Grow Your Own Vegetable Seeds The Professional Way

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ISOLATION

Commercial growers maintain the genetic purity of their strains of seeds in several ways. One of the most common is to plant mutually fertile crops well apart from one another. The precise distance depends mainly on whether the plants are pollinated primarily by insects or the wind. Insectpollinated vegetables require a minimum separation of 1/4 mile. Wind-pollinated types should be at least 1 to 1-1/2 miles apart.

Few backyard gardeners and small farmers can isolate their crops in this fashion, of course . . . so they must resort to other professional techniques.

The most practical of those "other" methods for use on a small scale are [1] alternate planting, [2] hand pollinating, [3] caging, and [4] roguing.

ALTERNATE PLANTING

You can isolate closely related vegetables in time rather than space! In other words, grow only one variety of radishes (or whatever) for seed in a single season, another variety during the next growing season, etc. By alternating crops in this way, you can propagate several of your favorite strains of any individual crop with little danger of unwanted crosses originating in your garden.

Unfortunately, though, there's nothing to stop the folks down the street from growing a variety of, say, cabbage or pumpkin that is different from yours (and which insects or the wind will cross-pollinate with your strain) . . . so alternate planting can be risky in cities and suburbs. Even so, it should work most of the time because people usually harvest vegetables for the table long before their plants go to seed.

HAND POLLINATION

This foolproof method of obtaining pure, true-to-type seed is ideal for cucumbers, muskmelons, watermelons, squash, pumpkins, peppers, eggplant, and corn . . . all of which have large, easy-to-handle flowers and produce numerous seeds per blossom. (You can also hand-pollinate tomatoes, but since they're almost entirely self-fertilizing, this precaution is seldom necessary.)

The cucurbits (cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins) are insect-pollinated annuals. They have separate male (pollen-producing) and female (ovule-producing) blossoms. You can easily distinguish the two because the female flower includes a swollen ovary just below the petals. The male lacks this organ . . . which will eventually develop into the fruit.

To hand-pollinate, just follow these easy steps:

[1] On the day before a female flower is due to open, fasten it shut with a metal clip or rubber band (or whatever works). This precaution will keep unwanted pollen from fertilizing the blossom.

[2] On the following day, pick a male flower from a different plant . . . and expose the pollen-producing anthers by removing the petals.

[3] Then, open the female flower and gently rub the anthers across the stigma (the enlarged pollen receptacle at the tip of the style, or central stalk within the blossom).

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