How To Save Seed?

[SundayAfternoon]

I'm new to growing things, but I've gotten off to a good start with some packets of vegetable and herb seeds. I was also quite surprised to see some dried red chillis that I planted in a pot are now producing their own, lethally hot looking green chillis! (I might sound odldy surprised... but this is all new to me, and I'm totally excited by it!) It opens up a whole new world of growing stuff!

What I'd really like to do is save some seeds from some basic staples that I use everyday cooking at home. I'm thinking: tomatoes, limes, garlic, avocado... Can you just plant the seeds from the vegetables or fruit straight into the ground or in a pot, (as I did with the dried chilli) or do you have to dry them first? If so, how? And, if the plant doesn't have obvious seeds, like Parsley, or Lettuce how do you get the seeds?

Any advice on saving seeds would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[loong]

You should put toms in a jar with some water and allow to ferment for 3 or 4 days. Put a polythene bag over the top secured with a rubber band. Warm place but not in direct sun. When ready, you should be able to separate the gelatinous stuff and seeds quite easily. Put the seeds on a paper plate and sun dry. should only take 1 day. If you don't have a paper plate, you can dry on tissue, but the seeds will stick to it, so you will have to make sure that the seeds are separated before they dry. You can roll up the tissue and store it like that, don't try to separate seeds from the tissue when you plant them.

Eggplant and chillis can be done the same way.

Limes, I'm not sure about. I'm pretty sure that most citrus come from grafted plants, so maybe not so good from seed. Somebody else will correct me if I'm wrong

Garlic - good luck with that. I've never had any success!

Advocados, no idea.

Parsley? If you are talking about the parsley that we get in UK, I think no chance. If "Thai" parsley, seeds are available and cheap enough.

Lettuce and any leafy green vegetable, if you leave them, they will flower and form seed pods. Usually, if you check them, (before watering) the pods will look dry and you will hear a slight rattle if you shake them. I usually cut the stems with the seed pods and put them in a bucket to dry fully, or you can sun dry for a few days. When they are dry, I give them a bit of rough treatment (rub them between my fingers) and you will have a mixture of the seeds and dry pods in the bucket. Personally, I don't bother to try and separate them, after all I have thousands of seeds. I sow the seeds with the dry pods and thin out later.

When keeping seeds for a while, it's a good idea to either put some water absorbing crysals or a few grains of rice to keep them dry. Keep them as cool as possible in a dark cupboard. Watch out for mice.

Any seed that comes from a hybid is not likely to give the results that you expect as will probably revert to one of the parents or simply not grow!

[loong]

Sorry, I meant to say that with toms, you can take a fresh tom and simply mash it on top of the soil. Cover with a very small amount of soil and protect from full sun for a while. Nature will do the work for you.

[David48]

Use a Condom ?

OK ... I'll get my Coat.

[Jotham79]

The fruit trees should be purchased and come from grafting, but can take a few years to bear. I don't know of any avocados growing, but they may be grown in the south. If you have the room you could get a Thai lime and a Khaffir sp lime. Much of the garlic is grown at the end of the rainy season starting in Nov or Dec and held over from year to year. Some of the garlic types, especially the larger ones, are hard to grow except where it is cooler. Thai bunching onions do better through the year, just put an onion in the ground. Most vegetables will go to seed if you leave them alone long enough, but you don't always get the best seed that way. Many seed stores now have a selection of seeds in small packets and if not you can often find someone in a large market area selling small amounts of seeds for a few baht a bag. Lemon grass is grown buy getting some fresh with the roots and just planting in the gound. If you can find ginger (king) or it's cousin (kah) freshly dug, just plant it, but the ginger seems to like the mountains. Herbs will usually seed very well so basil, coriander, and fennel will work good if you just make a small bed and leave them and only cut what you need and leave some alone.

To me all seasoning are better fresh and most are easy to grow around the house. Papaya are pretty easy to grow from any seeds and don't take up much space.

[SundayAfternoon]

Great, thanks for the replies Loong, and Jotham.

Seriously, David, why don't you get your coat and leave this discussion. Really, grow up, or stay away. For heavens sake, eh!

I will try to save some Tomato seeds, just for fun and couriosity, more than anything else. I like the idea of Lemongrass and Papaya too (how long does Papaya take to bear fruit though - I'm thinking a while from seed?

Also, I'm sure my store bought toms are hydroponically grown - will this make a difference? And, who knows if they use Monsanto 'sterile' type seeds, etc.

Is there a prefered variety to use to try to grow at home?

[Jotham79]

Papaya will take 6-8 months from seeds but will bear until they get so tall they fall down. The small ones called Hawaii and the medium ones they call Holland don't take up quite so much room. Buy one tomato at a local (Thai) market and it should give you all teh fertile seeds you need.

Here are some other things you can try:

Tomatoes, especially small ones will grow from hanging baskets.

you can use concrete rings used in construction to make raised beds of greens or herbs. Empty you can use them to raise a few frogs or catfish. If you are renting, large flower pots may be a better way to go.

[charcoal]

How long do tomatoes take from seed planting to fruit?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect App

[loong]

How long do tomatoes take from seed planting to fruit?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect App

My experience in Thailand, depending on the variety, can be anywhere between 10 and 16 weeks.

[SundayAfternoon]

Papaya will take 6-8 months from seeds but will bear until they get so tall they fall down. The small ones called Hawaii and the medium ones they call Holland don't take up quite so much room. Buy one tomato at a local (Thai) market and it should give you all teh fertile seeds you need.

Here are some other things you can try:

Tomatoes, especially small ones will grow from hanging baskets.

you can use concrete rings used in construction to make raised beds of greens or herbs. Empty you can use them to raise a few frogs or catfish. If you are renting, large flower pots may be a better way to go.

Tomatoes in hanging baskets sounds like a great idea and I love papaya. I will try drying the seeds out from the next one I have. Thanks for the ideas.

[Scoop1]

Storing Tomato Seed.

Tomato seeds will store under the corrrect conditions for about 3-4 years, after this time they will start to lose viability, the dry seeds should be stored in small air and moisture proof containers or sachels and stored in the refrigerator from 0-4 degrees , as this temperature slows the respiration rate of the seed, warm temps and high humidity around the seed will shorten its viable life and rapidly speed up seed ageing, the decreased oxygen inside the sealed sachel or container also acts to slow down the rate of repiration and further prolong the viable shelf life of the seed. It is temperature that mostly determines the rate of chemical reaction within the seed including the rate of respiration. Once the sealed container is opened and is no longer air tight the seed is exposed to increased oxygen and humidity and this will also speed up the the rate of respiration and lower the expected shelf life. So its is a good idea to store only the amount of seed you need to plant out in seperate containers , so you dont break the seal in the containers containing the seed that you dont need, a safe seed moisture level for sealed storage is about 5.5%. Seed extraction should only come from at very least mature green fruit, seeds will germinate best in complete darkness at a temperature of 20-24 degrees and germination rates are less at temps of 15 degrees { lowest ] and 35 degrees [ highest ] a sterile media can also be used in the germiniation process if its available, seeds can also be dusted with a fungicide before planting if you are that way inclined.

Cheers

Scoop