seeds

[bigpaul]

anybody fancy growing some Squash this year? can send you some seeds if anyone wants some, but you will need plenty of room to grow them as they do tend to take over. anyone interested, send me a stamped addressed envelope, PM me for the address.

[Straight Shooter]

speaking of seeds bp , what seeds have you stored ? how do you store yours....we will all need to grow our own veg (even if we don,t already) what do you think of hierloom seeds

[Tigs]

just buy one squash of different types scoop out the seeds dry them off eat the squashes and plant the seeds! i love free seeds lolo

heirloom seeds are fantastic but can be expensive

[uks]

We use real seeds grow a few more so they go to seed. Stored right the seeds will last 3 years. We've stored seeds for 3 years and use them in rotation so that we always have 3 years worth of seeds at anyone time.
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/

[T-oddity]

If saving your own seeds you have to be careful of cross polination with some plants especialy squashes like pumpkins, I've been saving seed for a number of years, time for some fresh next year though as most of my pumpkins look like they are half pumpkin and half courgette
Still tasty though

[Rush2112]

uks wrote" Stored right the seeds will last 3 years. We've stored seeds for 3 years and use them in rotation so that we always have 3 years worth of seeds at anyone time."

uks brings up a very important point. i thought seeds would stay viable longer, but recent experience has proven me wrong. last month we planted corn, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers and watermellon. the only seeds that sprouted were the tomatoes and two of the watermellon. the seeds were about 4 years old and stored properly indoors.

As to the issue of heirloom seeds, I thought those were the only ones to get because the hybrids are useless after the first crop, meaning you cant use their seeds next season.

[Mortblanc]

Not all hybreds are infertile. Some are simply bred to exhibit specific traits. Since they are not pure strains they are registered as "hybreds".

[Titsonafish]

We use real seeds too. Very good service. Decent choice. Delicious food. I can recommend them.

[Rush2112]

(16 March 2013, 15:43)Mortblanc Wrote: Not all hybreds are infertile. Some are simply bred to exhibit specific traits. Since they are not pure strains they are registered as "hybreds".

is there a way to know which hybreds are infertile?

[MaryN]

(27 March 2013, 13:14)Rush2112 Wrote:

(16 March 2013, 15:43)Mortblanc Wrote: Not all hybreds are infertile. Some are simply bred to exhibit specific traits. Since they are not pure strains they are registered as "hybreds".

is there a way to know which hybreds are infertile?

I think seed sterility is something to do with the male genes of the plants, and it is mostly entirely due to human interference. If you think about it, if seeds are sterile then there is little point in having them. Most hybrids' seeds are not sterile, but may not necessarily reproduce as exact replicas of the parent plants. To be honest, the best way to avoid problems with seeds is to buy the old fashioned seed varieties. You may not get the big yields of the modern hybrids, but you are unlikely to get the mutation problems that can occur.