyou often have to pay more for your seed or get fewer in a packet. Seedis often collected by hand too to ensure that each plant is as productiveas possible.
It is not only the gardeners who benefit, there are advantages for theplant breeders too. With ordinary varieties anyone can grow them andcollect the seed which can then be re- sown in the garden or, on a largerscale, sold. So a plant breeder who puts a lot of work into creating avariety which is not an F-1 hybrid can soon find someone else selling itand getting a share of the financial reward. But seed collected from a F1 hybrid will not produce plants the same as those from which
it is collected. Only by crossing the pure lines can the variety be made -and only the original breeder has the necessary pure lines. However,there are many open-pollinated varieties of vegetables that were growingsuccessfully long before the hybrids came along and which can beduplicated by saving seed.
2. It is difficult for the home gardener to isolate varieties andstrains to avoid unwanted cross-pollination. Cross-pollination can be amajor problem if the gardener works in the midst of many other gardenswhere he has no control over what is being grown around him.
3. Unwanted cross-pollination and faulty selection of parent plantsresult in the gradual deterioration or "running out" of the seed. If youstill want to try your hand at growing some seed at home, then ordinarycultural practices necessary for the production of good qualityhome-grown vegetables are usually adequate for seed production. In fact,the seed saved are by- products of the vegetables planted for table use.
In the case of seed saving, a part of the row or maybe a few plants inthe row are tagged as those to be allowed to produce seed. Thevegetables of designated plants will be allowed to remain until mature onthe plant.
Extreme care should be taken to prevent mixing of varieties. Forexample, if you want to save squash seed, then plant only one type ofsquash in your garden. You should also realize that there are somevegetables that are not valuable or practical for saving seed such ascarrots, beets, radishes and mustard.
Following are some simple directions on how to save seed from someof the most commonly grown garden vegetables:
BEANS (all kinds)- Allow the seed to thoroughly mature on the plant, usually indicated by size of the seed in the pod or by the color of the pod. Pull the entire plant early in the morning and place it in the shade to dryout. This will prevent the pods from splitting open and the beans fromshattering.
CUCUMBERS - Cross pollination occurs in cucumbers. This meanspollen is transferred from a plant of one variety to a plant of anothervariety. This is done by insects. Although it does not affect the fruitborne this season, if you save the seed and plant them next year, theplants that come from these seeds will be different. So will the fruit. So, if you want to save cucumber seed, plant only one variety. Selectstrong, healthy cucumber plants and well-formed fruits. Let the fruitshang on the vine until ripe (skin becomes yellowish and hard). Then handle like the process for tomatoes given below.
EGGPLANT - When the eggplant fruit has obtained maximum size andshows some evidence of browning and shriveling, it is ready to beharvested for seed. Split open, remove the seed and wash thoroughly toremove all pulp. Spread out in the sun to dry quickly as moist seed willbegin to germinate overnight if left in a damp condition. Store in a cool,dry place.
OKRA - Okra pods should be left on the stalk until brown and wellmatured. Remove the pods and place them in the shade until thoroughlydried. Although the seed may be removed from the pod, it is generallybest to store them in the pod until ready for planting at which time thepods may be split open and the seed removed. Pods harvested too greenwill not store well and are likely to split, shattering the seed.
PEPPERS - Pepper should be allowed to ripen until they become red. Cut the pepper pod in half and scrape the seed from a cavity onto a pieceof paper. Spread out the seed and dry thoroughly before placing in astorage container.
SOUTHERN PEAS - Southern peas should be left on the plant untilthoroughly matured, usually indicated by a browning of the pods. The podsshould be picked, spread out in a dry area and cured for a week or two,then shelled.
SQUASH - If seed are to be saved from squash, grow only one variety inthe garden. When the outer covering of the squash has become hardened,the seed are generally mature. Split the squash fruit open, scoop out theseed and wash until all pulp is removed. Spread out on newspaper to dry.
TOMATOES - Allow the tomato fruit to thoroughly ripen on the vine. Cut the tomatoes open and remove the seed by squeezing or spooning outthe pulp with seeds into a non-metal container such as a drinking glass orjar. Set the container aside for one or two days. The pulp and seedcovering will ferment so that the seeds can be washed clean with adirected spray of water into the fermented solution. The clean, viableseeds will drop to the bottom of the solution, allowing the sediment topoured off. Several rinsings may be necessary. Then spread the tomatoseed out on a cloth or paper towel to dry. After seed are dry, package,label and date for storage in a cool (refrigerator), dry location.
Who knows - - maybe you will produce a super vegetable which willprevent world starvation!
