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heirloomgal
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I love talking seeds @Phaedra Geiermann !I also started saving seeds this year, and may I ask some questions about seed saving here in your thread? Thanks in advance.
First, about tomatoes, do you always ferment the seeds first? I know why it is suggested to do so, but not sure if it is 100% necessary.
The second is still about fermentation - is it also necessary to do this for eggplants and squashes? This is my first-time saving eggplant seeds, which are pretty clean compared to tomato seeds. I never fermented squash seeds in the past, but they hardly failed.
The last question is about the "slightly" damaged seeds, especially for beans. I collected a lot of field bean seeds this year, some of which are slightly damaged by the worms. I also did some research and realized those damaged ones can still germinate but might have a weaker growth later. What is your experience with this? I mean, will the plant robustness be influenced that much?
Much appreciated.
Personally, I always ferment my tomato seeds. But it isn't absolutely necessary, many people just smear some seedy gel across a piece of paper instead and let it dry.
You don't need to ferment eggplants or squash seeds either. The fermenting methods tend to be for any seeds that have a slimy, germination inhibitor sac surrounding them. Cucumber seeds do well with fermenting, for example, and it's harder to collect the individual seeds if you don't ferment, but still not required.
As for the beans, I don't have any experience with worm damage to field bean seeds. But I would guess what you've researched is correct. Anything that might diminish or compromise the seed embryo would likely show itself as the plant grows. It might be a good experiment to try and see if you notice a difference. In the case of eggplant seeds, when I grated mine this time around and decanted with water, some seeds were floating on top the water that looked fine, but because they floated and didn't sink I poured them off anyway. Probably the insides were not fully developed.
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