Seed is the first link in the food and fiber chain. And the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The Clif Bar Family Foundation created Seed Matters to improve the viability and availability of organic seed to ensure healthy, nutritious and productive crops. Together with our partners and...
The World Vegetable Center, as the name implies, focuses on vegetables to reduce poverty and malnutrition. Their website has numerous, helpful resources and publications. Among them are videos on how to save vegetable seed. They cover amaranth, eggplant, nightshade (see EDN 103), pumpkin and...
Carbon dioxide (CO2) flushing is a technique by which carbon dioxide is added to a storage container of seeds in an effort to replace oxygen (which seeds use to respire) with the carbon dioxide. The idea is that the lack of oxygen will increase the seed storage ability by slowing down the...
2007-01-20 Seed saving is surprisingly easy with some vegetables, possible but somewhat difficult for others, and almost impossible for still other vegetable crops. It would help to know what the issues are; some basic techniques for seed saving; and which vegetables are easy and which are more difficult.
2005-01-20 Farmers everywhere plant seeds with the expectation that they will germinate, grow and produce a crop that can be harvested. In some cases, the seeds that are planted germinate as hoped. In other cases, seed germination percentage is quite poor. This article will address some aspects about seeds...
2015-01-20 Sorghum is primarily self-pollinated, meaning that a sorghum plant will accept pollen from its own flowers. Sorghum can also accept pollen from other sorghum plants (cross-pollination) by means of wind or insect transfer. Cultivated sorghum is generally cross-pollinated between 2 and 10%, with...
2008-07-20 Topics briefy addressed: Nematode management. Seed inoculants to maximize the ability ofleguminous plants to fix nitrogen. Bean weevils controlled by tumbling the beans. Controlling seed storage conditions. Saving your own vegetable seeds. Neem leaf tea or neem seed oil to discourageinsect...
2010-10-20 Drying seeds in preparation for storage and maintaining dry conditions in storage both help prevent the growth and harmful effects of mold on seed viability.