Subsistence Seed Production
Plant seeds have a definite sprouting life that ranges from 1 to 10 years depending on the plant and cultivar of that plant. There are techniques for prolonging the sprouting life but not indefinably. In a long term SHTF event especially if you are in an isolated location, replenishing your seed supply by growing your own seed would be a valuable skill to develop. Growing quality seeds for barter is also a boon to your survivor community if you do it right. First of all starting with open pollinated seeds; while hybrids can be breed out it is a tedious, multi-generational, somewhat complicated breeding project.
Considerations in Home Grown Seed:
1. Self-pollinate Vegetables that rarely cross.
a. Vegetables that self-pollinate strongly are stable from generation to generation.
b. Seeds can be gathered from few, possibly even one ideal plant and do not inbreed badly.
2. Vegetables that cross-pollinate very weakly, generally act like self-pollinating and, if separated by at least 20 feet from another variety, probably will not usually cross.
a. They are fairly stable but should be “rogued” for any odd plant not running true to type, especially after several generations of seed saving.
b. Seeds can be gathered from few, possibly only 6 ideal plants and still not inbreed badly.
3. Vegetables that are self-pollinate or very weakly cross-pollinate are easy to save seed from.
a. Among these are: beans, endive, lettuce, pepper and tomato.
4. Some vegetables must cross-pollinate to avoid genetic problems.
a. The main problem with strongly cross-pollinate plants is “inbreeding depression of vigor”.
b. After a few generations of inbreeding, the gene pool is too small to sustain a viable population.
c. Successive generations of seeds (generally after the second or third generation) losing their vigor to sprout and grow weakly while producing progressively poorer quality fruit.
5. What contributes to inbreeding depress and what can be done about it?
a. Generally speaking, the less highly the vegetable type has been “refined” in its breeding from its wild ancestor the better at resisting inbreeding depression because it will have more genetic variation to begin with.
b. “Refined” vegetables are nearly always high demand too with demanding higher water and nutrient level in order to produce.
c. The number of individual plants that must be used for cross pollinate and from which seed must be saved varies with its level of refinedness or how far it has been breed from its wild ancestor.
d. Examples: IP = Insect Pollinated, SP = Self Pollinating, WP = Wind Pollinated
e.
Vegetable Type Variety Demand Pollination Minimum Seeds / oz
beans bush/purp Purple Pod Low demand SP plants: 2 88/oz
beans dry Early Pinto Low demand SP plants: 2 88/oz
beans mung Low demand SP plants: 2
beans soybean Jet Black Low demand SP plants: 2 88/oz
beets long/red Cylender Low demand IP plants: 25 WO 1,600/oz
bok choy Joi Choi Medium demand IP plants: 6 (12) 7,000/oz
broccoli Sideshoot de ecicco High demand IP plants: 6 (20) 8500/oz
burdock oriental Takinogawa Low demand IP plants: 10 WO 650/oz
barley hulless purple Low demand WP plants: 100 WO 781/oz
cabbage Late Stein's Flat Duch medium demand IP plants: 50 (200) WO 7,000/oz
cabbage Late Danish Ball medium demand IP plants: 50 (200) WO 7,000/oz
carrot red core Chantenay Royal Low demand IP plants: 50 WO 18000/oz
carrot Denver Half Long Low demand IP plants: 50 WO 18000/oz
corn Corn meal Painted Mt. medium demand WP plants: 50 from 100 188/oz
corn cornmeal Mandan Bride medium demand WP plants: 50 from 100 188/oz
corn popcorn Japanese Hulless medium demand WP plants: 50 from 100 500/oz
cucumber European Lemon medium demand IP plants: 25 1,000/oz
endive baby leaf Bianca Riccia Low demand SP plants: 1 WO 15,000/oz
kale Siberian flat Low demand IP plants: 6 WO 7,000/oz
lentils green Low demand SP plants: 2 2,000/oz
lentils red Low demand SP plants: 2 2,000/oz
lettuce loose-leaf Oak Leaf medium demand SP plants: 2 20,000/oz
lettuce loose-leaf Bk Seed Simpson medium demand SP plants: 2 20,000/oz
melon musk jenny lind high demand IP plants: (12) 22 1,000/oz
millet White Proso Early Bird low demand WP plants: 100 2400/oz
oats hulless nuda low demand WP plants: 100 781/oz
parsnip Harris Low demand IP plants: 25 6,000oz
peas snap peas Sugar Ann Low demand SP plants: 2 125/oz
peas snap peas Sugar Sprint Low demand SP plants: 2 125/oz
peppers cayenne Long medium demand SP plants: 1 4,000/oz
peppers Pimiento Lipstick medium demand SP plants: 1 4,000/oz
peppers jalapeno standard medium demand SP plants: 1 4,000/oz
pumpkin pepto N.Eng Pie medium demand IP plants:(12) 25 200/oz
pumpkin pepto Syrian Kakai medium demand IP plants:(12) 25 200/oz
radish spring German Giant medium demand IP plants: 25 2.500/oz
rutabagas Am. Purple medium demand IP plants: 12 8,000/oz
Rye spring low demand WP plants: 100 875/oz
sorghum milo-seed White Poping low demand WP plants: 100 1,400/oz
squash-winter maxima Buttercup medium demand IP plants:(12) 25 200/oz
squash-winter moschata Butternut medium demand IP plants:(12) 25 200/oz
tomato cherry Whippersnapper medium demand SP plants: 1 9.000/oz
tomato slicing Stupice medium demand SP plants: 1 9.000/oz
tomato sauce Debarao medium demand SP plants: 1 9.000/oz
tomato slicing Pruden`s Purple medium demand SP plants: 1 9.000/oz
watermelon icebox Cream of Saskatchewn high demand IP plants: (12) 22 700/oz
Wheat Soft spring Kamut low demand WP plants: 100 812/oz
Other Problems in Cross-pollinate Plants
1. Cross-breeding within the vegetable type family:
a. Swiss chard (tasty leaves) will cross with red beets (tasty roots) and gives you something with neither.
b. Kale, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower can all interbreed unless grown considerable (up to1/2 mile) distances apart. It is very difficult to grow seed for more than one in a single year.
c. Breeding with wild family members: domestic carrots and wild carrot (Queens Ann’s lace) and wild pig weed and grain Amaranth.
2. “Rogueing” for any plant not running true to type must be done in every generations and reselecting of breeding stock every few to allow for the occasional pollination from some nearby garden and mutations.
3. The land and seed devoted to just saving seed plants can be considerable:
a. Pumpkins and squash, 25 separate plants but 12 are considered minimum. While that is a lot of pumpkins, but at least you can eat the fruit.
b. Cabbages need 50 minimum plants with 200 preferred and you must save them over winter and replant the whole head and roots so you cannot eat them. (except see my article “Having Your Cabbage and Eating It Too”)
Mitigation strategies
1. Having your cabbage and eating it too. Since cabbage is one of those “must have” Northern vegetables, I have been experimenting with cutting the main head a little early and letting it re grow small side heads late into the fall then storing them over winter. The replanted root & stem will send up seed stocks (much fewer & weaker) but viable.
2. In Poland, typically an average of 30 pounds of cabbage and sauerkraut is eaten per year (American’s consume 10 pounds) but medieval peasants ate about 8 oz for nearly every meal or 120 lb per year. 50 heads will yield about 220lb so it maybe be feasible to grow seed one year and cabbage the next.
3. First generation seed (F1) from too few plants will grow and be nearly indistinguishable from the original seed generation. As inbreeding depression of vigor doesn’t usually show up until the 3rd generation, so F1 seeds are ok to use but not save seed from if you can help it.
4. Most vegetable seed types will be viable for 3 to 5 years (if kept cool and very dry) so use your commercial seed to produce and home seed and use the for home seed producing crops for consumption.
5. Before your commercial seed expires, try to grow the required number of plant for full genetic range.
6. When you are down to only first generation home seed, breeding a 2nd generation from them as they may be vigorous enough to grow a decent crop yet.
Trading for Seeds
1. Bartering for other peoples home saved seed is an act of faith. You cannot tell how old they are or if they were saved properly, especially with regards to inbreeding depression of vigor. Odds are they won’t be, so you will be much better off saving your own.
2. What if you have or can only trade for hybrids? Common knowledge is that you can’t breed with hybrids but maybe you can. Most hybrids are simply breed from 2 different OP lines (say A and B) which have been with a self sterile line (S). Now AS won’t breed with AS but very poorly, however AS will breed with BS just fine for the AB hybrid. Hybrid AB will also breed with an OP C or hybrid DC to form a new OP line. If line AB, C, and DC are all good producers (and they generally are) your new line should be too even if it is not exactly the same as any of them. Sometimes the hybrid AB may even breed with itself but your yield of viable seed may be 10 or 25 %. Continued breeding of AB my yield a stable OP by the 3rd or 4th generation. A lot of fooling around in a survival situation but better than seed with inbreed genetic depression or no seed at all.
2 Replies
515 Views