this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
34 points (100.0% liked)

Gardening

6654 readers
107 users here now

Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
scarabic@lemmy.world
sabbah@lemmy.world
ManamaKhan@lemmy.world
Spacebar@lemmy.world
Bitswap@lemmy.world
34
Question about saving my own seeds for next year (slrpnk.net)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net to c/gardening@lemmy.world
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Right now, I'm buying commercial seeds for all my stuff. Not a big deal right now. I can't even grow this much all at once on my balcony, and the seed bags for 2 bucks each last years sometimes :)

From what I know, sticking to seeds made by breeders makes total sense for high value crops like cannabis, peppers, tomatoes, etc., because otherwise the quality will suffer, for example due to uncontrollable cross pollination.

But for many other things, this shouldn't make much difference. I'm thinking of herbs or lettuce as example.

One thing I also heard is that modern varieties don't even produce viable offspring. Therefore, getting "legacy" varieties are the only option, but with worse harvests because they haven't been selectively bred for decades.

Seeds cost money after all, and in the future, I want to be as independent as possible when I have a big garden or some sort of.

What stuff can I let go to flowering and save the seeds for next year, and where does it make sense to continue buying them?

And what did I get wrong? Is this BigSeed™ propaganda?

Also, under which conditions should I store them to keep them viable for as long as possible? Fridge? Room temperature? Vials? Paper bags?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Jarme@jlai.lu 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is BigSeed propaganda for sure 😂

Store bought hybrid seeds will either be sterile or make bad plants (here they are always labeled "F1" on the bag), and I don't know for GMO seeds, as they are forbidden in my country. But all other seeds should be viable for reproduction in theory.

I've made some of my own seeds, adding new species to my collection each year. I've had easy successes with some species (tomatoes, cucurbitaceae, brassicaceae, most flowers), but no luck with others. I suggest you try and learn what works.

For whatever reason, cross pollination does not seem to be a problem after a few years. I guess it will eventually become one with time if I keep having multiple varieties of the same species. Again, try and learn.

As for storage, I put my seeds in little origami bags made of newspaper, and keep that inside at room temperature. It might not be ideal for conservation but it's easy and works well enough.