More seeds

[igenlode]

I was given some 'purple flower seed' (delphinium, salvia, cosmos, cornflower, scabiosa, phacella, nemophila), and emptied out the 'old' rocket box into which to plant it -- transplanting the rocket into a deeper pot, although it's mostly bolting. The new rocket is just about starting to develop.

Pricked out a few of the rudbeckias from the coconut compost tray, where I noticed that after coming through en masse in the hot weather they have been damping off in patches. However there is no shortage of them as yet...

Sowed some more sage seed, a lot more thickly this time on the assumption that it has very limited viability.

Comments

Re: Tomatoes

[ysabetwordsmith]

Fascinating.

Some hybrid tomatoes are seedless. It might've picked up pollen from one. Heat is another possibility, as it can cause failure to set fruit, so it might also affect seeds.

Re: Tomatoes

[igenlode]

It definitely got better later in the season. At the end of July, I couldn't find any seed at the point when I wanted to start saving it.

A couple of weeks later, I managed to get a couple of 'normal' fruit (from which the current batch of seedlings have been grown) but was still seeing seedless ones. By the start of September it was no longer an issue: https://igenlode.dreamwidth.org/362379.html

Re: Tomatoes

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad the seeds developed eventually.

Re: Tomatoes

[igenlode]

Yes, it had me really worried for a while; I thought I'd accidentally selected in favour of early-developing but seedless fruit ;-D

(Since I'm only saving seed from a couple of fruits a year -- two just in case I accidentally pick one that turns out to be sterile or to have other undesirable qualities -- there is always the chance that by some fluke I do end up saving from a decidedly non-standard tomato.)

Re: Tomatoes

[ysabetwordsmith]

It would probably be prudent to save some seeds from each plant you grow that meets your standard. It'd reduce the risk of mishaps and improve diversity.

Re: Tomatoes

[igenlode]

It would, but there are limits on how many seeds I can germinate per year and how much storage space I've got (one small airtight box).

I generally only sow about a quarter to half of the seeds I harvest as it is; the rest are just held in reserve for a couple of years in case of catastrophic failure, then cycled out.

I should probably try to remember to add a few extra seeds from some extra random fruit to each year's 'towel', but that requires me to remember which of all the plants I harvested the previous saved seed from! (I do try to take my two seed tomatoes from different plants...)

Re: Tomatoes

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> It would, but there are limits on how many seeds I can germinate per year and how much storage space I've got (one small airtight box).<<

You don't have to save ALL the seeds from a given tomato. Save 2-3 if that's what you have space for.

>>that requires me to remember which of all the plants I harvested the previous saved seed from!<<

Options include:

* Save seeds from the first tomato to ripen seeds, mark that plant with a string or a label stuck next to it, then mark the other plants as they set seeds.

* Save one tomato from each plant at the same time.

Re: Tomatoes

[igenlode]

Yes, that is what I was thinking: harvest a few extra seeds from extra tomatoes throughout the 'season', rather than drying a whole batch out at once...

Save seeds from the first tomato to ripen seeds, mark that plant with a string or a label stuck next to it, then mark the other plants as they set seeds.
I already have a piece of wool tied around the flower-stem of my rogue white California poppy so that I can remember to segregate its seed-pods separately :-)