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Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
Saving Seed 
by Dr. Theodore Radovich 
Farmers and gardeners have saved their own fruit 
and vegetable seed for millennia. Saving seed from 
desirable plants is a fundamental act of agriculture 
and has resulted in thousands of fruit and vegetable 
varieties we have today. Seed saving takes time 
and other resources away from growing crops, and 
most commercial farmers prefer to purchase seed 
from companies that specialize in producing it. Still, 
many farmers and gardeners will save at least 
some of their own seed to select and preserve well 
adapted varieties that may not be available in the 
commercial market. Several vegetable varieties se-lected 
and saved by Hawaii farmers are available 
from the University of Hawaii Seed Program. This 
article highlights key points to be aware of when sav-ing 
seed. For more details regarding seed saving 
please see the resources at the end of this article. 
Let's talk about sex, baby. 
Understanding the basic reproductive biology of plants is an important part of seed saving. The ma-jority 
of plants outcross, which means that pollen from different flower(s) germinate on the stigma of 
the mother flower, travel down the style and fertilize the ovules. Outcrossing increases genetic diver-sity 
of the population, which increases the potential for adaption of the variety to future changes in 
environment. Many vegetable crops naturally outcross, including sweet corn, pumpkins, and egg-plant. 
Different mechanisms have evolved to maximize the chance of outcrossing in vegetables. For 
example, male and female parts may be on separate flowers as they are in corn and cucumber (Fig 
2), or even on separate plants (as in male and female papaya). In flowers with male and female parts, 
pollen shed may occur before or after the stigma is receptive or the style may be protrude beyond the 
anthers, increasing the potential for insect-mediated cross-pollination. 
When saving seed from an open-pollinated variety there are several important things to keep in mind: 
• Remove (rogue) off-types from the population. 
• Isolate varieties of the same crop from each other. Isolation can be done in distance (660 feet for 
corn), in time (plant varieties so they flower at different times) or by bagging flowers (Fig 3). 
• Save seed from as many individuals as possible. Minimum individuals recommended for most 
open-pollinated species is 80, although seed from as many as 200 individuals is recommended 
for corn to minimize inbreeding depression. 
1 
Figure 1. Organic seed production at the CTAHR Wai-manālo 
Research Station. Foreground: 'Kewalo' to-mato 
and 'Koba' green onion. Background: 'Hirayama' 
mustard
Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
Figure 2. Longitudinal sections of cucumber flowers: Left) Male flower; Right) Female flower. From: ARS (1976). 
Self pollinated species include peas, beans and lettuce. Most tomato varieties are also self-pollinating. 
The anthers on the flowers of self pollinated crops typically surround the pistil, and pollen 
shed often occurs before flowers open, ensuring self pollination. Isolation in self pollinated varieties is 
less of a concern than in open pollinated varieties, but outcrossing can still occur especially if plants 
are touching or pollinator populations are high and diverse in species. Recommended distances be-tween 
self pollinated varieties of the same species are 10-15 feet. Seed should be saved from at least 
15-50 individuals in self pollinating populations. 
Hybridization refers to the controlled cross between in-dividuals 
from two distinct varieties. Reasons for hy-bridization 
include hybrid vigor (increased yield), dis-ease 
resistance and variety protection. Many commer-cial 
varieties are hybrids. Seed saved from hybrid 
vegetables may not germinate, or if so, will likely not 
produce uniform populations of individuals resembling 
the parent plants. For those interested in making their 
own hybrids and developing their own cultivars, see the 
reference by Allard (1999) and Deppe (2000). 
2 
Figure 3: Bagged papaya flowers
Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
Special needs 
Special considerations need to be made when growing plants for seed. Planting should be timed so 
that seed maturation occurs during dry weather, if possible. Plants will be in the field much longer 
when grown for seed than for food (e.g. 30 days vs. 120 days in lettuce). Spacing of seed crops 
should be wider than when grown for food to accommodate larger plant size and maximize airflow to 
reduce chance for disease. 
Seed harvesting & cleaning 
Seed should be allowed to mature as fully as possible on the plant, but mature seed should be har-vested 
as soon as possible to avoid losses to birds, rain and disease. 
In the case of dry seed like lettuce and beans, plants may be cut from the field when mostly dry and 
allowed to complete drying on benches in a well ventilated, covered structure like a green house, ga-rage 
or barn. Seed matures sequentially (bottom up) on inflorescence, so some growers will walk 
through a field periodically and shake the inflorescence into a bucket or garbage can to collect the 
older most mature seed, and allow the rest to remain on the plant. Growers may also place woven 
weed mat around the base of plants to collect dropped seed. Once dried, the seed will need to be 
cleaned of its protective material. For small scale cleaning of dry seeds, an effective method is to 
simply put the seed heads in a cloth bag or pillow case and physically “stomp and grind” the dried in-florescence 
through the bag with your feet or hands to loosen the seed from the other material. Wind 
or fans may then be used to blow the lighter chaff away from the seed. Gently tossing the processed 
material up in the air using a shallow pan or basket outdoors with a strong breeze is a common strat-egy 
to do this. 
Seed processing from fleshy fruits requires slightly different steps than dry fruits. Although tomatoes 
harvested for seed may be picked at the same maturity stage as used for eating, other fruits like cu-cumber 
and eggplant must be left on the plant for much longer than usual to ensure maturity when 
saving seed. If harvested too soon, seeds from immature fruit will not germinate or germinate poorly. 
Seed scooped out of fleshy fruits are best processed by fermenting in water to remove closely asso-ciated 
material and germination inhibitors. The most common process for small scale producers is to 
soak the seed in an excess of water for 2-3 days, stirring twice daily. In some cases (e.g. papaya) 
fairly intense agitation with a blender and rubber blade may be used (for more information, see Pro-ducing 
Organic Papaya Seed at YouTube). For larger seed cleaning operations, commercial enzymes 
are available to speed up the fermentation process. After the fermentation step, seeds are drained, 
rinsed, and dried on paper towels or screen. Seeds may then be air-dried, or a fan on low speed can 
be used. The details of seed processing varies with species. See the references section for more de-tails. 
Storage 
Most growers are content to store seed from year to year, or for a few years at most. These growers 
follow the “Rule of 100.” The Rule of 100 states that the sum of temperature (F) and Relative Humid-ity 
equal 100. For example, refrigeration at 50 F @ 50% relative humidity fit these criteria. Seed dried 
to 2-5% and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container can maintain viability for decades. Ex- 
3
Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
ceptions to this rule include very large seeded 
species (e.g. avocado and mountain apple) and 
are called “recalcitrant.” Most vegetable species 
follow the Rule of 100, and are thus called “Or-thodox.” 
For more details regarding seed sav-ing, 
especially long term storage and “seed-banking”, 
see Yoshinaga (2010), and cited ref-erences 
therein. 
References 
Allard, R.W. Principles of Plant Breeding. John 
Wiley, Inc., 2nd Ed, 1999. 
ARS. 1976. Insect pollination of cultivated crop 
plants. Agriculture Research Service, USDA. 
Agriculture Handbook #496. 
Ashworth, S. 2002. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving 
and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gar-deners. 
Seed savers exchange. 
Deppe, C. 2000. Breed Your Own Vegetable Va-rieties: 
The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to 
Plant Breeding & Seed Saving. Chelsea 
Green Publishing. 
Fanton, J. And J. Immig. 2007. Seed to seed, 
Figure 5. Seed may be stored for several years in glass jars 
(A), self sealing foil-lined packets (B) or sealable plastic 
containers (C). 
food gardens in schools. Seed Savers Network. http://www.seedsavers.net/local-seed-networks. 
Nagata, R. 2011.Saving seeds from cross-pollinated crops. West Hawaii Today 5/7/11. 
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-features/saving-seeds-cross-pollinated-crops 
.html 
Navazio, J., M. Colley. 2010. Seed saving basics. Video presentation. Hua ka Hua seed symposium. 
Kona Hawaii April 17 2010. http://www.kohalacenter.org/publicseedinitiative/presentations.html. 
OSA. 2010. A seed saving guide for farmers and gardeners. The Organic Seed Alliance. 
http://www.seedalliance.org/uploads/publications/seed_saving_guide.PDF 
Radovich, T.J.K. 2011. Vegetable biology and classification. Chapter 1 in Vegetables and vegetable 
processing. Wiley Publishers. 
Sutevee Sukprakarn, Sunanta Juntakool, Rukui Huang, Thomas Kalb. 2005. Saving Your Own Vege-table 
Seeds: A Guide for Farmers. AVRDC The World Vegetable Center. 
http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/PROD6-saving_your_own_vegetable_seeds.pdf 
Yoshinaga, A. 2010. Seed Storage. Video presentation. Hua ka Hua seed symposium. Kona Hawaii 
April 17 2010. http://www.kohalacenter.org/publicseedinitiative/presentations.html. 
4
Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
Figure 2. Longitudinal section of eggplant flower. Dotted areas indicate variation in length of style and 
position of stamens. Inset shows pores of anther tubes enlarged. From: ARS (1976). 
5
Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 
Table 1. Definitions of select terms relating to vegetable reproductive biology (from Radovich, 2011.) 
Term Definition 
Andromonecious Male and perfect flowers on same plant. 
Annual Plant that completes life cycle (sets seed) and dies in one year. 
Berry Fruit fleshy throughout. 
Biennial Plant that completes life cycle (sets seed) and dies in two years. 
Bolt Develop inflorescence prematurely, as in lettuce and spinach. 
Bract Modified leaf or scale at base of flower. 
Calyx Sepals or outer whorl of perinanth. 
Carpel Individual unit of compound pistil. 
Caryopsis Fruit (grain) of grass, as in sweet corn. 
Cultivar Group of cultivated plants with distinguishing characteristics that are 
retained when plants are reproduced. 
Determinant Branch stops growing at flowering. 
Dioecious Staminate and pistillate (female) flowers on separate plants. 
Endocarp Inner layer of fleshy fruit wall. 
Floret Small flower on inflorescence, e.g. broccoli. 
Fruit Mature ovary. 
Gynoecious Producing predominantly, or only, female flowers. 
Indeterminant Branch continues to grow after flowering starts. 
Legume Single carpel fruit with two sutures, seed attached along one suture. 
Characteristic fruit of the bean family. 
Lenticel Raised dot or pore for gas exchange. 
Locule Seed cavity of fruit. Also compartment of ovary or anther. 
Monoecious Male and female flowers on same plant. 
Pedicel Stalk or stem of individual flower or floret 
Peduncle Primary flower stalk of inflorescence. 
Pepo Cucurbit fruit, leathery or woody exocarp inseparable from endocarp. 
Perfect flower Flower with both male and female parts. 
Pericarp Fruit wall. 
Perennial Plants persisting for three years or more. 
Scales Fleshy or dry modified leaves of a bulb. 
Sillique Specialized fruit of the cabbage family, with two fused carpels. 
6

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Seed Saving ~ College of Tropical Agriculture

  • 1. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 Saving Seed by Dr. Theodore Radovich Farmers and gardeners have saved their own fruit and vegetable seed for millennia. Saving seed from desirable plants is a fundamental act of agriculture and has resulted in thousands of fruit and vegetable varieties we have today. Seed saving takes time and other resources away from growing crops, and most commercial farmers prefer to purchase seed from companies that specialize in producing it. Still, many farmers and gardeners will save at least some of their own seed to select and preserve well adapted varieties that may not be available in the commercial market. Several vegetable varieties se-lected and saved by Hawaii farmers are available from the University of Hawaii Seed Program. This article highlights key points to be aware of when sav-ing seed. For more details regarding seed saving please see the resources at the end of this article. Let's talk about sex, baby. Understanding the basic reproductive biology of plants is an important part of seed saving. The ma-jority of plants outcross, which means that pollen from different flower(s) germinate on the stigma of the mother flower, travel down the style and fertilize the ovules. Outcrossing increases genetic diver-sity of the population, which increases the potential for adaption of the variety to future changes in environment. Many vegetable crops naturally outcross, including sweet corn, pumpkins, and egg-plant. Different mechanisms have evolved to maximize the chance of outcrossing in vegetables. For example, male and female parts may be on separate flowers as they are in corn and cucumber (Fig 2), or even on separate plants (as in male and female papaya). In flowers with male and female parts, pollen shed may occur before or after the stigma is receptive or the style may be protrude beyond the anthers, increasing the potential for insect-mediated cross-pollination. When saving seed from an open-pollinated variety there are several important things to keep in mind: • Remove (rogue) off-types from the population. • Isolate varieties of the same crop from each other. Isolation can be done in distance (660 feet for corn), in time (plant varieties so they flower at different times) or by bagging flowers (Fig 3). • Save seed from as many individuals as possible. Minimum individuals recommended for most open-pollinated species is 80, although seed from as many as 200 individuals is recommended for corn to minimize inbreeding depression. 1 Figure 1. Organic seed production at the CTAHR Wai-manālo Research Station. Foreground: 'Kewalo' to-mato and 'Koba' green onion. Background: 'Hirayama' mustard
  • 2. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 Figure 2. Longitudinal sections of cucumber flowers: Left) Male flower; Right) Female flower. From: ARS (1976). Self pollinated species include peas, beans and lettuce. Most tomato varieties are also self-pollinating. The anthers on the flowers of self pollinated crops typically surround the pistil, and pollen shed often occurs before flowers open, ensuring self pollination. Isolation in self pollinated varieties is less of a concern than in open pollinated varieties, but outcrossing can still occur especially if plants are touching or pollinator populations are high and diverse in species. Recommended distances be-tween self pollinated varieties of the same species are 10-15 feet. Seed should be saved from at least 15-50 individuals in self pollinating populations. Hybridization refers to the controlled cross between in-dividuals from two distinct varieties. Reasons for hy-bridization include hybrid vigor (increased yield), dis-ease resistance and variety protection. Many commer-cial varieties are hybrids. Seed saved from hybrid vegetables may not germinate, or if so, will likely not produce uniform populations of individuals resembling the parent plants. For those interested in making their own hybrids and developing their own cultivars, see the reference by Allard (1999) and Deppe (2000). 2 Figure 3: Bagged papaya flowers
  • 3. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 Special needs Special considerations need to be made when growing plants for seed. Planting should be timed so that seed maturation occurs during dry weather, if possible. Plants will be in the field much longer when grown for seed than for food (e.g. 30 days vs. 120 days in lettuce). Spacing of seed crops should be wider than when grown for food to accommodate larger plant size and maximize airflow to reduce chance for disease. Seed harvesting & cleaning Seed should be allowed to mature as fully as possible on the plant, but mature seed should be har-vested as soon as possible to avoid losses to birds, rain and disease. In the case of dry seed like lettuce and beans, plants may be cut from the field when mostly dry and allowed to complete drying on benches in a well ventilated, covered structure like a green house, ga-rage or barn. Seed matures sequentially (bottom up) on inflorescence, so some growers will walk through a field periodically and shake the inflorescence into a bucket or garbage can to collect the older most mature seed, and allow the rest to remain on the plant. Growers may also place woven weed mat around the base of plants to collect dropped seed. Once dried, the seed will need to be cleaned of its protective material. For small scale cleaning of dry seeds, an effective method is to simply put the seed heads in a cloth bag or pillow case and physically “stomp and grind” the dried in-florescence through the bag with your feet or hands to loosen the seed from the other material. Wind or fans may then be used to blow the lighter chaff away from the seed. Gently tossing the processed material up in the air using a shallow pan or basket outdoors with a strong breeze is a common strat-egy to do this. Seed processing from fleshy fruits requires slightly different steps than dry fruits. Although tomatoes harvested for seed may be picked at the same maturity stage as used for eating, other fruits like cu-cumber and eggplant must be left on the plant for much longer than usual to ensure maturity when saving seed. If harvested too soon, seeds from immature fruit will not germinate or germinate poorly. Seed scooped out of fleshy fruits are best processed by fermenting in water to remove closely asso-ciated material and germination inhibitors. The most common process for small scale producers is to soak the seed in an excess of water for 2-3 days, stirring twice daily. In some cases (e.g. papaya) fairly intense agitation with a blender and rubber blade may be used (for more information, see Pro-ducing Organic Papaya Seed at YouTube). For larger seed cleaning operations, commercial enzymes are available to speed up the fermentation process. After the fermentation step, seeds are drained, rinsed, and dried on paper towels or screen. Seeds may then be air-dried, or a fan on low speed can be used. The details of seed processing varies with species. See the references section for more de-tails. Storage Most growers are content to store seed from year to year, or for a few years at most. These growers follow the “Rule of 100.” The Rule of 100 states that the sum of temperature (F) and Relative Humid-ity equal 100. For example, refrigeration at 50 F @ 50% relative humidity fit these criteria. Seed dried to 2-5% and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container can maintain viability for decades. Ex- 3
  • 4. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 ceptions to this rule include very large seeded species (e.g. avocado and mountain apple) and are called “recalcitrant.” Most vegetable species follow the Rule of 100, and are thus called “Or-thodox.” For more details regarding seed sav-ing, especially long term storage and “seed-banking”, see Yoshinaga (2010), and cited ref-erences therein. References Allard, R.W. Principles of Plant Breeding. John Wiley, Inc., 2nd Ed, 1999. ARS. 1976. Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants. Agriculture Research Service, USDA. Agriculture Handbook #496. Ashworth, S. 2002. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gar-deners. Seed savers exchange. Deppe, C. 2000. Breed Your Own Vegetable Va-rieties: The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Saving. Chelsea Green Publishing. Fanton, J. And J. Immig. 2007. Seed to seed, Figure 5. Seed may be stored for several years in glass jars (A), self sealing foil-lined packets (B) or sealable plastic containers (C). food gardens in schools. Seed Savers Network. http://www.seedsavers.net/local-seed-networks. Nagata, R. 2011.Saving seeds from cross-pollinated crops. West Hawaii Today 5/7/11. http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-features/saving-seeds-cross-pollinated-crops .html Navazio, J., M. Colley. 2010. Seed saving basics. Video presentation. Hua ka Hua seed symposium. Kona Hawaii April 17 2010. http://www.kohalacenter.org/publicseedinitiative/presentations.html. OSA. 2010. A seed saving guide for farmers and gardeners. The Organic Seed Alliance. http://www.seedalliance.org/uploads/publications/seed_saving_guide.PDF Radovich, T.J.K. 2011. Vegetable biology and classification. Chapter 1 in Vegetables and vegetable processing. Wiley Publishers. Sutevee Sukprakarn, Sunanta Juntakool, Rukui Huang, Thomas Kalb. 2005. Saving Your Own Vege-table Seeds: A Guide for Farmers. AVRDC The World Vegetable Center. http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/PROD6-saving_your_own_vegetable_seeds.pdf Yoshinaga, A. 2010. Seed Storage. Video presentation. Hua ka Hua seed symposium. Kona Hawaii April 17 2010. http://www.kohalacenter.org/publicseedinitiative/presentations.html. 4
  • 5. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 Figure 2. Longitudinal section of eggplant flower. Dotted areas indicate variation in length of style and position of stamens. Inset shows pores of anther tubes enlarged. From: ARS (1976). 5
  • 6. Hānai‘Ai / The Food Provider September - October - November 2011 Table 1. Definitions of select terms relating to vegetable reproductive biology (from Radovich, 2011.) Term Definition Andromonecious Male and perfect flowers on same plant. Annual Plant that completes life cycle (sets seed) and dies in one year. Berry Fruit fleshy throughout. Biennial Plant that completes life cycle (sets seed) and dies in two years. Bolt Develop inflorescence prematurely, as in lettuce and spinach. Bract Modified leaf or scale at base of flower. Calyx Sepals or outer whorl of perinanth. Carpel Individual unit of compound pistil. Caryopsis Fruit (grain) of grass, as in sweet corn. Cultivar Group of cultivated plants with distinguishing characteristics that are retained when plants are reproduced. Determinant Branch stops growing at flowering. Dioecious Staminate and pistillate (female) flowers on separate plants. Endocarp Inner layer of fleshy fruit wall. Floret Small flower on inflorescence, e.g. broccoli. Fruit Mature ovary. Gynoecious Producing predominantly, or only, female flowers. Indeterminant Branch continues to grow after flowering starts. Legume Single carpel fruit with two sutures, seed attached along one suture. Characteristic fruit of the bean family. Lenticel Raised dot or pore for gas exchange. Locule Seed cavity of fruit. Also compartment of ovary or anther. Monoecious Male and female flowers on same plant. Pedicel Stalk or stem of individual flower or floret Peduncle Primary flower stalk of inflorescence. Pepo Cucurbit fruit, leathery or woody exocarp inseparable from endocarp. Perfect flower Flower with both male and female parts. Pericarp Fruit wall. Perennial Plants persisting for three years or more. Scales Fleshy or dry modified leaves of a bulb. Sillique Specialized fruit of the cabbage family, with two fused carpels. 6