saving seeds for next year

15 years ago

Greetings! With the food costs skyrocketing, I was wondering if it would be worth it to purchase seeds now for next growing season.

Here is my thoughts.

Many garden stores are offering many different kinds of seeds at discount prices to clear their shelves now. I can get radish, lettuce, tomato, pepper, carrot, and few other types (cuccumber, squash) at reduced prices. I understand there might be some reduced germination efficency (down to 80%), but my question to all of you with experience is considering the way things are going: is it worth it?

Have you done it before?

Have your done it with annual flower seeds?

Where did you store the seed packets over the winter?

Which types of seeds were MOST successful?

Which types were LEAST successful?

I would appreciate any and all input here.

Thank you and best wishes.

Lawrence

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Comments (5)

dorisl
15 years ago
Im just wondering where are you seeing the seed clearances? The stores I go to just take them off the shelf. The grocery offered them 40% off from the beginning and then just eliminated them before the 4th.

Id be interested in maybe checking those places out.

:)
never-give-up
15 years ago
I can't say that what I did was right according to people who know what they are doing in saving seed, but I put mine in the refrigerator crisper last year. It worked ok for me. I also did this with onion sets purchased this spring. I have kept unsprouted sets in the crisper to plant thoughout this growing season for the green onion tops.

I got some pole bean seeds from a friend over 10 years ago and grew and saved some each year. Then for a number of years didn't have any place to grow them. Last year I was only able to sprout a few and grew those only for seed. (For those years that I couldn't plant I saved them in a paper bag in a closet, which may explain why few sprouted). I put last years seed in the crisper over the winter and they sprouted just fine this year. A long with left over kolrabi, peas, several lettuces, zucchini, summer squash, sweet basil and swiss chard.

There was some skips on some things, but that was true of seeds purchased this year as well. I planted a new package of golden beets and only 3 came up. The red beets planted in the same bed at the same time germinated very well. Go figure.

I didn't expect the old seed to germinate as well so I just saved a few of each to fill in those areas.

I haven't seen any sales around here either. The demand has been very high for seed, so what little is on the shelves is there at the same price. Buying for next year is an interesting idea though. No doubt the high demand will raise the price next year as it usually does. Got to give that some real thought.

As my next way of figuring out how to save money I am looking for more things like my pole beans that I can save my own seeds from.

Johnnys seed packet for parsnips said that the seed doesn't keep well.

Thanks for the idea lroberge. Something to think about.
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One year old seeds are young! I wouldn't hesitate a second to buy this season's seeds to grow next year. I winter-sowed numerous OLD seeds this Spring, including Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Savory, parsley, Basil, Chile peppers, and I direct-sowed tall red Zinnias that were packed for 1991! They all sprouted and are growing fine. Note that I store my seeds in zipper bags in a produce drawer in the refrigerator, and this no doubt helps to preserve their viability. Usually throw the moisture-absorber things from vitamins or where ever in the drawer with them. Before using the seeds, I performed a germination test on 3 types of seeds back in April. This included Cucumbers, Beefsteak tomato, and Chili peppers, packed for 1997 and 1998. I put 4 seeds from each in a plastic container lined with paper towels and spritzed them to keep them moist. Stored them in a dark warm place. The final results - Cucumber Hybrid slicing, Johnny's Selected seeds, Packed for 1998 - 4 out of 4 sprouted - 1 deformed sprout Tomato Big Beef, Shepherd's seeds, Packed for 1997 - 3 out of 4 sprouted Chile Peppers Ancho San Luis, Shepherd's seeds, Packed for 1997 - 4 out of 4 sprouted
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Green pods are debatable as far as seed maturity goes.Green isn't good-not ripe. Lemon Drop-C. Baccatum needs to be Yellow. Red pods might be ok for the Cochiti. Why did you pick green pods? Weather? Baccatums seem to grow fast but pods take forever to ripen. Might have Lemon Drop seeds but not sure if I have Aji Limon(chinense) or Lemon Drop/Aji Lemon (c.Baccatum). E mail me for trade or?Maybe-have to check stocks. If the Lemon drops are Baccatum they overwinter well in a hanging basket in a window. Depending how big your plant is,trim it down and put it in a hanging basket...Might get pods year round.
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There is absolutely no greater joy in the world for my dog than when I open up the kitchen door to let her out and she sees "The SQUIRREL!!!" Before I can finish saying 'Run him off!' she is down the steps and halfway across the yard chasing Mr. Squirrel as he runs along the top of the stockade fence. Lizzy spends most of the year sitting alert in the garden, overseeing her world and protecting it from little grey interlopers. She is the hard working watch dog, forever protecting precious tomatoes from those who would threaten them as they grow. Here is a link that might be useful:
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Edie, I don't know which specific blight you're talking about b/c its just a general word suggesting a sick tomato plant. But if you're talking about the two most common fungal foliage diseases, Early Blight and Septoria Leaf spot, all might be well. Both can be seed borne so what you need to do is to ferment the frut guts, I think you know how to do that, b'c doing that removes not all, but most of any of those two pathogens from the seed coat. And since infection is a quantitative process, there are usually not enough left to cause infection. If it's the two most common bacterial foliage pathogens,Bacterial Speck and Spot, that's a different story since to date the bacterial pathogens looked at reside not on the seed coat, but within the seed in the endosperm. Hot water treatment is used for those bacterial ones, but as is oft said, don't try this at home and I won't go into the details. Hope that helps Carolyn
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brockthegreek
15 years ago
Howdy,
You asked about annual seeds. I planted some Celosia seeds this year that I have had for 16 years. They were stored on a shelf away from direct sunlight in my kitchen. As the picture shows, I had a nice germination rate. I planted four 8 inch containers and all of them had a 50% or greater germination rate.
BTG
{{gwi:15962}}
dorisl
15 years ago
those are soooooooooo cute! love em!

BTW, Im growing some oregano this year that was packed for year 2000.

Germinated in only a couple days!
hiddenjungle
15 years ago
Hopefully this shows up just asked this question on another forum, but i did have another question how do you store them? Thanks, and hope this helps some of you if it shows up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvesting seeds

saving seeds for next year

Comments (5)

dorisl

never-give-up

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brockthegreek

dorisl

hiddenjungle

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