How to grow and when to collect carrot seeds

Despite the availability of carrot seeds in specialized stores, there are always gardeners who want to get their own seed material. The reasons may be different: lack of confidence in the quality of purchased material, desire to cultivate a specific variety, passion for breeding activities, cost savings. Knowing how to get carrot seeds yourself will allow you to grow vegetables that will definitely have the characteristics of the mother variety.

Choosing carrots for growing for seeds

Carrot seeds can be obtained only in the second year of the plant’s vegetative development. During harvesting, you need to select specimens of root crops that you will plant next year in order to obtain seeds. They must meet a number of requirements:

belong to a specific variety, and not a hybrid (the seeds of hybrids are marked with the symbol F1), if you plant the seeds of a hybrid, you will harvest a crop with signs of degeneration: the root crops will be small, light-colored, and tasteless;
be large, smooth, beautiful, possessing all varietal characteristics;
have no mechanical damage or signs of disease.

One carrot will give you enough seed to seed a garden bed, but it will take several bushes to pollinate. It is still better to prepare at least 3-4 root crops for growing seeds. It is important that they belong to the same variety, then cross-pollination will be avoided and their varietal characteristics will be preserved.

Getting pepper seeds

There are no questions at all when obtaining hot pepper seeds:

Dry the fruit until it becomes a rattle.
We take the seeds.
Success.

When it comes to bell peppers, there is a great way to get the seeds from them. A member of our Anansi portal learned it from a man with thirty years of experience in growing vegetables. So, we take a beautiful ripe fruit, cut it, take out the stalk with the seeds, dry it for several days and collect the seeds.

Anansi FORUMHOUSE Member

The point is that pepper seeds left on the stalk ripen better and have a higher percentage of germination.

Storing root vegetables

Root crops identified for growing seeds are stored separately from the rest of the crop. The tops are removed before this.

For storage, root vegetables are placed in boxes filled with damp sand and stored in a cool room. Most often they serve the cellar.

In the spring, the root crops are removed from the box and inspected again. If they begin to overgrow with tops, they are no longer touched. It is better to discard specimens that appear unhealthy so as not to expose healthy plants to the risk of infection.

Seed selection and preparation for storage

Separating seeds from inflorescences is done with hands wearing rubber or leather gloves over a spread sheet of paper. The best grains are located at the edges of the umbrella; the middle of the inflorescence is not used.

The seeds are covered with hard fibers; small debris easily sticks to them. For complete cleaning, planting material is sorted in several ways:

The seeds are placed in a container with salted water (30 g of table salt per 10 liters of water). Rubbish and unripe hollow seeds float to the surface, and full-fledged seeds settle to the bottom. After calibration, the grains are washed with water.
The seed material is laid out on a flat surface and held over it with an electrified plastic object. Light unripe seeds, husks and debris are attracted to it like a magnet.
Seeds are cleaned using a fan. The disadvantage of this method is that with a strong air flow, the planting material may partially fly away along with debris.

Before storing, carrot seeds are disinfected in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes, then washed with water. Dry the seed at room temperature in a room with good ventilation:

the grains are laid out in a thin layer on a paper towel;
stir daily, preventing them from sticking together;
Drying is continued for 5-7 days until the seeds acquire a flowable state.

When to plant carrot seeds

There is no need to rush into planting carrots intended for seed planting. By this time the soil should have warmed up well, there should be no threat of frost at all. Typically this period occurs in May.

If you are afraid that the seeds will not have time to ripen, you can plant carrot roots in deep flower pots in April, and move them to open ground in May.

If the root crop is too large and does not fit into the flower pot, it can be trimmed, leaving at least a third. Plant that part of the root crop that is decorated with tops.

Some gardeners, when determining the timing of planting carrots for seeds, pay attention to the lunar calendar: it is believed that the Moon should be in the growing phase.

Collection technology

The seeds of the root crop do not ripen at the same time. The collection is carried out selectively, without waiting for the inflorescences to dry completely. Choose a dry day; it is advisable that there was no precipitation the day before.

Collection rules:

cut off umbrellas that are uniformly colored brown without green inclusions, leaving a stem length of 20-25 cm;
tied into small bundles;
put linen bags on the heads of the inflorescences or tie them with gauze (some of the seeds fall off when drying);
the bunches are hung in a dry, dark place (in the attic, in the barn);
dried for 7-10 days for final ripening;
They are checked periodically and if mold appears, they are discarded;
a sign of readiness - the grains are easily separated from the inflorescences.

Ripe, high-quality seeds have a uniform grayish-brown color and a glossy outer shell.

How to plant carrots by seeds

To plant carrots for seeds, choose an area well protected from the wind. It is important that it is not located near other carrot beds. If there are carrots of a different variety nearby, cross-pollination will occur and you will no longer be able to obtain high-quality seed material.

Dig up the soil.
Make holes the size of the root vegetables.
Pour water into each hole. Wait until it is absorbed.
Place the root vegetables in the holes, sprinkle them with soil, and tamp them down. The “hangers” of the root crops should be at ground level.
Water the carrots again.
Mulch the ground around the bushes with peat or other suitable material.

In the future, carrots planted with seeds should be taken good care of.

Step-by-step instructions: how to collect your own seeds at home

Collection time

The seeds are collected at the moment the inflorescences darken, without waiting for the umbrellas to dry. The collection period occurs at the beginning and end of August.

Reference

Ripening does not occur simultaneously - the central umbrellas ripen first, then the umbrellas of subsequent orders, so they are removed selectively. If more than half of the umbels on the plant are ripe, they are removed completely.

Preparing the plant “umbrella” for collecting seeds

Carrot umbrellas are cut off (the remaining root vegetables are unsuitable for culinary purposes) and stored in a dry, well-ventilated area for ripening. You can gather umbrellas in small groups, tie them with twine and hang them with their stems down, placing a tarp or newspapers underneath.

Appearance of seeds

Carrot seeds are very small, rich brown in color, covered with small white fibers. Some varieties are characterized by the presence of lobed stripes. The seeds, ready for collection, fall out of the umbrella easily and have a slight shine due to the essential oils on their surface.

Collection process

When the umbrellas are completely dry, they are taken with both hands and rubbed tightly, during which all the seeds fall out of the inflorescences. The procedure is performed wearing gloves or mittens.

Selection of suitable and unsuitable seeds

To check the suitability of seeds for planting, they are soaked for 2-3 hours in a container with water at room temperature. “Empty” and damaged seeds will float to the surface, while high-quality seeds will settle to the bottom. Good seeds are strained out and dried, spread on a tarpaulin.

Storing collected seeds

Seeds are stored in a glass container with a tight lid or a fabric bag, in a dry, dark place at a temperature of 12-18 degrees.

How to care for seed carrots

In order for the seeds to be of high quality and ripen on time, the seed plant must be carefully cared for.

Carrots need to be fed at least twice. For the first time, fertilizers with a high nitrogen content are applied. Such fertilizing is needed during the growth of tops. During the budding period, potassium fertilizers are applied. At this time, you can feed the carrots with ash or ash liquid.

Caring for seed plants also includes watering and regular loosening of the soil. Don’t neglect mulching: carrot roots feel much more comfortable under a layer of mulch.

In mid-summer, carrots will throw out a peduncle and bloom. To prevent the side shoots from taking away the strength of the central ones, they are removed.

How to avoid premature flowering?

When purchasing seeds, you need to look for varieties with resistance to flowering, among such “Vitaminnaya”, “Konservnaya”, “Nantes 4”, “Incomparable”, “Cold-resistant19”.
Seeds must be no older than 2 years.
Select them carefully before sowing.
The best predecessors of carrots in the garden are cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and potatoes.
When the temperature drops, the film will save the bed.
It is better to grow carrots between beacon plants; this will simplify the care of the spaces between the rows. Best suited: lettuce, radishes, garlic and legumes, while avoiding parsley, horseradish and beets with celery (what you can plant carrots next to, read here, and we talked about whether it is possible to place carrots and onions in the same bed here).
Thinning of seedlings to avoid crowding of crops is carried out 3-4 times during the entire period of their growth.
Water regularly, instead of daily small portions.
Excessive fertilization and top dressing promotes flowering.
During heavy rainfalls, it is better to cover the crops to avoid flooding.

Obtaining seeds in the year of sowing vegetables

How to get legume seeds (beans, peas, beans)

Collect legume seeds from well-ripened, yellowed pods, carefully opening the pod valves and removing the largest, regular-shaped kernels. The seeds are dried at room temperature for several days, then sent for storage in canvas or fabric bags.

From the author. For several years in a row I have been collecting my own bean seeds. Even in our harsh climate, it ripens well. I do not pick pods from a bush in the garden, but cut off the entire bush and move it to a cool, dry place (in my case, on the second unfinished floor of a country house), where I place the cut plants on the floor so that the pods dry on the bush.

How to collect radish seeds

Radish seeds can be obtained in two ways - transplanted and non-transplanted. In the first case, the entire above-ground part of a well-ripened selected root crop is cut off except for the central growth part. The root crop itself is dipped in a clay mash (in some cases, the root is additionally cut) and planted in a new place. After some time, a peduncle grows on the planted root crop, on which the seeds ripen.

Once the pods turn yellow and the seeds turn brown, you can start collecting them.

The flowering shoot is pinched to enhance branching and form a powerful seed bush at a height of 10–12 cm. Flowering begins 50–70 days after sowing and 30–40 days after planting the queen cells. It takes about 120 days for the seeds to ripen.

With the non-transplant method, the plants are thinned out, removing all root crops that are atypical for the variety. Otherwise, the methods for growing seeds are the same as with the first method.

From the author. I do things a little differently - I don’t replant, but when collecting ripe radishes, I leave one or two root vegetables in the garden, from which I then collect seeds.

How to collect cauliflower seeds

Work on collecting cauliflower seeds begins with growing seedlings. The best soil for cauliflower: 1 part turf soil, 2 parts humus, 1/10 part river sand. Grown seedlings are usually planted in open ground or greenhouses. Then, after the head of cabbage “falls apart” into pieces, weak shoots are removed from the plant. 20-30 days after the appearance of peduncles, seeds form on the cauliflower, the full maturity of which occurs only in late autumn, when the seed pods acquire a yellow-green color and the seeds turn brown.

How to collect lettuce seeds

Lettuce seeds are grown for one year. Seed ripening requires a long period of 130–160 days. Such deadlines limit the seed production area of this vegetable. In the southern and central regions, mother plants are grown by sowing in open ground, and in the northern regions - by seedlings.

Lettuce seeds are collected from healthy and well-developed growing plants after they have been culled. You should not select for seed purposes leaf lettuce that has begun to form a flower shoot at the stage of planting seedlings (in the case of growing lettuce through seedlings), as well as head lettuce that does not form a head.

The ripening of the seeds is indicated by the appearance of white flecks in the inflorescences and the darkening of the stem. Harvesting of lettuce seeds should be selective. The seed heads are cut off without waiting for the entire plant to mature. After collection, the seeds are laid out on paper to dry for two to three days, then carefully ground and winnowed.

How to collect tomato seeds

Tomato seed production can be done wherever the fruits at least reach the size characteristic of the variety. In mid-summer, each seed bush is inspected, carefully culling plants that for some reason do not correspond to the variety or biological characteristics.

Tomatoes are self-pollinating plants, so different varieties can be grown for seed purposes in one garden. But in the southern regions, cross-pollination by insects is possible.

From the uterine bushes, the seed fruits growing on the first two or three clusters are harvested in biological or blanzhesky ripeness. Unripe but mature fruits are sent to a warm and dry room for ripening. Among the ripened fruits, the best ones are selected, cut crosswise and the seeds are extracted. Each tomato seed is surrounded by a placenta - a mucous membrane (pulp). Seeds with pulp are fermented for two to three days (no more) at room temperature, then washed and dried. Prolonged fermentation and slow drying lead to a decrease in seed germination.

How to collect pepper seeds

Pepper is a self-pollinating plant, thanks to which you can get seeds of different varieties in one area. Fruits that have reached biological ripeness are collected from selected bushes. Then the stalk with a small part of the pulp is cut out of the fruit, the seeds are carefully separated and sent to dry.

How to collect cucumber seeds

Cucumber is a pumpkin crop; it is a cross-pollinating plant, therefore, with natural pollination from one plot, it is possible to obtain seeds of only one variety. To guarantee purity, artificial pollination is used: on the eve of flowering, female buds that have not yet opened are isolated (tied with gauze), and the next morning they are pollinated with pollen from a previously taken male flower. The pollinated female flower is again tied with gauze and removed when they are convinced that the small fruit is growing and developing safely.

On the plant where the testes ripen, the shoots are pinched in a timely manner to ensure optimal nutritional and moisture conditions; it is also necessary to systematically remove the ovaries, redirecting all plastic substances to the remaining fruits.

Overripe and softened fruits are cut lengthwise with a knife and the seeds with pulp are removed. The mass is fermented for two to three days, then the seeds are immediately washed and dried.

From the author. There is an opinion that cucumber seeds should be collected only from female fruits. How to distinguish a male cucumber from a female one? This is easy to do - the shape of the female fetus in cross-section tends to be square, and the male fetus - to the triangle. To be honest, I can’t collect cucumber seeds. No, I collect them without problems and in compliance with all the rules, but the harvest from the collected seeds leaves much to be desired, although I remember well how my grandmother collected cucumber seeds every year and received an excellent harvest.

How to collect pumpkin seeds - zucchini, squash, pumpkin

These vegetable crops and their varieties are easily crossed with each other. To avoid cross-pollination and obtain seeds of the desired variety, it is necessary to resort to artificial pollination.

Seeds of zucchini, melon, pumpkin, and squash do not require fermentation. After removing the seeds from the ripened fruit, it is enough to wash them and dry them. It should be remembered that fresh seeds from last year produce a lot of barren flowers. The best age for pumpkin seeds is two to three years.

When the first shoots appear

Before planting seeds, you need to familiarize yourself with when carrots sprout after planting. After all, not everyone knows how long it takes for carrots to sprout. There are various reasons why the duration of germination may vary. The time of emergence of seedlings depends on the soil in which the plant is grown. Bushes sprout much faster when grown in sandy loam and loose soil. Also, the germination of carrots depends on whether the seeds were prepared for planting. Some vegetable growers, in order to speed up the germination of carrot seeds, pre-treat them.

However, despite all these reasons, it is possible to determine how many days after planting carrots sprout. When planting treated and peeled seeds, the first carrot shoots appear within a week. In cold rooms, their germination is delayed for three weeks.

You can also determine how many days it takes carrots to sprout after planting using the weather. In cloudy weather, the first shoots will appear only 20-25 days after planting. However, if you know how to quickly germinate carrot seeds, then this period can be reduced several times.

Poor quality seeds

Before sowing carrots, you need to select seeds. There are cases when people purchase low-quality or defective seeds that do not begin to grow. To avoid this problem, before sowing it is necessary to calibrate the planting material. To do this, all seeds are placed in a saline solution for 5-10 minutes. During this time, low-quality seeds will float to the surface.

Deep sowing

If the carrots have not sprouted on time, then it is worth checking the planting depth. The plant will not grow well if it is planted too deeply. It is recommended to plant the seeds to a depth of no more than 10 cm. However, they are not covered with a thick layer of soil. If the vegetable does not sprout due to the depth of sowing, then you will have to dig up the seeds and replant them at a shallower depth.

However, you should not plant them on the very surface of the soil, as this may cause them to freeze, which will also negatively affect the germination rate.

Little moisture

Caring for planted carrots should include periodic watering. If the soil is constantly dry, the germination of seeds will slow down several times. When watering, it is recommended to use a special covering material, which will help retain moisture in the ground longer.

Soaking in water

Before speeding up the germination of carrot seeds, you need to understand the features of this method.

All seed should be soaked in heated water. To do this, the seeds are wrapped in gauze and placed in a container with liquid heated to 25 degrees. This treatment of carrot seeds before planting should last no longer than three hours. During this time, the seed should swell well.

By treating the seeds in this way, you can see what the first shoots look like after two weeks.