Seed selection: how to choose the right seed crop
How do you know you’re choosing the right seeds? Here are some tips to aid you choose the best seed crop for your garden.
Below is an excerpt Organic seed breeder By John Navazio. It has been adapted for utilize on the Internet.
Characteristics of seed plants
There are many distinctive characteristics of crop plants that are quite similar within the nine plant families in which most of our vegetable crops occur.
One of the first things that someone studying our crops will discover is that closely related crops within a particular family usually share many characteristics.
We know that different crops within the same family often share certain phenotypic characteristics, such as structural or reproductive traits.
Flower structure
The flower structure has been around for a long time the main way of classifying plants into families.
The type and structure of the fruit, which is actually a fertilized flower ovule, has also been classically used for classify different angiosperms (true flowering plants) into different species and genera.
When it comes to structural characteristics, we all know that crop species from the same family tend to be common common leaf type, arrangement of leaves on the main stem, stem type and so on.
Plant structure
The structure of a plant may also reflect the function of a specific part of the plant.
Certainly, as you learn about the different members of the plant family, you may begin to see more commonalities between these species.
This way of viewing crops can be quite useful when you are first considering growing unfamiliar seed crops and realize that it is possible to culturally approach them in a similar way to seed crops with which you have experience.
Categories for selecting seed plants
Here are some categories where crops within a specific family share common traits that you will need will aid you decide if the crop is suited to your environment: :
1. Evolutionary past
- Center of origin. Is your climate similar to that of the evolutionary past?
- Climate. Is the climate in your country similar to where it currently grows?
- Structure and flower parts family is certainly associated with common origin.
2. Environment
Describe the climate in which this plant grows.
- Frosty season crops they need nippy weather to ripen seeds with high germination rates.
- Intermediate crops it will grow in nippy or balmy climates, and the seeds will mature in balmy conditions.
- Heat lovers they need heat to develop and produce seeds with high germination.
3. Life cycle
Although there are patterns within different families, there are clearly families that contain annual, biennial, or perennial species.
- Annuals complete their entire life cycle in one season.
- Winter annuals They are planted for autumn growth and flowering at the beginning of the next growing season.
- Biennial they require the best of two seasons to complete their life cycle, with vernalization between the first season of vegetative growth and the second season of reproductive growth.
- Perennials. This applies to very few vegetable plants propagated by seeds.
4. Sensitivity to day length
Is the crop sensitive to day length?
- Crops sensitive to day length they only bloom at a certain day length.
- Day length neutral crops they bloom at different day lengths.
5. Biology of reproduction
Self-pollinated and cross-pollinated species.
- Cross-pollinated species. Is isolation on the farm possible?
- Pollinated by the wind. Pollen travels far and does not need insects.
- Pollinated by insects. Are there pollinating insects?
- Self-pollinated species. How much insulation is possible on the farm?
- Faithful egoists are strongly self-pollinating; several crops are possible.
- Promiscuous selfish people— how much insulation is possible?
6. Presence of disease
Is disease a limiting factor in your environment?
- Vegetative phase diseases– is this a limiting factor?
- Seed-borne diseases— are they endemic and economically limiting?
7. Presence of insect pests
Are insects a limiting factor in your environment?
- Insects in the vegetative phase– are they a limiting factor?
- Insects from seeds— are they endemic and economically limiting?
Climate zones
Here is a reference list of the four main climate types in which vegetable seed crops are grown.
Significant climatic considerations are given that determine the suitability of each zone, followed by the crops that are best adapted to that particular zone.
Please note that some crops are adapted to more than one climate and therefore show a wider adaptation to environmental conditions in order to obtain high quality.
Arid seed crops in the nippy season
All desiccated sown plants form desiccated pods or clusters along the stem of the plant and are harvested essentially like grains.
They produce the highest quality seeds when ripe and harvested in seasonally desiccated and low humidity regions; the so-called Mediterranean climate.
These cool-season, dry-seeded crops are best grown in the cooler regions of the Mediterranean climate, where nippy, often wet weather prevails during the long springs and subtle and desiccated summers, with little or no rainfall until harvest.
Frosty-season crops cannot tolerate heat, especially in the earliest stages of the reproductive cycle.
These plants produce the highest quality seed when temperatures during pollination, fertilization and the earliest stages of embryo and endosperm development in overdue spring and early summer are between 60 and 75°F (16 and 24°C).
After this initial seed formation and development, they are able to tolerate moderate, high daytime temperatures in the summer 75 to 85°F (24 to 29°C), but thrive in relatively nippy summers, especially when daytime high temperatures rarely exceed 80°F (27°C), to produce the highest quality seed.
Seed plants that do well in these conditions: Spinach, beetroot, coriander, Asian vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, parsnip, mustard, chard
Arid cultivation in the balmy season
This climate is similar to the Frosty-Season Arid-Seeded parameters above, but temperatures are consistently higher throughout all months of the growing season.
Warmer spring temperatures result in faster early growth and development of these crops compared to cool-season dry-sown crops.
Daytime high temperatures during flowering and seed setting should generally not exceed 26 to 29°C (78 to 85°F).
However, after this initial seed formation and development, these plants are able to routinely tolerate average high daytime temperatures in summer, ranging from 29 to 33°C, while producing high-quality seeds.
Seed plants that do well in these conditions: Broccoli, kale, kale, celery, radish, turnip, lettuce, chard, fava, peas, runner beans, parsley, endive, escarole and chicory.
Arid farming in the sizzling season
All dry-sown crops perform best when there is little or no rainfall during seed maturation and harvest.
This reduces the incidence of all kinds of diseases, especially seed-borne diseases, and reduces the risk of excessive rainfall causing seed heads to form in all dry-seeded crops.
While summer highest temperatures regularly exceed 33°C, many of these crops must complete the early reproductive stages of pollination and flowering to obtain high-quality, highly germinating seed material, while early season daytime temperatures range from 27 to 33°C (80-92°F).
Crops that perform well in these conditions: Garden beans, lima beans, edamame, carrots, onions, sweet corn.
Crops with saturated seeds in the sizzling season
The term “saturated” refers both to the fact that most of the fruit of these crops is saturated and to the method used to extract the fruit, which is extracted by saturated fermentation or a series of water rinses (see Seed Harvesting for each individual crop).
All these plants love warmth from the moment they are planted.
They depend on balmy spring temperatures, which average above 18°C, for good early growth and need balmy night temperatures to produce a decent crop and mature high-quality, high-germinating seed.
Temperatures can usually exceed 32°C during flowering and early fruit and seed set,* and unlike dry-sown crops, some moisture is tolerated; in fact, the presence of moisture is often responsible for keeping you balmy during the evening and night hours.
Crops that perform well in these conditions: Cucumbers, melons, watermelons, summer squash, winter squash, bitter melon, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. (*The exception for this group is cucumber, which prefers slightly lower temperatures.)