Planted bush cucumbers this year,how do I save seeds for next year?
Question:Do you always have to buy the seeds or is there a trick for saving seeds for next year?
Answers:
Seed Collecting:
Unblemished fruit must be significantly overripe before harvesting seed; clean and dry seeds
Ferment seeds before storing
Per the site listed
don't bother, you're better off buying seeds.
Why?
because cucumbers cross polinate. Which means that they can mix with other plants around them like squashes and what not. If you've got 2 kids of cuccumbers anywhere near each other, or squash plants around, the seed you get is not likely to come out the same as the original plant.
Moreover, some varieties of plants, especially hybrids, the seeds may not be viable or they may not sprout true, which means that there are varieties that are especially engineered so the seeds will not sprout. This allows the seed company to have control because people have to always buy seed. And like i said, in some hybrids, if the seed is a cross of varieties, the new seeds will not turn into the "hybrid variety", but probably one of the parent varieties.
With that warning,
If you want to save seeds it's easy. Let a few cucumber mature all the way (past eating stage until they get big and turn yellow). Then you take the seeds out and dry them. That's pretty much it:
==============================...
If you grow heirloom vegetables, you will almost certainly save seed. More and more companies are beginning to carry old cultivars in their seed list, but most heirloom gardeners want to ensure their seed supply against changes in fashion. Many also feel that saving their own seed gives them more connection to the entire process of growth and regeneration.
Do not try to save seed from hybrid vegetables. It will not produce plants the same as those from which it is collected. Saving seed can duplicate open-pollinated cultivars, if the crop is not allowed to cross with other strains of related vegetables.
There are several ways that home gardeners can maintain their seed stock without unwanted crossing.
Some vegetables are mainly self-pollinating; their seeds will produce plants like the parent plant that produced the seeds. Beans, peas and peanuts, lettuce, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes are usually self-pollinating. Insects occasionally cross them, so plant them with at least 10 feet between varieties. Beans and tomatoes are very popular as heirloom vegetables partly because they are easily maintained true to type. Vegetables that are cross-pollinated by insects or by wind need to be isolated or raised at a considerable distance from other varieties. This distance may need to be several hundred yards or more, depending on the crop. Onions, cucumbers, corn, pumpkins, squash, broccoli, beets, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, melons, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips are all insect-or wind-pollinated. In a small garden, the easiest way to ensure purity is to grow not more than one variety of a species at a time. If your goal in raising an heirloom variety is to preserve it, you do not want it to cross with something else.
One way to isolate cultivars is to grow them in separate screened cages, or to cover individual flowers with bags and hand-pollinate them. Another method is called time isolation. Time plantings so that different varieties are not flowering at the same time and so cannot pollinate each other.
Choose plants to save seed from before you harvest the rest of the crop to eat. You should choose the healthiest, most productive and most flavorful plants to save for seed. Make sure that you label them clearly for seed to avoid temptation.
Allow seeds to ripen fully before they are harvested. Mature seeds are more likely to grow well than seeds harvested too soon. Strong, healthy plants produce healthier seeds than seed from weak, stressed plants.
Warm, dry conditions while seed matures increases their storage life. It is best to harvest your seeds and bring them inside for final drying as soon as they are fully mature and dry, especially if rains threaten
Most vegetable seeds remain viable for three to five years when stored properly. Place thoroughly dry seed in a tightly closed glass jar and keep the jar in a cool dry location. Put silica gel packets in with the seed to help keep it dry. You can add diatomaceous earth to seed to help prevent insect damage. Store seed in the refrigerator to further increase its life expectancy. To test for germination, sprout seeds between moist paper towels; if germination is low, either discard the seeds or plant extra to give the desirable number of plants.
Long-lived seeds include beets; all cabbage relatives such as broccoli, cauliflower, collards, and kale; cucumber; lettuce; melons; peppers; sunflower; tomato; and turnip. If you keep them cool and dry, these seeds should maintain good viability for five years or more.
Medium-lived seeds include beans, carrot, chard, eggplant, parsley, peas, pumpkin and squash. These, properly stored, should last at least three years.
Short-lived seeds can only be depended on to last to the next growing season. This list includes corn, leek, onion and spinach seed.
More Related Questions & Answers...