Grow Your Own Magazine

Hia,

I wonder how to save seeds effectively. The seed swap shop is really great and fantastic, so I want to make sure that the seeds I send do germinate well.

The seeds from F1 Hybrids, are they infertile? Because I once saved seeds from a F1 Hybrid Cucumber and tried them out and none of these germinated.

Is there a good method to speed the drying process up a little bit? At the moment I just leave them to dry in open air. And is it possible to save the seeds whilst eating the product or does the produce need to be old and gone off so the seeds are ready?

I am struggeling a bit with my chilli pepper now. It is supposed to be red/orange, but hasn't changed a bit for the last month or so. Does this mean the seeds can be used for drying effectively now? Or are these still too young?

As a starter, there are some useful tips from realseeds.co.uk in each vegetable section. Go to Aubergine and at the end of the page is guide on how to save seed for aubergine. Likewise for other veg. Google search on 'seed saving' might also help.

Seeds saved from a F1 hybrid seeds cannot be used again. They tend to be infertile/sterile due to missing chromosomes as a result of mixing with several desirable genes to make them better (supposedly??)...or something like this.

For me personally, I will like to avoid the F1 seeds in future, besides heirloom seeds are making a comeback.

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Food for Free