Welcome to the world of seed saving!
By learning to save your own seed you are helping preserve biodiversity in our food crops and ecosystems. You are also helping us all take a step toward community resilience and self-reliance. Before you begin saving, please take a moment to learn a bit more about seeds by reading the information below.
What are Seeds?
A plant produces seeds in order to reproduce itself. Just like an egg has to be fertilized to become a new animal, a seed must be pollinated to produce a new plant. Understanding pollination is key to getting seeds to produce the plants you want. Some plants are self-pollinating—the male and female parts are contained within a single flower that fertilizes itself. Other plants, called cross-pollinators, have separate male and female flowers and pollen must travel from one flower to another in order for fertilization to occur.
Saving seeds from self-pollinating plants (e.g. lettuce, tomatoes, beans, peas) is relatively easy and is an excellent gateway into seed saving for beginners. Cross-pollinators are trickier because they can sometimes hybridize with closely related varieties or even species. Take squash and gourds as an example. Though they are different varieties of the same species (Cucurbito pepo), cross-pollination still can occur in some cases, resulting in inedible, unappealing fruit. Saving seeds from cross-pollinators may require advanced knowledge and effort.
Types of Seeds
Heirloom: Heirloom varieties have a history of being passed down over generations, often within individual families or communities. All heirloom seeds are open-pollinated, meaning that pollination occurs naturally. As long as no cross-pollination with closely related varieties occurs, they will “breed true” when saved.
Hybrid: As indicated above, hybridization can occur naturally through cross-pollination. However, commercially available hybrid varieties were selectively bred for specific traits. In both cases, the seeds produced by hybrids do not breed true to type and are typically less vigorous than their parents. Seeds from plants labeled hybrid, F1, or VF should not be saved.
Plant Taxonomy
Botanists classify plants into different groups based on similar characteristics. Learning how different plants are classified and related will help you understand their associated seed saving issues and requirements.
Family: Plant families are characterized by common botanical features. For example, plants within the same familiar have similar reproductive structures (flowers, fruit, seeds) and often share similar appearance and growth habit as well.
Genus: Plants within the same genus are more closely related to one another than they are to other plants within their family. Within-genus crosses are rare but can occur.
Species: A species is a botanically recognized plant with similar fruit, flowers, and leaves. Plants within one species will readily cross with each other.
Variety: The term variety is used to indicate a sub-group of specimens within a species sharing unique, heritable characteristics. For example, broccoli and cauliflower are two varieties of the species, Brassica oleracea.
Cultivar: A sub-grouping of a variety, the term cultivar is used to indicate a sub-group of cultivated plants. For example, ‘Cherokee Purple’ and ‘Green Zebra’ are cultivars of tomato. When we save seeds we usually want to maintain a cultivar or breed a new one.
Example:
Family: Cucurbitaceae (Gourd Family)
Genus: Cucurbita
Species: Cucurbita pepo
Cultivars: Acorn squash, Warted gourd, pumpkin, crookneck squash, zucchini, etc.
