Deep South Homestead
Deep South Homestead community with Danny and Wanda.
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Seed saving question
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Seed saving question
Wanda and Danny or anyone else have you heard of a possiblity of something being sprayed to make it difficult to save seeds and them germinate next garden season? Ive had a friend ask if I have heard of this, it doesnt surprise me if so but I didnt have an answer so I said I would try and find out. This is my first year seed saving and I have back ups so I will be testing my saved seeds next year regardless but was curious to see if anyone knew. Thanks in advance!
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17 Replies
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I’ve not heard of anything be sprayed on but do know that seeds have been made into sterile seeds (meaning the seeds from a plant or first-generation seeds can be made sterile via GMO processes and some seeds sold now, produce the vegetable or fruit with no seeds in them. I’ve been saving seeds for over 35 yrs. and am so glad we have a good working knowledge of how to do so and a good stockpile of OP seeds. I did some informal testing on germination rates of some of our old seeds, some as old as 10 yrs. old up to 5 yrs. old and the conclusion was the oldest seeds had an 82% germination, except for the parsnip seeds, they had 5% or less. All of our starts were grown from 10 yr. old, 7, 6 and 5 yr. old seeds and our garden is thriving, PTL! Maybe we could start up a seed exchange by growing zones?
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That is awesome germination rate for such old seeds wow!! I told another person I am ashamed to say I have not seed saved until this year, Ive been gardening for years! It is so simple, going forward I will continue to do so! Excited to hear the amazing germination rate!
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How do you store your seeds for so long? I would imagine most of them would be refrigerated.
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I store seeds in an old pickle jar in the fridge. Last year(2021) I planted some from 2002 and had about 90% overall germination rate except for some lettuce which only had about a 10% rate. The tomatoes had a 100% and so did all of the flowers.
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I suggested the same thing KelleinMT, maybe over in the States forums, or maybe they can do a growing zones forum for a seed swap. That may be my good idea for the day.
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I would like a seed exchange.
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I like that idea as well! This morning I was saving Mexican Sunflower seeds 🌻 {red, ornamental}, the plants have such beautiful flowers which the monarch butterflies love as much as I do. My first time growing them this year. Harvesting lots of seed.
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That sounds like a great idea!
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Have any of you ever used your local library for seed sharing. Blount County TN has a card catalog and all the drawers are stocked with swap seeds. Has been interesting.
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Our library here in Mesa, AZ has a seed catalog. All the seeds are heirloom, which is nice. Also, because we have such a harsh climate and unique planting seasons, the plants you get from these locally-grown seeds are far more likely to succeed. The only thing the library asks is that I harvest and replace the seeds in the catalog at the end of our growing season. Good luck!
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This has been a strange year for me as well. Other than the 7 year old Greasy bean seeds I found at the bottom of my saved seed box From Seed Savers that are giving me over 90 % germination rate. I am not getting good results from fresh bean seed I purchased for this year. If it were not for my saved seeds I would be going through a lot of seed. I am redoubling my seed saving this year and have extra plants going with the sole purpose of seed harvest. I think that’s the only way to insure a steady source.
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I too grew plants for the sole purpose of saving seeds, it is so simple I am ashamed to say I have never seed saved until this year and Ive been gardening for a very long time!
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I was just thinking that a seed swap would be the perfect thing for this site. Like playing go fish. List what you have and list what you want. I bet God can do the rest. Maybe on the states pages would be a good place to start.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Squashmania. Reason: Forgot a detail
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Love this idea!
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I second that!!
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This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by
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sound good, they say it might be hard to get seeds next year,
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I was on the Tag and Bee live chat Friday night and he wanted suggestions – I asked about a seed saving project for Freesteaders – he really like the idea, has been talking about it and knows that it does need to be done. We all understand that he doesn’t have time to take that on, but at the same time – it is important. We all need good seeds.
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