Saving seeds

[Paul M. Cook]

There must be some trick to preparing seeds for storage. I wanted to preserve some seeds from my Red Hmong cucumbers so I let one get really ripe on the vine to the point it was starting to decompose a little. Then I extracted the seeds, washed thoroughly and cleaned up as much of the slippery pulp as I could. Then I set them on a tea towel to dry. They dried up into little shriveled bits that bore almost no resemblance to a seed at all. They sure do not look like they will be viable. Is there something I am missing here?

[Bill who putters]

Sometimes you need a book.

" Seed to Seed " By Suzanne Ashworth

Sometimes you need Charlie or Billy to weigh in.

I like "Plants-a- plenty" but I'm bookish.

So bottom line I'd try to sprout 10 seeds.

[Wallace]

were they fertilized seeds? Sounds like not.

[Billy]

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy

Available at a library near you.

Plants-a-Plenty: How to Multiply Outdoor and Indoor Plants Through Cuttings, Crown and Root Divisions, Grafting, Layering, and Seeds by Catharine Osgood Foster (Hardcover - Jul 21, 1977)

1 new from $93.58 35 used from $0.01 $3.99 shipping

Not available at my library :o(

[brooklyn1]

I don't suggest saving seed from home grown vegetables except as a for-fun experiment. Years ago I've done it but only in a very few instances and by pure luck did my saved seed replicate. One thing I learned is not to use saved seed except in a totally separate garden.

[David Hare-Scott]

This says nothing about the benefits of seed saving and everything about your own inadequacy. It is quite possible to save your own seeds and with a little skill and knowledge to get excellent results.

1) Nobody in their right mind suggests you save seed from hybrids. The books on the subject and posters to this NG have said repeatedly not to. 2 & 3) Unless you plant several cultivars which are capable of hybridisation _and_ they are flowering at the same time there is no need to worry about cross pollination. It is an issue to be considered but it is by no means a show-stopper.

Please stop generalising your own failures of understanding and lack of skills. Just because you failed years ago doesn't mean it can't be done.

For those lurking who may think I am being harsh this is far from the first time brooklyn has been quite misleading.

David

[David Hare-Scott]

I don't suppose you could post a close up picture?

Cucumber seeds sometimes do look rather shrunken although they should still look like a seed. If they are thin this doesn't necessarily mean they are no good. As others have said you need to test them and find out. A fat cucumber should have several dozen (if not hundred) seeds. Even though this is towards the end of your growing season you can afford to waste a dozen to satisfy your curiosity. If they are no good start worrying then about what went wrong.

David

[Irondale]

I think you might have extracted the seeds to soon. Your cucmbers were probably decomposing a little as the seeds were taking in all the nutrients. Try leaving the seeds alone until the cuke is completely dried out and thus help ensuring that the seed has taken from the vine as much that is needed until planting time again. I store my seeds in plastic sandwich bags but leave the bag open. Keep in cool place over winter then back into the ground.

Donna in WA

[Billy]

Amen