Gardeners, Can you clarify something for me?

[miss_thenorth]

i always get overwhelmed (which does not happen easily) at this time of year, trying to pick out seeds of what I want to grow. usually i just go to the greenhouse down the road and buy plants there. But this year, I want to get seeds for plants so that I can harvest seeds for next years garden. Does that mean, if I buy organic, I will be able to collect seeds? Or do they have to be heritage seeds. Obviously , both would have to be non gmo, correct? but which ones do I need?

 

[delia_peterson]

 

[miss_thenorth]

lol, so I;m not the only one confused by this? good to know.

 

[delia_peterson]

I have been thinking about this for two weeks..I am glad you posted it...

 

[me&thegals]

They don't need to be organic. Organic refers to how the seed plants were grown, not how they will produce.

They need to be non-hybrid. Some will be heirlooms, some not. They also need to be planted far away from anything that will cross pollinate with them. For squash, for example, there are 4 types of squash. Planting 1 from each species will keep each of the 4 squash varieties "pure" for replanting.

Good luck!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

MTM, I'm almost certain they need to be open-pollenated or heirloom varieties. Not necessarily organic.

You can buy plants that are heirloom too. My German queen tomato that did so well this year was a heirloom. Just don't try to replant the sweet 100 cherry tomato.

Make sense?

Oops, yeah! What Me&thegals said

 

[freemotion]

I am no expert, but I would choose heritage first. Hybrids won't produce the same thing from their seeds. I wouldn't worry so much about organic if it is heritage, since how you plant it will be important. If I'm wrong, someone please get me onto the right path!

The other thing is that you have to plant different varieties of the same veggie far enough away from each other or they will cross-pollinate and you will get a weird hybrid from the seeds. So only plant beefsteak tomatoes, and plant the cherry tomatoes far away, and the sauce tomatoes in another direction. If you plant them near each other, who knows what you will get from your seeds.

Then you need to know which seeds need which kind of storage. Some need some time in the fridge or freezer in order to sprout.

That is about all I know, and it is more from reading than doing! Sorry!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

So only plant beefsteak tomatoes, and plant the cherry tomatoes far away, and the sauce tomatoes in another direction. If you plant them near each other, who knows what you will get from your seeds.

but sometimes.... 'you never know what you'll get' is so much fun!! i always let some volunteers come up and i've had some interesting results. i love getting crazy tomatoes. i'm nuts about the heritage ones

 

[kcsunshine]

You know what gets me - tomatoes and cukes are so tender - soil has to be so warm before you can plant, etc.... but their seeds will come up everywhere from the year before. We had volunteer cukes all over the place this past summer. And this summer I threw tomatoes in to the chickens and tomato plants came up by the thousands. I can't get them to grow from seeds if I try to start them......

 

[Blackbird]

Interesting..

Ok, so... If you plant two kinds of heirloom tomatoes close together, they cross pollinate (?) and the next year a hybrid of the two comes up and produces, will it's seeds be viable for planting? Or would it be considered a 'mule' plant?

I've never grown heirlooms before..