How do you open the string closure on farm seed bags?

Although some plants are propagated by methods such as cuttings in many cases, if you want to start a new plant, you need to grow one from a seed. You don't necessarily have t…o go out and buy more seed if you already have your targeted plants growing. Saving seeds from your garden is economical and fun.

This task just takes a little knowledge of how to best remove the seeds from the plants, dry them, and keep them stored. Many gardeners make the mistake of harvesting seed pods or the fruits and vegetables they intend to use for seed far too early. Taking your seed off the plant too soon is an issue.

Most importantly this increases the odds that the seeds are not yet fully mature and will have a high rate of germination failure. Most fruits and vegetables should be overripe when harvested for seed. Secondly, harvesting too soon increases the amount of moisture in the seeds and seedpods.

In cases like these, you end up having to wait longer for your seeds to dry. You can't put them away until this process is complete because the moisture can cause them to mold. Once you've harvested, spread your seeds on paper towels to dry and leave them for at least one to two weeks.

Roll the seeds up in the towel and place them in a container or envelope. With many plants, the natural process of seed dispersal is for the seedpod to dry and burst open, leaving the seeds to fall on the ground. Sometimes gardeners lose a large amount of seed simply because they don't anticipate when the pods will break.

Once you see that the pods are browning and starting to dry, cover them loosely with bags. You can tie them very loosely to the plant so that the wind does not blow them off, but be careful to not totally close the bag, as doing so will cause the moisture given off by the plant to collect in the bag. When the seedpods break open, the seed will fall into the bag, not onto the ground.

Seed should only come from the healthiest plants. Picking seed from small or sickly plants might pass on weaknesses that make your future plants susceptible to a range of problems. When looking for the best plants, look at characteristics you want in addition to the plants' health.

For example, if you want your future plants to produce bigger fruit, then collect seed from the healthiest plants that have fruits of large size. Essentially, you'll be playing Gardener Scientist here, letting some traits survive while rejecting others. Baby food jars, film containers, spice jars, vitamin and prescription bottles, canning jars, jars with gasket lids, and even divided craft containers, can all work for storing seeds.

A variety of containers let you choose a storage option that fits the size of seeds you have. For example, lettuce seeds are tiny and will leave plenty of wasted space in a Mason jar, but if you have pumpkin seeds, the Mason jar might be just right. Another reason to have a variety of containers is so that you can separate the seeds you have.

If something happens to one container, such as molding, you will not necessarily have contaminated or lost all the seed you collected. Lastly, different containers let you separate the seed for exchanging with or gifting to others. Harvesting a large quantity of seed is beneficial in not necessary because, not all the seed you get will in fact be viable.

Collecting more ensures you still get a sufficient number of plants. It also protects you against loss of seed and gives you the option of selling, exchanging, or giving away the extra. Seed lasts longer if it is stored in a cool, dry place.

For many people, this means storing seed in the refrigerator. Before you put them in the fridge, wrap some powdered milk in a few tissues and place it in the container with your seed. This will act just like a silica packet.

Put the name of the seed, the date, and any other information that can help you, such as the characteristics you wanted from the seed, or the growing conditions the seed needs. Many experts recommend organizing the containers by year. Most seed isn't very viable after one to five years, depending on the variety; so organizing the seeds like this allows you to quickly see which seed might be past its prime.

When you are ready to use the seed, let the container warm to room temperature before you open it so moisture doesn't collect on the seeds and cause them to clump. Saving seeds from your own garden can save you money and allow you to become very selective about the plants and yields you get. Being patient during the collection process, using bags, and picking seed only from the best plants often produces good results.

You also might be more successful if you use many different containers, collect more seed than you think you might use, and store and label the seed properly. You can apply these tips every year. The smallest seed in the world comes from certain rainforest orchids, which have seeds 1/300th of an inch (85 micrometers) in size.

The largest seed is from the coco de mer, a palm tree. It can grow up to a foot long.