Seed Saving Circle 2016?

[markfield rover]

Jayb, I'll try to do the photo thing but  for now... Tiger is a sort of Ikea high Sreet nik nakkery shop and for Easter they are doing amongst their garden stuff a pink  although more Farrow & Ball than Barbie a 12 sectioned (?) propagator tray with lid £1 good size for window sills and just more interesting than green or black and there is purple too! It will go with my hat!!!

Sunloving - I grow a lot of flowers too  just love it the bigger the blouser the better , guessing you are already aware of Higgledy Garden... I really enjoy his writtings... So maybe as Jayb suggested a flower circle!

[markfield rover]

[Jayb]

Smiling here, loving the sound of your pink propagator, oooh you must get the purple one too - brilliant.
Thanks, I've never heard of Tiger shops, I don't think there are any around here which is a shame.

Sunloving - I grow a lot of flowers too  just love it the bigger the blouser the better , guessing you are already aware of Higgledy Garden... I really enjoy his writtings... So maybe as Jayb suggested a flower circle!

Just a thought that there might be some flower loving seed swappers who want to organise a circle or swap, I'd love to join in if anyone fancies doing it?

[Hector]

Flower swap sounds great.

[sunloving]

What's involved?

Is it being the person to start the parcel to its first stop? In which case I could give it a whirl.
If is more sending seeds to me and me sending out individual parcels then we would all have steeper postage charges since I'm in Eire. And it would be best to have a uk organiser.

When I think of the things I've actually swapped here they have all been ornamental!

Just a thought that there might be some flower loving seed swappers who want to organise a circle or swap, I'd love to join in if anyone fancies doing it?

[markfield rover]

If it is only the three of us then we could post to each other if I am thinking right! Also step aside from here . Thoughts?

[Robert_Brenchley]

A flower circle would be good if I had anything to put into it, but I haven't saved any flower seeds in quantity.

[sunloving]

I would say that we wouldn't swap until end of this year this gives you a chance to collect extra.
I'm in a whole new garden and have nothing planted but I'm sure I'll have lots of seed by the end of the year.

Shall we do a new post then and ask a mod to make it a sticky? Exciting!
X sun loving

[markfield rover]

Sounds good to me, I am still sowing plenty we can compare notes in non edibles I'll get me coat!

[galina]

Another popular item for seed circles are peppers and chili peppers.  Many people believe that they are like tomatoes that rarely cross, but they do.  Sort of a half-way house.  They are entirely self-pollinating, but if bees gain access there will be about a 40% crossing rate.  There are also different species of peppers and some can cross with each other.  Growing just the one type in a garden is relatively safe, especially if it is in the greenhouse with limited bee access.  In the open on an allotment, it gets harder to keep them pure.

When sweet and hot pepper varieties cross, the 'hot' is dominant and the cross will be a hot pepper. 

However for saving pure seeds, we can make use of the fact that peppers need no pollinators to set.  Either we keep a few good plants indoors until they had their first flowers and set fruits, then mark the pure fruits.  Or we cover ends of branches and flowers with little blossom bags (a bit like wedding favour bags - mine are made from ancient net curtains). 

My seed saving friend from the USA has another clever method (she is a scientist  !).  She chooses 3 nice plants without flowers or set fruit and plants them together into a large pot.  She then constructs an insect proof covering with two U-shaped hoops taller than the pepper plants and fleece over the top of the peppers.  This fleece goes under the rim of the pot and gets gaffer-taped into place or tied into place to make it insect proof.  The pot gets watered/fertilised from below and any pepper that sets inside is by definition pure breeding. 

Just a few more 'how to' ideas.  I'd love to hear how others have done theirs.

I know goodlife was experimenting with glueing flowers shut, but I don't recall how successful this was.   

PS: if anybody wants to tackle a seed-save and have any questions, there are people on here who can help, or look it up,  just ask   

[Jayb]

Good post, nice lot of tips and ideas 

Using PVA glue on chilli flowers does work, though you need to make sure they get a proper dip in it or some of the petals manage to open.

[sunloving]

Just to check on cross pollination in peas? I will be separating varieties in time but want to check if any other isolation is required?
I'm doing salmon flowered, Alaskan early , some commons like onward and kelvedon and Shiraz mange tout. X sun loving
Ps the Jelly melons are up!

[Silverleaf]

You don't need to isolate peas at all, they only cross extremely rarely even if you grow them right next to each other.

[galina]

Yep, just like Silverleaf said!  The rate of natural mutation is higher than the rate of crossing!  No spacing by time required either.  You only need to make sure that there is no seed-mixing at harvest time.

The fact that peas are relatively easy to cross deliberately for breeding purposes does not mean that they cross by themselves. 

Jelly melons are a species of their own and another one where you don't have to worry, there are to my knowledge no named varieties.  Any seeds you harvest are pure breeding.  Extracting and cleaning the seeds is a bit of work though. 

[galina]

Good post, nice lot of tips and ideas 

Using PVA glue on chilli flowers does work, though you need to make sure they get a proper dip in it or some of the petals manage to open.

Thank you Jayb! 

Can the glue constrict a flower bud so much that it cannot set fruit?  Does the emerging fruit need to be set free from a crust of glue?  At what stage is the dipping done?  How you dip a single bud without affecting the rest of the branch?.  Would it be easier to paint the glue on?  I have never tried it because I cannot picture how to do it, but I love the elegance of the concept.  Definitely ready to learn more 

[martinburo]

If it is only the three of us

[snip]
I'm already in this flower swap:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/seed-swap/flower-seed-circle-2016-a_88244.html
Might make more sense to join that than start a tiny circle here.

[Robert_Brenchley]

There are already a few flowers in the veg swap; maybe we could just encourage people to put more in?

[sparrow]

Good post, nice lot of tips and ideas 

Using PVA glue on chilli flowers does work, though you need to make sure they get a proper dip in it or some of the petals manage to open.

Thank you Jayb! 

Can the glue constrict a flower bud so much that it cannot set fruit?  Does the emerging fruit need to be set free from a crust of glue?  At what stage is the dipping done?  How you dip a single bud without affecting the rest of the branch?.  Would it be easier to paint the glue on?  I have never tried it because I cannot picture how to do it, but I love the elegance of the concept.  Definitely ready to learn more 

Same here, it sounds really interesting and a brilliant solution for a crowded allotment.

[Jeannine]

Winnie the pooh pepper seeds arrived yesterday and are sown, bit late but I am hoping they will be OK.I have few seeds still coming from various places which I am going to sow on arrival but I will be pushing it

Kajari Melon,, beautiful to look at  from the Punjab very sweet and early

A Summer Squash, Desi, small bush type, nutty flavor with baseball sized round yellow fruit

A vining summer squash called Gialla Nostrate.

I will try to post pictures.

Galina that bean I was looking for, was it to replace an old family bean that was lost to me?  If so I have it back, my son in laws father still had seeds and I got some, don'y know how old they are but I will set some off and see.

I can't do the Mayoral Blue I don't think.. wondering where to let it trail and that would be difficult when seriously thinking about it.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

pictures

[clumsy]

The summer squash looks the ones we grow and they grow them in asia. I shared the seeds in the circle last year. Interesting where did you buy the seeds from?