Are seeds from veggies as good as store bought?

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hello,

I am going to plant my first vegetable garden this year and wanted to know if I use the seeds from vegetables that I've bought from the store and eaten (ex. Bell Pepper) , will they be as hearty as those seeds you could buy at the store?

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Comments (4)

User
8 years ago
It depends on how you collect, clean, and store them, as well as how viable they were when you collected them, and how well suited the variety is to your garden.Put simply, yes, seeds YOU collect CAN be as good as store bought, but might not be.

For a lot of gardeners, the main advantage to store bought is predictability. The seed company KNOWS (or SHOULD) what genetics are in that packet. How big the tomatoes will be, what colors the moss rose will bloom, how sweet the corn will be, how hot the peppers.

Wanna save your own seeds? You'll need to learn how to take all of those factors into your own hands. The pros of saving your own seeds include tailoring the crop to YOUR garden, saving money, and probably the occasional surprise as you're likely to produce some things that look or taste different than expected.
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
8 years ago
I think the OP is talking about collecting seeds from store bought produce and growing those.

If so, yes, you can. However, you won't know exactly what quality the resulting plants will have. You won't know if the fruit you bought was a hybrid variety, in which case the seeds won't grow true. And you don't know if the fruit you bought was cross pollinated, in which case the seeds won't grow true.

If you don't mind surprises then go right ahead.

Rodney
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Catherine, I just want to clarify that it depends on the store. I work for Wegmans produce, and we buy most all of our squash from local smaller growers in the fall. I've speak to the squash farmer that sells to the location I work at quite often and have saved seeds of squash, that were not hybrid, that have come true. The worry is cross pollination. Though his patches are very large of course there is always that chance. So if you don't have the space to take a chance, buy seed. Remy
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While it is really somewhat questionable to plant seeds from what are almost certainly hybrid tomatoes, since what you get may be a formally edible but unexciting fruit, it should be understood that planting seeds straight out of a plant is not optimal for germination. Mature seeds should be fermented, by placing them in water with some of the pulp and left in a warm place for a week. Then wash off the icky stuff and dry. Tomato seed harvesters know this strategy well. Here's why. When seeds mature, they are naturally encased in a protective gel coating. This is the slippery coating around seeds when they come out of the fruit. That gel coating has a hormone called abscisic acid that actually inhibits germination. That's why when you crack open a mature fruit, the seeds aren't all already sprouting! Microbial fermentation is an easy way to break down that gel, metabolize abscisic acid, and allow germination. Not all seeds have this protective gel. Solanacea and Cucumis commonly do. Some may say that, hey, I can plant mature seeds without fermentation, and they grow fine! That's because sitting moist in soil, especially anaerobically, the gel will break down naturally, But it will require more time, and may not work completely. That gel is natures way of making sure that new seeds don't sprout in the winter, but will wait a while, ideally until spring. FWIW, fermentation can also kill off disease spores.
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User
8 years ago
My previous post was a little too broadly focused... Okay, specifically seeds from produce can work. I've actually been growing a pepper for two years now, decended from a produce section pepper. I'm also growing watermelons decended from a produce section black diamond. Occasionally store bought potatoes will sprout in the fridge and make their way to the garden. It can definately work.

Remember, the seed company got THEIR seeds out of a fruit or a vegetable, too. They just knew more about the pedigree.
Jorge C
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you both oldmobile and theforgottenone1013, it's my first vegetable garden but I'm going to take a shot, I see that i have much more to learn but am looking forward to it. Thanks again for the advice!

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Are seeds from veggies as good as store bought?

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theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)

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Are seeds from veggies as good as store bought?

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theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)

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