Saving Seeds

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For more information, send an SASE to Seed Savers Exchange, R.R. 3, Box 239, Decorah, IA 52101. (It's a nice touch to also enclose at least a dollar or two as a contribution for time and materials.)

Care and Handling

No matter what kind of seed you're collecting, be sure to pick it when it's dry, not green. Green seeds may contain incompletely developed embryos or may lack sufficient endosperm (stored nourishment) to survive until planting time. Green seed is also more likely to spoil in storage. (If you bag heads of plants that ripen their seed gradually, cut a few slits in the bag for better air circulation.)

If at all possible, gather seeds on a dry, sunny day — and preferably before the weather gets too cold. Frost itself won't hurt most seeds, but the condensation of moisture caused by alternate freezing and thawing might shorten their useful life span.

Even seeds that look and feel dry when you pick them should be spread on newspaper to air-dry for up to a week before packaging. Large seeds like beans and corn benefit from several weeks of air-drying before storage. Never dry seeds in an oven. Prolonged temperatures over 95°F can damage or kill them. And be sure to label your seeds as soon as you can after collecting them, so you don't mix them up during the drying process.

Fig. 13 Winnowing seeds

Beans and many grain seeds must be threshed to knock off the pods. You can eliminate much of the chaff — pieces of broken pods, leaves and stems — that remains by winnowing. To accomplish this pleasant harvest ritual, pour the seed several times from one container to another in a stiff breeze or in front of a fan (Fig. 13). The light, dry stuff will blow away as the heavier seed falls straight down.

Some diseases like bacterial spot are seed-borne. If you've had trouble with such blights in your garden, you might want to heat-treat your seeds to kill the bacteria. A 20 to 30 minute soak in water maintained at 122°F is effective. Use a double boiler (a pot set in a water-filled electric frying pan works well), and keep stirring the seeds throughout the treatment period. Then drain and dry them well.

I wouldn't recommend heat treatments, though, unless you've had a recurring problem with disease. Seeds are alive — every one contains a living embryonic plant — and exposure to moisture and heat will shorten their life span. So it's usually best to simply seal your well-dried seeds in moisture-proof containers and keep them in a cool place. Jars with rubber gaskets, metal film cans or other taped-shut cans all work well. (Don't forget to write labels!) Seed keeps very well in the freezer, especially if packed with a dessicant to absorb extra water. Silica gel works best, at a ratio of one part gel to 10 parts seed. When you remove any pack of freezer-stored seeds, let it dry to room temperature before opening, to prevent condensation of warm air on cold seeds.

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