Once you ’ve stick with the lead in our articleHow to collect your own germ , gathered the seeds from the garden and brought them indoors , there are a few steps you need to take to get them ready for repositing .
Clean the seeds
Not all seeds are readily visible and ready to stack away . For object lesson , if you stored the intact seedheads of marigolds you accumulate , the seeds might not dry fully and eventually could rot . To get at the seminal fluid , skin by the spend ray flowers ( the coloured petallike percentage ) and you ’ll notice a slew of minute seeds inside the receptacle . Gently pull them out .
After you ’ve extracted the semen , there is a luck there ’s still stubble or soil particles that might bear pathogen or pests and could taint next year ’s crop . Use your fingers to pick out rubble around larger seeds . A fine mesh sieve will hold large subatomic particle and allow diminished seeds go down through the holes into a bowl below . Clean the source as best you may before setting them out to dry .
Once you ’ve cleaned the seeds , pick through and discard ones that are a different color , misshapen or smaller than the rest . The largest ones usually grow to be the most vigorous seedlings .
Dry them out
The next step is to set them out to dry . If you just have a few seeds , the open shallow bowls in the picture above work fine for small amounts .
If you have bombastic seminal fluid or a prominent number of them , circulate them out on atray . Place them in a spot indoors out of verbatim sun , which can damage them , and leave them to dry out for a week . The dry appendage induces quiescence and help oneself to preserve nutrients that are want for germination . They store best with a moisture content of 5 to 8 pct ; seed that are dry enough will be hard so you ca n’t dash or crouch them . If the wet content of the ejaculate stays above 30 percent , they may germinate during storage or get mouldy . Even at 10 or 15 pct , the seed ’s food modesty can split down and be depleted .
Store them
invest your seeds in a container that will forestall wet and humidity from catch at heart . Zip - close plastic storage bag and small drinking glass babe food jar are in effect . newspaper envelopes are fine , too , but they ’re better for holding seeds for scant - term store , such as until the next acquire time of year , because they are n’t air - tight .
Even if you think you ’ll remember which seeds you saved , it ’s a good idea to label them before putting them away for several months . And when it comes clip for planting , you ’ll know what you have . It ’s also important if you ’re saving many types of seeds , and especially different varieties of the same mintage . publish as much selective information as you want — species and variety show , color , date and where you take in them . If you do n’t get around to planting them next year , you ’ll know how long they ’ve been in storage . Keeping track of where plants were grown is helpful if you have more than one area where you collect seeds from the same character of industrial plant . Once you grow them again , you may remark of import trait dispute . If you want to be really organise , make a spreadsheet to keep running of the information from year to twelvemonth .
Keep the seed in a dark , dry location at 32 to 41 degree F ( like in the refrigerator ) until you ’re quick to plant . How many years they stay viable depends on the metal money , usually between two and five year , but sometimes longer . When it number time to found , pop out them indoors or outside , depending on their needs .
Now that you make love how easy it is to collect and save seeds , it ’ll be easy to have success !
