Have you ever harvested your own seeds?
By lynnemg
@lynnemg (4529)
United States
August 15, 2009 12:27pm CST
Planning to have an indoor greenhouse this year, I was wondering if any of you have ever harvested your own seeds for planting. I know a little about it and think that with enough trial and error, I can figure it out pretty well, but advice on getting the best seeds would be greatly appreciated from any of you that have done this already.
Thank you in advance for your help.
2 people like this
5 responses
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
16 Aug 09
Yes, I saved seeds from vegetables I bought at the store and from some tomatoes I grew last year. The tomatoes didn't come up for some reason and instead of butternut squash I got crookneck squash which is a seedy gourd. I probably didn't do it correctly because I have a gardening friend who saves seeds from his produce and year after year he has an awesome garden! The seeds he sent me from his romaine lettuce produced some wonderful salad!
@Raven1 (577)
• Australia
16 Aug 09
I bought a small home-use worm farm which is just a composting bin with worms in it. It makes excellent fertilizer and worm casting make any seeds grow easily.
I put all my food scraps into the composting bin and the worms help to germinate the seeds. Then I take out any seedlings that have sprouted and put them in the garden. I have as many vegetables as I want all year round :)
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
15 Aug 09
hi lynnemg not for years but I remember as a teen helping my dad take melon seeds out of the melon remains, and dry them and save them in marked envelopes.I know he only saved seeds from the plants that had born the best fruit or veggies as the case may be.
My folks didnt save tomato seedsinstead they always bought started seedlings as my dad said it was actually cheaper and you got to pick sturdy fruit bearing plants. I think the one thing to remember is only save seeds from veggies or fruits that were really well developed and free from Any flaws.
@katsalot1 (1618)
•
15 Aug 09
It's always worth a try, but one thing I do know is that the new seedlings are unlikely to be the same as the parents. Seeds that you buy now have been produced from a selected combination of plants so that ensures that you get what you see on the packet. The seeds produced by the plants that you grow from new seeds will revert back to a previous generation. That sounds very complicated, but what I mean is - if you collected the seeds of a tomato, they would still come up as tomatoes, but wouldn't be exactly the same as the plant that you collected them from. Sorry, I hope you can make sense of that!
• India
15 Aug 09
yes that will be alright, the seeds will be sold outside you have to purchase and keep that in you indoor greenhouse and this is the best thought you have got me also doing the same but im not having that much expenditure on greenhouse. So, please buy the seeds and keep that in your greenhouse. All the best for your planning of indoor greenhouse