{"id":38965,"date":"2020-03-27T17:11:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T23:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=38965"},"modified":"2020-04-17T09:12:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T15:12:44","slug":"quarantine-day-2-sourdough-starter-and-open-pollinated-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/quarantine-day-2-sourdough-starter-and-open-pollinated-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown Day 2: Sourdough Starter and Open Pollinated Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you really want to be prepared for an increased level of self-sufficiency, you need to consider both open pollinated seeds and sour dough starter. Open pollinated seeds mean you will have the option of saving your own seeds for future gardens and won’t be as subject to price increases or things being out of stock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sour dough starter means you don’t have to keep buying yeast to make bread. Plus, it is something easy to share with friends to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is an open pollinated seed?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

An open pollinated seed is from a plant that does not require special pollination interference to get that plant to reproduce seed that will grow the exact same kind of plant. If you collect seed from an open pollinated plant, you should get seeds that result in the same exact type of plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term heirloom<\/em> often implies open pollinated, but I would not assume that, as it is not specific enough to the issue. Heirloom means the plant has been around for a long enough time that people associate it with earlier generations. That could also be done with cuttings or dividing roots for some plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organic<\/em> only refers to agricultural practices when growing and processing seeds and has nothing to do with whether or not they are open pollinated or hybrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will usually still get seeds from plants produced from hybrid seed, but you can’t be sure what type of plant such seed will produce. It might be more like one or the other parent plants, or it could be more like the hybrid. Some hybrid seed is patented, which I disagree with, but if you want to avoid legal trouble you might want to steer clear of saving such seed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing can make a difference<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Even if a plant is open pollinated, it could cross-pollinate with other similar plants. This is why spacing between similar varieties is important with some plants. Squash plants are famous for odd cross-pollinations. It could be fun, but it could be disappointing if you want to preserve a certain type of plant seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staggered timing of maturity is another way to influence what might cross pollinate with what, but it is not completely predictable. This is complicated by plants that continue to flower and produce, which squash do and is generally nice for harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barriers to pollination are tricky, since you typically need pollination to produce the final product. With a combination of timing and barriers, it could help in some situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some plants, like tomatoes, are reported to not easily cross-pollinate, which is handy if you want to grow more than one variety. The bottom line is that if you want to save seed, research the particulars about that type of plant before planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are reasons hybrid seeds have become popular<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Be prepared for produce from open pollinated plants to be different than what you are used to. Plants are pollinated for hybrid seed because of desirable characteristics. This includes anything from flavor to disease resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth habits are another thing commonly bred for. I remember the first time I tried to grow open pollinated broccoli and found out just how small the floret heads were! It was a lot more work to harvest and they seemed to get to blooming faster. Still, I am going to try some open pollinated broccoli in my new, smaller garden this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages of open pollinated seeds<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Open pollinated seed is usually much less expensive. Since no special techniques or environments are necessary, producing it is easier for anyone, thus there is more competition in the market place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, open pollinated plants tend to produce more seed per plant. This means less stress about whether or not you will be able to save enough seed for next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeds gathered from plants grown in your own backyard environment allow you to choose seeds from plants that are doing best where you live. You can save seed from the best tasting, biggest size, or anything that suits your fancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know how to harvest seed from your plants<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Seeds are ready when they are ready. Although there is usually a window of time to collect them, here are some things to know ahead of time to make it easier:<\/p>\n\n\n\n