How to collect cucumber seeds

Every year, you carefully choose seeds of various crops in the garden center, studying the characteristics of the variety, ripening dates and resistance to diseases and pests. And finally, exactly that variety of cucumbers was found that fully meets your requirements, which means that it's time to think about how to collect cucumber seeds from your own garden and save them for further planting. How to collect cucumber seeds at home correctly - later in the article.

How to collect cucumber seeds at home?

Cucumber seeds: photo

Do not throw away the seed bag immediately after planting, perhaps later it will be useful to you to clarify the information. When choosing suitable cucumber seeds, you probably want the variety to be drought tolerant, have a high yield and ripen as early as possible?

If on a package of seeds next to the name there is the designation F1 or F2, then these are hybrid varieties, they have all these excellent qualities, but their seeds will not give the same harvest next year.

Therefore, it makes sense to collect and prepare seeds only if you grow ordinary varieties of cucumbers. If you look at a cut of different cucumbers, you will see that there are three-chambered and four-chambered fruits.

And without cutting the cucumber, this difference can be noticed. So, seeds from cucumbers with four sectors form female flowers and you can get an excellent harvest for next year, and fruits with three-chambered seed partitions will give only barren flowers.

Pick the healthiest, strongest and most vigorous plant and leave a few suitable fruits until fully ripe (they should grow to a light brown or yellow color). Place boards under these fruits so that they do not rot on wet soil during the rains. Just in case, you can tie a ribbon at the base so as not to pick these cucumbers by mistake.

How to collect cucumber seeds and prepare them correctly?

Cucumber seeds: photo

Wait until the fruit becomes soft, and the stalk, on the contrary, dries up. After that, cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and remove the seeds from the middle of the fruit (seeds located close to the ends produce not very tasty fruits that are bitter).

Put the extracted seeds in a glass container, fill with water two-thirds and put in a warm place for two days. Then add water and stir well. These manipulations will help separate high-quality seeds from empty ones (empty ones will float up, they can be thrown away).

How to collect hybrid cucumber seeds?

After you have separated high-quality seeds from empty ones, you must thoroughly rinse them in running water, making sure that there are no pulp residues on the seeds, this can lead to rotting. Spread absolutely clean seeds on a napkin and be sure to stir occasionally so that they dry evenly on all sides.

To speed up the drying process, it is not necessary to lay them near heating devices, on a stove or next to a gas stove. The drying process should take place naturally in a ventilated area with sufficient light.

Proper storage

When the seeds are dry, put them in a paper bag or a sack made of cotton or linen - the material should "breathe" and allow air to pass through. Do not put too many seeds in one bag, they should be kept loose. Be sure to sign the year of seed collection and the variety name.

It should be stored in a dry place with an air temperature not higher than + 16 ... + 18 degrees.Correctly harvested and dried seeds remain viable for up to six years. So once you have collected seeds according to all the rules, you do not have to worry about planting material for several years.