needhelp planting my garden
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Ridgerunner
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We need some information on which specific seeds you are trying to save. It depends in how they are pollinated. Some things are usually OK no matter how close, yet other things are a danger at about any distance.
For example, tomatoes usually self-pollinate so the seeds are usually not a cross, even if other tomatoes are planted nearby. However, members of the squash family are notorious for crossing with something else.
There are techniques that can be used to get seeds that are pure, but the technique depends on th plant.
For example, tomatoes usually self-pollinate so the seeds are usually not a cross, even if other tomatoes are planted nearby. However, members of the squash family are notorious for crossing with something else.
There are techniques that can be used to get seeds that are pure, but the technique depends on th plant.
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digitS'
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Fedco Seed company has information on seed saving (click).
They seem quite conservative on isolation distance but Fedco is a different sort of American seed company. A lot of small growers sell their seed thru Fedco. So, the information isn't just for the gardening public - it is probably also for their seed suppliers.
One way to avoid problems with squash and pumpkins would be to not grow 2 of the same species. Since there are 3 common species of squash/pumpkins, growing 1 of each should help with cross-pollination.
Watermelon should not cross with cantaloupe/muskmelon.
Steve
They seem quite conservative on isolation distance but Fedco is a different sort of American seed company. A lot of small growers sell their seed thru Fedco. So, the information isn't just for the gardening public - it is probably also for their seed suppliers.
One way to avoid problems with squash and pumpkins would be to not grow 2 of the same species. Since there are 3 common species of squash/pumpkins, growing 1 of each should help with cross-pollination.
Watermelon should not cross with cantaloupe/muskmelon.
Steve
Ridgerunner
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Interesting chart, Steve. The distances are interesting. I've never worried about tomatoes planted next to each other, even growing mixed on the trellis, and hardly ever have a problem. Last year, one Japanese Black was obviously a cross, but that is the only problem I've had in recent memory. Would you think that the difference in the cross ones using insects are different because of the different insects that are pollinators for them?
Steve is correct. You need to look up the scientific name to see if you might have a problem with squash and pumpkins. Those might cross with zucchini, winter squash, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, gourds, or pumpkins. Saving seeds from any of these can be risky. I found this bit that might help.
The female flowers of each crop can be fertilized only by pollen from male flowers of the same species. Cross pollination, however, can occur between varieties within a species. Cross pollination can be seen in the squashes and pumpkins. Summer squash, pumpkins, gourds, and some types of winter squash belong to the same plant species Cucurbita pepo. All species members may cross with one another. Thus, an acorn squash will cross pollinate with a zucchini or a miniature gourd. However, muskmelon (Cucumis melo) and cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) belong to different species and will not cross with each other or members of the Cucurbita genus.
If your melons are cantaloupe, they will not cross with the watermelon. Id think other varieties of melon might. Again, you would have to know specifics.
The beans and peas have perfect flowers, which means the flowers have both the male and female parts. Insects can carry pollen from one flower to another and cause cross-pollination, but usually the flower pollinates itself. The wind can shake the flower enough to cause pollination. Sometimes an insect buzzing around pollinates by shaking the flower so the pollen falls down and pollintes the flower instead of the insect carrying the pollen, but there is some risk even if they are separated more than the recommended distances. Im guessing but Id think the rarity of a pollinator carrying pollen and visiting another plant that far away are so rare it makes the risk acceptable even to commercial seed companies. Tomatoes and peppers work the same way.
Steve is correct. You need to look up the scientific name to see if you might have a problem with squash and pumpkins. Those might cross with zucchini, winter squash, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, gourds, or pumpkins. Saving seeds from any of these can be risky. I found this bit that might help.
The female flowers of each crop can be fertilized only by pollen from male flowers of the same species. Cross pollination, however, can occur between varieties within a species. Cross pollination can be seen in the squashes and pumpkins. Summer squash, pumpkins, gourds, and some types of winter squash belong to the same plant species Cucurbita pepo. All species members may cross with one another. Thus, an acorn squash will cross pollinate with a zucchini or a miniature gourd. However, muskmelon (Cucumis melo) and cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) belong to different species and will not cross with each other or members of the Cucurbita genus.
If your melons are cantaloupe, they will not cross with the watermelon. Id think other varieties of melon might. Again, you would have to know specifics.
The beans and peas have perfect flowers, which means the flowers have both the male and female parts. Insects can carry pollen from one flower to another and cause cross-pollination, but usually the flower pollinates itself. The wind can shake the flower enough to cause pollination. Sometimes an insect buzzing around pollinates by shaking the flower so the pollen falls down and pollintes the flower instead of the insect carrying the pollen, but there is some risk even if they are separated more than the recommended distances. Im guessing but Id think the rarity of a pollinator carrying pollen and visiting another plant that far away are so rare it makes the risk acceptable even to commercial seed companies. Tomatoes and peppers work the same way.
digitS'
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Ridgerunner, I suspect the entomologists have some idea about the range of most of these critters. It could be that pollinators like hover flies haven't been tracked. Aren't they what we often see in our beans?
Squash seems to be such a favorite of bumblebees that I thought I'd look at what they have to say about them. They actually fitted the little things with some kind of radar detection (click)!
The individuals followed averaged trips of 275 meters (.17 mile) and, at least one, flew 631 meters away from the nest while foraging. That's 4/10th of a mile! If they had to strap something to their backs to find the bumblebees with radar - it seems to me that their daily trips might have been even farther, without it
.
Anyway, it is easy to see how your neighbor a few yards away growing Halloween pumpkins could really mess up your plans to save seed from a favorite spaghetti squash :/.
Fedco says 1500 feet (.28 miles) between squash varieties. I've seen information from one of the farm seed companies that their squash fields were only certified for seed production at distances of several miles. I had to wonder if some neighborhood gardener with his 3 backyard zucchini plants couldn't mess things up just a little.
Steve
Squash seems to be such a favorite of bumblebees that I thought I'd look at what they have to say about them. They actually fitted the little things with some kind of radar detection (click)!
The individuals followed averaged trips of 275 meters (.17 mile) and, at least one, flew 631 meters away from the nest while foraging. That's 4/10th of a mile! If they had to strap something to their backs to find the bumblebees with radar - it seems to me that their daily trips might have been even farther, without it
.Anyway, it is easy to see how your neighbor a few yards away growing Halloween pumpkins could really mess up your plans to save seed from a favorite spaghetti squash :/.
Fedco says 1500 feet (.28 miles) between squash varieties. I've seen information from one of the farm seed companies that their squash fields were only certified for seed production at distances of several miles. I had to wonder if some neighborhood gardener with his 3 backyard zucchini plants couldn't mess things up just a little.
Steve
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When you consider that honeybees can travel a mile in either direction from their nests, it makes you wonder. I'm guessing that they are playing the odds. If two similar plants are pretty close together, the odds are a lot higher that the same bee will visit them on the same trip, while the further apart they are, the less likely that is to happen.
Ninny, I've never done it so I won't go into details. I'd tell you something wrong if I tried. You can cover the squash blossoms and hand pollinate to get pure seeds if you want to.
Ninny, I've never done it so I won't go into details. I'd tell you something wrong if I tried. You can cover the squash blossoms and hand pollinate to get pure seeds if you want to.
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patandchickens
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Beans have perfect flowers (both kinds of parts), there are no male and female. Also they are virtually 100% self-pollinating, so there is just no point at all in worrying about it. Plant them as you normally would, save the seeds, and I promise they will come back the same kind of beans they came fromninny said:
Anyhow I seriously doubt you can mature beans in pots indoors anyhow.
So you are FINE to save seeds from all your beans; the others (various squash/cuke/melon things) some will cross with each other so either look it up and see which the problem combos are, or don't save seed from them, or learn to bag-and-handpollinate which is not at all difficult.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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