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There is a lot of misinformation out there about how to keep your seeds . fortuitously , we ’re here to raid the most popular myths and do all your questions about source delivery !
The following is an excerpt fromThe Tao of Vegetable GardeningbyCarol Deppe . It has been conform for the web .
Myth #1: You Don’t Have to Read About Seed Saving
“ You do n’t have to read any books about seed saving for do it because Indians did n’t scan any books and they did it . ”
Indians had very sophisticated cultural tradition for how they grew and handled crops that include practical methods for make unnecessary germ and keep varieties double-dyed .
The bookBuffalo Bird Woman ’s Gardendescribes the agricultural patterns of the Hidatsu and Mandan Indians of the upper Midwest in enough item that we can see how they kept their varieties pure .
Buffalo Bird Woman planted unlike varieties in separate block , interspersing block of bean diversity with engine block of corn diverseness to give some forcible closing off to both . She plant five different sort of corn , but each had a dissimilar maturity time and classifiable come type .
The different maturity times helped provide temporal isolation for each corn variety so crosses would be less likely to occur.
And the classifiable seed type made it easier to key out accidental crosses when they did occur and rule out them . Buffalo Bird Woman also made arrangements with neighboring gardenersso that they planted the same variety where their garden were conterminous .
Buffalo Bird Woman did not acknowledge about the role of pollen in plant life replica . She used methods that had been determined to work empirically .
“ Corn travel , ” her people believe . That is what they called it when they see to it the star sign of crossing between Indian corn varieties .
The Hidatsu and Mandan Indians deliberately practiced cultural method acting they had see that minimized corn “ traveling . ”
They knew that the closer two varieties were planted, the more the corn traveled between them.
They knew that corn traveled more readily over clear domain than rugged land.(Trees and President George W. Bush break up current of air patterns so pollen spreads less readily . )
Buffalo Bird Woman learned how to keep her variety saturated as part of the agricultural traditions of her culture . In addition , she grew declamatory enough stoppage of each variety that most of the seeds she save from the crop would be from the Interior Department of the pulley block or else of the bound .
Seeds from the Department of the Interior of a tidy block of one kind are least likely to be span with other varieties . Many European or groundbreaker American farmers grew only one kind of many crops , and grew it on a big enough scale so that it run to be self - isolated .
Myth #2: You Won’t Get Crosses
“ You wo n’t get crosses if you use the recommended isolation distances for various crops . ”
Sorry . No . Generally , the further aside two varieties are the less they cross , but it ’s a matter of academic degree , not absolutes . You will unremarkably still get some crossbreeding at the recommended distances .
How much isolation distance you postulate with any crop look not just on the tendency of the craw to outcross but also on how large your planting is , how declamatory the plantings of possible sources of contamination are , how important a few outcrosses would be , how pure the variety is as it suffer , wind patterns , pollinator pressure , and other factors .
In improver there are many tricks that can be used to isolate crop other than distance . And in many event being able to pick out and eliminate crown of thorns is easier and more practical than fend off them .
Myth #3: Plant Similar Varieties Near Each Other
“ If you have a phone number of variety that might sweep and are doing seed saving , it ’s best to set the miscellanea that look similar near each other . ”
No . This stock practice does n’t glower the rate of contaminating crosses but instead makes it more difficult or impossible to recognize and eliminate unwanted crosses when they do come . You are most probable to fall behind miscellanea when there have been crosses that you initially can not spot .
It’s better to plant the varieties that are most different next to each other.
If you plant a dome variety with purple plant life next to one with green plants , for model , loan-blend will usually be pink .
Next generation , you simply eliminate all the pink plants before they start to blossom . That lets you keep the varieties pure even if there have been cross .
In addition , you will actually acquire something about how many crosses you get in your garden when you plant two kind of that species side by side .
Myth #4: Keep All the Seed
“ When you keep germ to asseverate a form , you just keep all the source . ”
No . You commonly keep seed from only the skillful flora . You must actively get rid of the worst works in every genesis . If you do n’t , the variety will degenerate spontaneously .
There is actually no such affair as “ sustain ” a diverseness . There are always new mutations and accidental hybridization . You have to actively take to maintain a assortment .
( Where a variety is genetically mussy as a result of prior neglect or accidental crosses , you may keep seed from only the sound half the plants , for model . Where a variety is genetically passably clean you may need to obviate only a few plant among hundred or chiliad . )
Myth #5: It’s Obvious What the Best Plants Are
Nope . Sometimes it is . Often it isn’t . “Best ” count on what the variety is supposed to be , not some right-down .
If you just hold launch the biggest fruits you are often selecting for little numbers of fruits , for example . If you pick out the fully grown ear of maize you are likely to choose for lateness if you are n’t careful , as liberal , later plant life often have bigger ears .
It takes deep thought about what the nub of the variety is and what your own needs and wishes are and how those two face might intersect to figure out how to pick out when economize semen of any given variety .
I commonly do n’t save seed the first twelvemonth I maturate a salmagundi . I have to become intimate with the variety first .
Myth #6: Common Beans Don’t Cross
“ coarse beans(Phaseolus vulgaris)are inbreeders and do n’t cut through . So you do n’t have to isolate different bean varieties from each other . ”
Sorry . No . It ’s unfeigned , beans are inbreeders , but nearly all so - called inbreeders still do cross . They simply tend not to do it as ofttimes as the plants we choose to call outbreeders . How much beans cross depends on your region and other term .
If I establish two row of beans of unlike varieties contiguous to each other I will get more than 5 percent crossing . That ’s enough to lose both form completely in a few generations unless I also take measuring to realise and carry off the crosses .
Myth#7: You Can Tell When You Have Crosses
“ you could separate when you have hybridizing on seed like corn or beans . The crossed seed looks different . ”
Sometimes , and only sometimes , this is true for corn whisky . False for bonce . With corn , crosses of blackseeded and yellow - seed variety sometimes do show on the seed .
Black Å~ sensationalistic kernel people of color will commonly ( but not always ) show up as bluish or speckled kernels on the yellow ear , but only sometimes show up well enough to be evident on the black-market ears . Crosses of sweet and field of view corn are always obvious on the sweet ear but not on the field ears .
Crosses of flint corn and flour corn show up on the flint but not usually on the flour .
It depends on which genes are dominant.
Crosses involving pericarp ( skin ) colour on the kernels do n’t show up because the mother works fix the pericarps . The factor in the seed do n’t have anything to do with it .
You ca n’t tell crosses at all on bean seed . With noggin , the skin ( hence bean colour ) is made by the female parent plant , not the semen . So the beans reflect the genes in the mother plant life .
Likewise , the sizing and shape of noodle seed is ascertain largely by the cod , which is also made by the mother plant . So if there are crossing between two attic varieties , you do n’t see any sign of it until you spring up out the resulting semen .
Myth #8: You Should Isolate Crops
“ You should always set apart a give crop by the specified commend isolation distance and produce the specified recommended numeral of plant . ”
Not necessarily . Sometimes you could afford to be pretty occasional . It depends on your role and intent .
If you are sell or distributing seminal fluid you should be rigorous with your isolation distances and figure . If you are the only source for the come , if the smorgasbord ’s entire existence depends on you , you ask to be more even more tight .
If you are saving cum just for yourself , however , and have some backup seed in the freezer , you’re able to be middling casual about everything .
For the squash come I sell , for exemplar , we embed only one variety show of each species in a farm theater that is separate from my rest home garden .
Each variety is isolated by miles from others of the same species.
And there are a hundred or more plants of each variety to keep the heterogeneity and vigor up . However , I’m the breeder for these varieties and the ultimate beginning for the seed .
For squash varieties where I am saving seeded player for just my own use and have backup frozen source , I am quite passing . I grow several varieties of each specie in my domicile garden .
Isolation distances?
Hey , I just put a variety as far from other variety of the same mintage as possible in my house garden and get out it at that .
I may plainly alternate varieties of different squash species to provide a little closing off within each pulley of each mintage .
Numbers of plants?
I grow whatever number I was growing anyway just for food . If the assortment gets traverse up or overly inbred I can go back to my frozen stash for a impudent outset . If I improve the variety , I add the improved interpretation to my seed depository financial institution .
One of the advantages of having a do - it - yourself germ bank is that it give up you to do more seed save with less parturiency and flap .
Recommended Reads
Keeping Seeds Organized : Saving & stash away
save up Dry vs. Wet Seeds : The Seed Series
The Tao of Vegetable Gardening
naturalize Tomatoes , Greens , Peas , Beans , Squash , Joy , and Serenity
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