Cultivating News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", February/March 2008
The Secrets of Successful Seed Collecting
By Mary Meadows
If you're like me and believe that every little seed is precious, but
need a bit of a nudge to do some collection thereof, then hopefully
this article may give you the impetus.
The main focus of seed saving of say, vegetables, is to leave one or
two plants that are very vigorous and healthy (don't be tempted to pick
them) and let them follow their life cycle and set seed. The trick is
to be patient and wait for the plant to exhaust itself, and put all
of its energies into the seeds. As a rule of thumb, certainly with annuals,
the plant will look seriously dead. Assuming the little crawling/flying
insects have not devoured the seeds (paper bags over a cluster of seeds
may save the day), collect when the capsule has dried and the seed is
rattling around inside the capsule.
Collection of vegetable seeds is relatively easy with the seed heads
shaken into a container. Some require a bit more effort to remove the
capsule; others might even require the purchase of a packet of seeds
to identify the seed, as what looks like a seed may in fact be part
of the flower head. If you are saving seed from similar families, e.g.
brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc.) know
that these have a propensity to cross-pollinate. The trick is to either
save one variety a year (each seed will keep 4-5 years), or to stagger
your planting so that the flowering time differs.
Plants that grow from tubers, like turmeric, can in our climate have
a piece broken off and left in the ground when harvesting, ideally in
a new bed. Sweet potatoes grown from cuttings are generally disease-free;
save the tubers (wrap in newspaper or layer in wood shavings), then
in spring set up and plant into a hot bed. Use the vine cuttings from
these plants that have been set out early and started to run, remove
the roots and plant.
When collecting from trees and shrubs, nature will often assist with
your awareness of the maturity of the seed. Fruiting natives that in
nature require birds or brush turkeys to injest the fruit or knock it
off the tree will have reached maturity when the flesh of that fruit
is at its sweetest. Tamarind will crack its outer shell, exposing the
ripe orange/red flesh that is covering the seed, having gone through
a change of colour phase to reach that bright colour. Lilly pilly fruits
on the tree will show test pecks; colour observation will indicate to
the collector when the fruit is ripe (a taste test is also helpful if
the fruit is edible).
The seeds from trees can be collected by picking or by shaking the branches,
remembering to have a ground cloth down if possible to collect the fallen
seeds. With fleshy fruits, pulp and wash seeds making sure they have
been dried and not damaged. If you are propagating lilly pilly (Syzygium
species), the seeds can be left to soak overnight. The next day, the
flesh will come off more easily and they can be planted out. With seeds
contained in cones, keep the seeds in a bag until the cones dry out
and expel the seeds, then store. In general, the best seed grows at
the crown and on the ends of side branches.
Correct storage of the saved seed is critical. Paper bags work well
as a collecting vessel, ideally placed afterwards into a sealed container.
This gives the seeds the advantage of being in the dark and also protected
from predators. Some, like Echinacea purpurea, which comes from a natural
habitat of snow in winter, is stored well in the refrigerator. In fact,
prior to spring propagation I suggest leaving these in the fridge for
at least six weeks. Other seeds can also be stored this way, especially
if they have a short shelf life. Check regularly that the seed has not
become mouldy, always making sure that the seed was very dry before
storage.
The approximate life expectancy of seeds can vary, e.g. basil, pumpkin
and sweet corn is five to seven years, compared to chamomile, caraway,
nettle and parsnip one to two years. In general, small seeds lose their
germinating ability sooner than large seeds - let's not mention cobblers
pegs! One way of testing is to count a sample of dried stored seed,
spread these out between two layers of moist blotting paper (keep moist
with a sprayer), and keep in the dark in a heated box or airing cupboard,
this may take up to three weeks, however, the result will give you an
idea of the life and germination rate of the seeds.
You can also collect seed from produce sold in an outlet like Maple
Street Co-op. I have been known to save seed/rhizomes/bulbs from the
following purchases: capsicum, garlic, ginger, cucumber, pumpkin. Pinto
beans sold for eating also germinated quite well and produced some very
nice beans; I had actually planted them as green manure but was a bit
slow digging them in. Another mini-success was with the propagation
of almond trees; only two germinated, and time will tell if they fruit.
The problem with trees and plants being fiddled with, is that the seed
will revert to the root stock, so saving seed from a delicious lemon
or grapefruit, may in fact produce a bush lemon tree. I propagated seed
from my kafir lime tree and have produced lots of little kafirs with
needles. The host tree is a needle-free kafir grafted onto the original
species (I assume), but as the trees will be grown for leaf, the fruit
is not so important.
Happy collecting - a lot of fun, pleasure and self-satisfaction awaits
you!
• Source: Biodynamics: New Directions for
Farming and Gardening in New Zealand, produced by the New Zealand
Biodynamic Association, published by Random Century New Zealand Ltd.
[From "Maple Street Co-op News", February/March 2008; published by The
Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld
4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]