Hello Fellow Gardeners,

Today we will finish our series on seed collecting! If you are interested in the previous articles check out Seed Collecting 101: Part 1, and Designer Seed Packets! Try our Free Templates!

Items You Will Need for Collecting

Scissors, I prefer embroidery or florist type

Paper bags or 9×6 business envelopes. I have found that these are the best because they have a wider opening for those times I need to take the stem along with the seeds.

A basket or shoe box to keep it all together!

Pen or pencil for seed identification right on the spot! This is highly recommended and a necessary evil for most of us with a short memory.

Step 1: Collecting Your Seeds

Simply remove the seed pods from the stem and insert into your labeled envelopes/bags! It really is that simple! Sometimes I like to take part of the stem with me because its faster (this is where your scissors come in useful!)

Step 2: Separating Your Seeds

Now that you have collected your seeds the next step is to separate them away from their hulls or shells. For this purpose I like to keep a pair of eyebrow tweezers handy because some seeds tend to be very small, and hard to get at. However some plants such as poppies or hollyhocks easily give up their seeds, so you probably won’t need tweezers for everything.

Make sure to check for bugs, spiders, and other creepy crawlies and remove them! Also, you must get rid of any fuzz, shells, and other debris.

Step 3: Storing Your Seeds

I like to lay out all of my seeds on some paper towel overnight to let them dry. This process will ensure that they are in fact dry and will not mold or rot while stored. This is especially important if you plan on storing your seeds in plastic bags.

Make sure to store your seed packets in a air tight container (to keep them fresh as well as protect them from insects and rodents) and in a dark cool place away from the sun.

Some seed savers use powdered milk in a little paper bag to keep the humidity down. Others prefer keeping the seeds in the refrigerator. Personally, I have not had any problems by keeping mine in a paper bag in an air tight container in my pantry.

We had a comment from Bare Bones Gardener who recommended silica gel packets as an option! Although I have not personally tried these, it might be an interesting new way to keep humidity from your seeds!

If you would like more information on collecting and storing vegetable seeds check out Seed Saving Tips by John W. Jett

Also there is a good article with a whole lot of tips called Tools of the Trade. Make sure to pay special attention to the trading tips!

Trading Seeds

There are surprisingly many regulations governing trading seeds and even more for trading seeds internationally and over the Internet!

For more information some good places to start are…

International Seed Exchange is a place that you can post what you have and see what others are offering.

National Gardening Association has a nice little article entitled “Import Seeds with Ease”

USDA APHIS this gives you a lot of information on importing and exporting small quantities of seeds

I hope this article and the links provided inspire you to start collecting your own seeds! I feel that seed collecting is so important these days because of the number of plants we lose every year due to discontinuation by seed companies. By collecting seeds, we can ensure that many of the plants, flowers, and vegetables, we grew up with will still be around for our children.

Stay tuned for more tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration from the Daily Weeder!

Happy Gardening,

Marie Suzanne

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

Thank you all for your wonderful support! You kept us around for 100 posts and we’re looking forward to 100 (thousand) more! Keep checking the Daily Weeder for everything gardening!

Happy Gardening,
Marie Suzanne

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

As a gardener, you take pride in your beautiful flowers and plants. We carefully water, lovingly fertilize, and provide them with the best environment possible so they will thrive! However, there is nothing like growing a big beautiful flower or plant from a tiny little seed! And if that seed came from your own garden, all the better! Here we will let you know all about seed collecting. If this is your first time collecting seeds from your garden, you may be surprised just how exciting it is storing them, starting them, transplanting them, and finally watching them bloom!

Step 1: Know Your Seed!

Make sure that the seeds you will be collecting are not from Hybrid or F1 Hybrid varieties, what you want are in fact open pollinated seeds. Why? Because hybrids are often sterile and even if they aren’t they will not produce the same flower! Generally, a plant or packet of seeds should have been labeled hybrid when you first purchased them. Can’t remember? Well, there’s no harm in trying, but if you want guaranteed results stick with heirloom varieties.

Step 2: When to Collect

The best time to collect your seeds is on a dry day in the afternoon. You don’t want to collect wet seeds because these will mold and rot before they ever give you a flower. However, in the afternoon on a dry day, any morning dew has evaporated, and the sun has made your seeds prime for collecting! If you absolutely must collect wet seeds see our great below!

Step 3:What to Look For

First of all, always always choose your healthiest plants to collect seeds from! Thinking you’ll start a new healthy plant with seeds from a diseased plant will just make your hard work and patience go down the drain. Also, you want to look for a plant that you know has gone through a full life cycle (from birth to maturity). The plant should now look faded and dry and willing and ready to part with their seeds.

Don’t look for moist healthy green seed pods! If a seed pod is ready to be plucked it will typically be faded, brown and fairly brittle, and the seeds inside the pod will generally be black (see picture above). There is also the obvious sign from Mother Nature where the seed pod opens and actually discharges its seeds on its own (like in the case of a Hollyhock).

If you simply can’t wait for the seed pods to ripen totally on their own, try removing the stem along with the pod and letting them dry in the open air on several sheets of newspaper to help draw out moisture. The same treatment applies if the seeds are collected while wet or damp. Of course the best way is to let Mother Nature do all the work!

Well now you know what to look for and when to collect, but we’re not done yet! In my next article you’ll find a helpful list of what you need, and lots of information on just what to do after you collect those seeds!

Stay Tuned for Seed Collecting 101 Part 2!

Happy Gardening,

Marie Suzanne