Growing Plants from Saved or Gleaned Seeds

Background:  When working with seeds gleaned from food, be aware that unless the fruit is an heirloom variety (which means that it will breed true without special pollination), the seeds you save are unlikely to result in the same quality of fruit as the parent. For example, pumpkins grown in a garden may cross-pollinate with squashes. The resulting seeds grow into plants showing mixtures of squash and pumpkin traits. As long as you aren’t expecting perfect pumpkins, seeing what will result may be half the fun.

Gather:

1. •Seeds from foods you eat, such as apples, pears, dates, figs, blueberries
   

2. •Recycled containers
   

3. •Potting medium (see experiment 1).
   

4. •Cold storage for some types of seeds
   

5. •Sunny place to perform experiments
   

Seeds may be started in almost any recycled container. Old milk cartons, newspaper pots, even empty egg shells held in an egg carton can serve as containers. Open the eggs at one end, rather than crack through the middle.

Experiment 1.

Most seeds germinate and grow better in a special potting medium, rather than garden soil. Gardeners often create their own unique mixes of peat, sand and vermiculite or perlite. Sometimes they add a bit of compost as well. Check with gardeners in your area for recommendations, or look in books and on the Internet. Mix up several recipes to test plus purchase some commercial potting mix to serve as a control.

A suggested experimental design might be to place recipe you want to test into 5 containers each, plus 5 containers with the control mix. Label each container with a stick. Plant a known number of radish seeds (radishes sprout very quickly) into each container, including the controls. Water all treatments in the same way and hold in the same area. Once the radishes germinate, count the plants in each container. See if there are any differences in the numbers that germinated in each mix. Then use the best mix for further experiments.

Grow Your Own Fruit from Seeds

Apples, cherries, pears and peaches will grow from pits or seeds, but must be chilled in a moist, cold place for at least 8 weeks before they will germinate. Clean the pits or seeds collected from fresh, disease-free fruit, and then wrap in moist peat moss. Keep in a plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator for about two months. Then plant the seeds in moist potting medium. Keep watered and in a sunny location. Perform experiments with different types of seeds and different growing conditions. For example, if you keep an apple cold for two months, will the seeds germinate as well as those seeds removed from the fruit and kept in peat moss?

Blueberries also need a cold period before they will germinate. Obtain low bush blueberries that have been frozen for at least three months, or keep them frozen for three months. Late winter is a good time to start because it takes a month for the blueberries to germinate. Prepare containers with moist sphagnum moss as the growth medium. Grind up about ¾ cup frozen berries (never cooked) in a blender or food processor with a generous amount of water. After blending, let settle for a few minutes. Hopefully the seeds will fall towards the bottom and you can pour off much of the water/fruity pulp. The seeds are tiny and round, a yellowish to orange-brown color. Repeat if necessary to clean the seeds a bit more. They don’t need to be perfectly clean, but enough so you can see them to handle.

Place the blueberry seeds in the moist moss. Cover with plastic or newspaper. Keep moist. After a month you should have some very tiny seedling. Uncover at that point. When the seedlings are big enough to handle they are ready for transplanting. 

It is possible to grow orange, grapefruit or lemon trees from saved seeds. Start the seeds in moist paper towels until they begin to germinate. Plant the germinated seeds about 1/2 inch deep in moist potting medium in a container. Keep the containers watered and the seeds should continue to grow. Citrus can grow indoors or as patio plants, but they need the brightest light available.

If you are interested in more exotic fruit, try fig seeds or date seeds from dried fruit. Make sure the fruit has never been cooked, which would kill the seeds. Commercial figs are now hybrids, so you may have to try several types to obtain a good fruit. Figs grow relatively quickly. Dates, on the other hand, are pretty slow growing.

Grow Your Own Pineapple

Gather:

1. •Pineapple with top
   

2. •Sand
   

3. •Container big enough to accommodate the pineapple top
   

With a sharp knife, cut the top off the pineapple about 1 1/2 inches below the green leaves. Slice straight across, right through the fruit part. Let the pineapple air dry for a couple of days and then plant into the container filled with moist sand, covering the fruit and leaving the green top exposed. Keep the plant watered by pouring the water into the leaves, like you would for a bromeliad. Add plant food once it has established.

After about a year the plant should be big enough to flower and fruit. If it doesn’t flower on it’s own, cover the plant with a plastic bag and add two apples into the pot. Close and tie the bag around the pot. The apples give off the chemical ethylene, which should induce flowering. 

Check the Kitchen Scraps Garden in the Budding Section for more ideas. Happy growing and experimenting!