Although most horticulturists and plant breeders do not recommend 
home gardeners grow their own seed, it's a definite fact that seeds 
of many vegetables grown under garden conditions will generally prove 
satisfactory for later planting. They become adapted to your own 
soil and climate, and most times will out produce those you purchase 
commercially.

The seedmen don't want you to save your own, just buy theirs'.

Raising and saving seed is obviously not for everyone. The gardener 
whose only aim is to grow a few backyard vegetables is certainly not 
interested. 

That gardener to whom the height of adventure is trying a new variety 
will certainly back away. 

But the avid gardener who enjoys a challenge, who likes to try 
something different, who wonders about the "why" of how plants grow; 
this person should probably try raising and saving their own garden 
seed. There will be failures, problems and disappointments, but these 
will only make successes that much sweeter. 

Gardeners will face discouraging arguments about raising their own 
seed, both in what they read and from conversations with other 
gardeners and horticulturists. These precautions and arguments should 
be heeded and close attention paid to some of the obvious pitfalls, 
such as:

1. You shouldn't save seed from hybrid vegetables because they won't 
produce true in the next generation. This is indeed a fact. To 
understand this completely, you must understand what a F-1 hybrid is.

The simplest way to define an F-1 hybrid is to take an example. Let 
us say a plant breeder observes a particularly good habit in a plant, 
but with poor flower color, and in another plant of the same type he 
sees good color but poor habit. The best plant of each type is then 
taken and self-pollinated (in isolation) each year and, each year, 
the seed is re-sown. Eventually, every time the seed is sown the same 
identical plants will appear. When they do, this is known as a 'pure 
line.' 

If the breeder now takes the pure line of each of the two plants he 
originally selected and cross pollinates the two by hand the result 
is known as an F-1 hybrid. Plants are grown from seed produced and 
the result of this cross pollination should have a good habit and 
good color.

Plants grown commercially for mass sale, generally have the same 
variety of that particular crop. Even in hybrids, most likely saved 
seed will come back somewhat true to type with the added plus of 
being adapted to your own soil and growing conditions. And each year 
you save seed from a particular variety, it will keep improving until 
it adapts to soil, climate, temp extremes, and maybe even the sound 
of your voice and tlc you give them. This isn't true in all cases, 
but under correct practices, you can count on almost a 50% chance of 
getting exactly the same plant as the hybrid you grew: just one step 
better. (Based on Jon's experiments over 40+ years.)

This is the simplest form of hybridization; there are complications, 
of course. A completely pure line can sometimes take seven or eight 
years to achieve. Sometimes, a pure line is made up of several 
previous crossings to begin to build in desirable features and grown 
on until it is true before use in hybridization.

To summarize, a F-1 hybrid is the result of crossing two pure lines 
to achieve the desired result. This seems a lot of trouble to go to 
but there are definite advantages. Scientific and accurate breeding 
programs have made it possible not only to bring out the outstanding 
qualities of the parent plants, but in most cases these qualities 
have been enhanced and new desirable characteristics added to the 
resultant hybrid plants. In addition to qualities like good vigor, 
trueness to type, heavy yields and high uniformity which hybrid 
plants enjoy, other characteristics such as earliness, disease 
resistance and good holding ability have been incorporated into most 
F-1 hybrids. 

Not taste!

Uniform plant habit and maturity, coupled with uniformity in shape or 
size have made hybrid vegetables extremely suitable for mechanical 
harvesting, and shipping vast miles away from the growing areas.

We can't expect to get all these advantages for nothing. Because 
creating F-1 hybrids involves many years of preparation to create 
pure lines and these pure lines have to be constantly maintained so 
that the F seed can be harvested each year, seed is more expensive. 
The problem is compounded because to ensure that no self pollination 
takes place, all the hybridizing of the two pure lines sometimes has 
to be done by hand. So you often have to pay more for your seed or 
get fewer in a packet. Seed is often collected by hand too to ensure 
that each plant is as productive as possible. 

And, it's possible for you to create your own F-1 F-2 or even F-900 
hybrid.

With heirloom varieties anyone can grow them and collect the seed 
which can then be re-sown in your garden or, on a larger scale, 
traded or sold. In most instances, these old varieties aren't fit for 
shipping, nor can they be readily trucked cross country without being 
destroy.

Taste suffers when heirlooms aren't grown.

A plant breeder who puts a lot of work into creating a variety which 
is not an F-1 hybrid can soon find someone else selling it and 
getting a share of the financial reward. But seed collected from a F 
1 hybrid will not produce plants exactly the same as those from which 
it is collected. Only by crossing the pure lines can that exact 
variety be made - and only the original breeder has the necessary 
pure lines.

These are advantages for the plant breeders. 

However, there are many open-pollinated varieties of vegetables that 
were growing successfully long before the hybrids came along and 
which can be duplicated by saving seed. 

2. It is difficult for the home gardener to isolate varieties and 
strains to avoid unwanted cross-pollination. Cross-pollination can be 
a major problem if the gardener works in the midst of many other 
gardens where he has no control over what is being grown around him.

Like in a community garden, or in the City with other gardens close 
at hand.

3. Unwanted cross-pollination and faulty selection of parent plants 
result in the gradual deterioration or "running out" of the seed. If 
you still want to try your hand at growing some seed at home, then 
ordinary cultural practices necessary for the production of good 
quality home grown vegetables are usually adequate for seed 
production. In fact, the seed saved are by- products of the 
vegetables planted for table use.

In the case of seed saving, a part of the row or maybe a few plants 
in the row are tagged as those to be allowed to produce seed. The 
vegetables of designated plants will be allowed to remain until 
mature on the plant.

Extreme care should be taken to prevent mixing of varieties. For 
example, if you want to save squash seed, then plant only one type of 
squash in your garden. You should also realize that there are some 
vegetables that are not valuable or practical for saving seed such as 
carrots, beets, radishes and mustard, according to the professionals.

But early day gardeners saved any and all seed for they weren't 
available at the corner farm store during pioneer days. Often, seed 
was used like money is today.

Following are some simple directions on how to save seed from some of 
the most commonly grown garden vegetables:

BEANS (all kinds)- Allow the seed to thoroughly mature on the plant, 
usually indicated by size of the seed in the pod or by the color of 
the pod. Pull the entire plant early in the morning and place it in 
the shade to dry out. This will prevent the pods from splitting open 
and the beans from shattering. 

CUCUMBERS - Cross pollination occurs in cucumbers. This means pollen 
is transferred from a plant of one variety to a plant of another 
variety. This is done by insects. Although it does not affect the 
fruit borne this season, if you save the seed and plant them next 
year, the plants that come from these seeds will be different. So 
will the fruit. So, if you want to save cucumber seed, plant only one 
variety. Select strong, healthy cucumber plants and well-formed 
fruits. Let the fruits hang on the vine until ripe (skin becomes 
yellowish and hard). Then handle like the process for tomatoes given 
below.

EGGPLANT - When the eggplant fruit has obtained maximum size and 
shows some evidence of browning and shriveling, it is ready to be 
harvested for seed. Split open, remove the seed and wash thoroughly 
to remove all pulp. Spread out in the sun to dry quickly as moist 
seed will begin to germinate overnight if left in a damp condition. 
Store in a cool, dry place. 

OKRA - Okra pods should be left on the stalk until brown and well 
matured. Remove the pods and place them in the shade until thoroughly 
dried. Although the seed may be removed from the pod, it is generally 
best to store them in the pod until ready for planting at which time 
the pods may be split open and the seed removed. Pods harvested too 
green will not store well and are likely to split, shattering the 
seed. 

You can string okra pods like you do peppers and keep near your cook 
stove, or in your attic close to the chimney as did early american 
farmers and gardeners who HAD to grow their own food or trade what 
they had for things they needed. There was little actual money in the 
early days.

PEPPERS - Pepper should be allowed to ripen until they become red. 
Cut the pepper pod in half and scrape the seed from a cavity onto a 
piece of paper. Spread out the seed and dry thoroughly before placing 
in a storage container.

SOUTHERN PEAS - Southern peas should be left on the plant until 
thoroughly matured, usually indicated by a browning of the pods. The 
pods should be picked, spread out in a dry area and cured for a week 
or two, then shelled.

SQUASH - If seed are to be saved from squash, grow only one variety 
in the garden. When the outer covering of the squash has become 
hardened, the seed are generally mature. Split the squash fruit open, 
scoop out the seed and wash until all pulp is removed. Spread out on 
newspaper to dry.

TOMATOES - Allow the tomato fruit to thoroughly ripen on the vine. 
Cut the tomatoes open and remove the seed by squeezing or spooning 
out the pulp with seeds into a non-metal container such as a drinking 
glass or jar. Set the container aside for one or two days. The pulp 
and seed covering will ferment so that the seeds can be washed clean 
with a directed spray of water into the fermented solution. The 
clean, viable seeds will drop to the bottom of the solution, allowing 
the sediment to poured off. Several rinsings may be necessary. Then 
spread the tomato seed out on a cloth or paper towel to dry. After 
seed are dry, package, label and date for storage in a cool 
(refrigerator), dry location.

Who knows - - maybe you will produce a super vegetable which will 
prevent world hunger.


