How to collect seeds from cucumber. How to collect high-quality cucumber seeds at home? Obtaining quality seeds

It is very difficult to obtain cucumber seeds corresponding to a specific variety on your own. This requires a lot of work. Help the cucumbers with pollination, leave a single fruit on the vine and wait for its biological ripeness. Only after this can you be sure that you will collect high-quality seeds of the desired variety.

Pollinating cucumbers to obtain seeds

It is known that cucumber flowers are monoecious, i.e. dioecious.
There are male flowers, popularly called barren flowers, and female flowers, from which green flowers are produced after pollination.

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Female flowers are often arranged one at a time and look like a flower with an ovary.
After pollination, a cucumber develops at the site of the ovary.
In order for fruit to set, each female flower must be pollinated with pollen from male flower.
Usually this important mission is performed by insects: bees, bumblebees.
However, they can bring pollen from any flower of any variety. It's hard to guess here.

Therefore, in order to get your seeds of your favorite variety, you need to work as a bee yourself.

How to pollinate cucumbers

1. Select male and female flowers on plants of the desired variety that are in the bud phase, and isolate them with a special clothespin or cotton wool

Only now will you have confidence that no foreign pollen will accidentally fall on the desired flowers.

Photo: insulating flowers for pollination

The next day the buds will open and the pollen will be fully ripe for pollination.

2. You need to carefully remove the cotton wool from both flowers (male and female).

3. Tear off the male flower with the peduncle for greater convenience in work, tear off the yellow petals from it, being careful not to damage the anthers inside.

4. After this, you need to carefully bring the anthers remaining on the peduncle to the female flower and move them inside the female flower. To consolidate the pollination process, it is advisable to use 1-2 male flowers.

5. After pollination, you need to carefully collect together the petals of the female flower with the remains of the male flower inside (if possible, but not necessarily), and again wrap the yellow corolla with cotton wool to prevent an unwanted insect with foreign pollen from entering there.

6. After pollination, tear off all female flowers and ovaries located on the same vine or even the plant, for better development pollinated fruit.

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Ripening the fruit to produce seeds

In order not to accidentally tear off the ovary you have pollinated when collecting fruits, you can tie a thick thread to the stalk. Just make the loop loose enough, because... the stalk will thicken as the fruit matures.
Place a bag sewn from gauze over the pollinated fruit so as not to tear off the desired cucumber by mistake.

How to collect cucumber seeds

Seeds are collected at home after the fruit reaches the stage of biological ripeness: yellow or brown color with a pronounced mesh on the surface and softness when pressed.

Cut the cucumber lengthwise and scoop out the seeds along with the pulp into a glass or porcelain container.
Place the container in the sun for 3-5 days, stirring occasionally.
As soon as the seeds begin to separate freely from the rest of the contents, rinse everything with running water until the seeds are completely clean.
Finally, lay out thin layer seeds to dry completely on a sunny windowsill or radiator.
Periodically knead the seeds with your hands to prevent them from sticking together into a lump, eliminating the possibility of germination.

Now you have your own DIY seeds of your favorite variety!

Seeds from homemade cucumbers are the most reliable and easiest way to provide yourself with a harvest for future seasons. This method is not only cheap (more precisely, free), but also sensible: you choose the best specimens, from the best vine, which is guaranteed to bear fruit in your climate zone. But what is in a purchased bag of seeds is still in question.

Harvesting cucumber seeds is no different from harvesting tomato seeds, but there are a few things you need to pay attention to. So let's talk about how to collect cucumber seeds at home.

Which cucumbers should I leave for seeds?

Hybrids (F1) are not taken for seeds, but only varieties. Hybrids do not have the ability to reproduce parental characteristics in subsequent generations, so hybrid seeds will grow into “mongrel mongrels.” Also be careful with greenhouse cucumbers. Correctly, modern varieties adapted for growing in greenhouse conditions, either seedless or self-pollinating hybrids. Thus, for greenhouse cucumbers, seed collection can only be carried out if your balcony or greenhouse is guaranteed to be visited by pollinating insects.

Our ancestors also knew how to prepare cucumber seeds: you need to choose not a triangular, but a tetrahedral fruit, that is, with four seed chambers. In addition, the seeds must be taken from the front third of the fruit - where the flower was. Scientific confirmation There is no such hypothesis, but gardeners claim that plants from such seeds grow together, productively and abundantly.

Cucumber for seeds should not be large, but not too large for a particular variety, and even. The intended cucumber should be kept on the vine until the very beginning of frost, so that it undergoes natural stratification not only by the summer heat, but also by the cold. If the cucumber is lying on the ground, place a board to prevent it from rotting and mark it with a string.

Don't rush to shoot cucumber for seeds– it should be not only yellow or brown (brown), but also soft, and the tail should be dry. However, if the weather is humid, it is better to remove the fruit and let it ripen for one or two weeks at home.

How to collect cucumber seeds correctly?

But keep in mind - on next year It is not worth planting these seeds, since there will be a lot of barren flowers on the cucumber, that is male flowers. Cucumber seeds, like other pumpkin seeds, must sit for 2-4 years in order for female flowers to form on them. If you really can’t wait, you can heat them in the oven immediately before planting the seeds or drying chamber 2 hours at a temperature of about 50 degrees, although it is less safe to keep the seeds for one or two months in a warm place (on a radiator, suspended from the ceiling, etc.) Cucumber seeds remain viable for up to 6 years.

In order to get your cucumber seeds, you will have to work a little.

The seeds inside the cucumber are stored in the seed coat, which contains inhibitors, substances that slow down the development of the seeds and prevent them from germinating inside the fruit.

The seeds inside the cucumber are stored in the seed coat, which contains inhibitors, substances that slow down the development of the seeds and prevent them from germinating inside the fruit. In nature, after ripening, the cucumber rots and decomposes, and the seeds, no longer restrained by inhibitors, germinate. In order to collect your cucumber seeds, you need to artificially speed up this process.

To collect seeds, select the most beautiful cucumbers from the strongest bushes

This is necessary in order to get cucumbers with the best set of genes next year, this is exactly how selection took place over the centuries - people collected seeds only from the largest and most delicious plant fruits.

Do not collect seeds from plants grown from F1 hybrids

Just don’t collect seeds from plants grown from F1 hybrids (see the article F1 cucumbers - what does F1 mean in the name of the variety?), you won’t be able to get any predictable harvest from these plants.

Don't believe gardening myths, it's really not that complicated.

Experiments did not show any dependence of the yield on the number of faces.

Sometimes gardeners recommend collecting seeds only from tetrahedral cucumbers, and not using triangular ones to obtain seeds, but experiments have not shown any dependence of the yield on the number of sides. In addition, it is recommended to collect seeds only from the front part of the cucumber (where the flower was) so that the fruits the next year do not taste bitter, however, most likely, this is also a myth.

To get a cucumber for seeds, it’s enough just not to pick it on time :)

An overripe cucumber swells, becomes yellowish and even a little brown - all this indicates that the seeds are ripe. Pick a cucumber and leave it on the windowsill for several days until it becomes completely soft.

To get easy access to the seeds, cut the cucumber lengthwise

To get easy access to the seeds, cut the cucumber lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a spoon into a bowl, such as a plastic cup. Don't forget to sign the variety!

Cucumber seeds must go through a fermentation process

Fermentation helps separate the seeds from the pulp and destroy any remaining inhibitors that slow down germination.

Fermentation helps separate the seeds from the pulp and destroy any remaining inhibitors that slow down germination. Place the seeds in a small jar, add a little water so the seeds float freely, and cover the jar with gauze (this will prevent flies). After 2-4 days, fermentation will be completed, and the mixture itself will look and smell not very pleasant (most likely a film of mold will even grow on its surface) - this is normal.

When the fermentation process is complete, the seeds will settle to the bottom

You should not leave the seeds in this state for longer - they may begin to germinate.

Good seeds will sink to the bottom, while empty ones will float to the surface.

Remove the layer of mold, add water and shake the jar a little - this will make it easy to drain all excess, because good seeds will sink to the bottom, and empty ones will float to the surface. Then place the seeds in a colander and rinse well under running water.

The final stage is drying the seeds

Place the seeds on a saucer or cling film and place in a warm, dry place where they can dry completely.

Do not use paper for drying - the seeds may dry to it.

Do not use paper for drying - the seeds may dry to it, and subsequently it will be quite difficult to separate them. The seeds can be stirred every few days so that they do not stick together and dry evenly. Do not heat the seeds with heat sources to help them dry out faster.

Seed storage

Use envelopes or paper bags, allowing air to pass through. Seeds should be stored in a cool, dry place.

Don't forget to write the year you started storing and the variety.

Which storage year is it best to plant cucumber seeds?

Cucumber seeds, like all pumpkin seeds, produce more female flowers (and therefore bigger harvest) for the second or third year of storage.

The longer the seeds are stored, the better. But even in the first year, if everything is done according to the method, the harvest will be quite good.

Subtleties of collecting cucumber seeds

bell pepper- 1 piece;

Watering cucumber seedlings warm water begin when the first cotyledon leaves unfold; water with a teaspoon, avoiding excess water. Ready seedlings planted in open ground transshipment - moving the plant along with a lump of earth into a prepared hole.

remove all damaged and weak seeds;

Dry the clean seeds under a canopy, scattering them in a thin layer on cardboard or plywood; in good weather, you can dry them on outdoors, and clean the room at night.

So, to collect seeds, you need to choose “female” cucumbers - those with a square rather than triangular cross-section. Tie the fruit with a ribbon so as not to pick it by accident, and place small planks under it that will protect the cucumber from premature rotting.

What seeds do you use for cucumber seedlings? Do you buy them every time in the store or prepare them yourself? Beginning vegetable growers may have a natural question: why extra hassle, if you can easily purchase seeds of any variety in specialized stores and on the market?
Here we offer two options for minced meat for making cucumber boats.
Scroll through moon calendar, see if you have chosen a favorable day. If not, then move the deadline forward or back by 2-3 days.
Pour the resulting hot marinade over the vegetables, not reaching about 1 cm from the edge of the jar. Immediately roll up and store in a dark place.
chili pepper - 3 pcs.;
After this, remove the vegetables and place them in clean, sterilized jars. Add Bay leaf, greens and parsley root and peppercorns.

bay leaf - 3 pcs.;

Cucumbers are very healthy. Except large quantity water, they contain minerals, fiber, proteins, sugar, essential oils, vitamins C, B1, B2 and so on. In addition, they are loved by many because they are delicious both fresh and canned.

Growing cucumber seedlings from collected seeds

etch for half an hour with a solution of potassium permanganate;

Well-prepared and dried seeds under suitable storage conditions can remain viable for up to 6 years. But with age, the germination percentage becomes lower.

Video about harvesting cucumber seeds

If you have just started experimenting with varieties and have not yet found the most suitable variety cucumbers, it is more convenient to buy ready-made seeds. But when your plot already has a variety that you really like, it is much better to collect seeds from it with your own hands - cucumbers will sprout earlier than those grown from a store-bought one. seed material, will be less susceptible to disease, there will be more ovaries.
1. 300-400 g fresh cucumbers, 2 eggs, 300 g radishes, 100 g sour cream, 15 g dill, 50 g green onions, 20 g green salad, salt.
Now you can begin pre-sowing preparation of cucumber seeds. Pour them out of the bag into a piece of bandage or gauze bag. If you are planting several varieties, you can place them in different fabrics.
Cucumber seeds are disinfected before planting, soaked in nutrient solution. For planting seedlings, choose one period, and for sowing in open ground or a greenhouse - another.
Allspice - 3 tablespoons;
Boil the marinade and pour it into the jars. Immediately roll up, turn over and wrap. Leave it like this until it cools completely.

carrots - 3 pcs.;

Ingredients:

Rinse thoroughly in clean water;

Don't make the common mistake of beginners by sowing collected seeds the next year, otherwise a lot of empty flowers will form on the plants, and good harvest you won't wait. It is best to sow seed material after 3 years, then many female flowers will form on cucumber plants.

When the cucumber turns yellow-white or yellow-brown in color and softens, and the stalk dries out, it’s time to pick the fruit. Next steps:

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Required

Bulgarian cucumbers

Wash, peel, cut lengthwise fresh cucumbers, carefully remove the seeds with a spoon, add salt and set aside.

Make a disinfectant solution by pouring 3-5 crystals of potassium permanganate into 300 ml of water. She must acquire richly pink color. Place the seed bags in this solution for 20 minutes. Then rinse under running lukewarm water.
- cucumber seeds;
Garlic - 3 cloves;
Pickled cucumbers are loved not only in Russia, but all over the world. In India they are prepared with the addition of a large number of spices.
Garlic - 3 heads;
cucumbers - 3 kg;
soak in warm water until a small root appears on the third day.
The root system of cucumber plants is very vulnerable, so it is better to initially sow the seeds not in a box, but in separate cups, peat pots or paper bags, so as not to damage the roots later during replanting. The soil can be purchased ready-made or you can independently mix three parts of decomposed peat, turf soil, manure humus and one part river sand. Add to bucket ready mixture urea (1 teaspoon), superphosphate (1 tablespoon) and wood ash(3 tablespoons).
A ripe cucumber must be cut in half lengthwise; the front third of the cucumber is used to collect the seed material;
: before collecting cucumber seeds, make sure that they are not hybrids, but natural varieties. If the bag of seed material was marked F1 or F2 in the name, this is a hybrid that will delight you with super-yield, frost resistance, super resistance to drought and disease for only one season. Hybrids are not used for propagation, since their seeds either do not grow into plants at all, or the fruits do not ripen, etc. In general, you won’t be able to wait for good cucumbers from hybrid seeds. But the varieties required properties only getting stronger every year.
Prepare the minced meat: chop the eggs, grate the radishes on a coarse grater (set aside a few radishes whole). Mix eggs, radishes, sour cream, chopped dill and onions, add salt and ground pepper if desired.
Now, within 12 hours, the cucumber seeds must receive special nutrition. Place them in a solution of potassium humate or growth stimulant. Next comes next stage soaking.

- Magantsovka;

cloves - 1 teaspoon;

Ingredients:

parsley root - 1 piece;

Indian style cucumbers

vinegar 6% - 1 l;

Sprouted seeds must be sown immediately in the ground so that the sprouts that have just begun to grow do not die. Spread the seed material over the surface of the soil (2 pieces in one pot or glass), sprinkle with a 1.5 cm layer of soil. Lightly sprinkle the soil with warm water; no need to water, otherwise the seeds will be pulled deeper into the ground.

cucumber seedlings from seeds
clean all contents of the seed chamber from glass, wood or enamel dishes;
photo of ripe seed cucumbers
Stuff the prepared cucumbers with minced meat, place on a glass tray on top of green salad leaves, and decorate with radish circles or roses. Before filling, cooked cucumbers can be poured with diluted vinegar and marinated.
Spread the seeds in a cloth wrapper over the surface of a bowl. Pour a little water into it so that it only wets the gauze halfway. If you overdo it with moisture, the embryos may die without oxygen.
- growth stimulator;
Onions - 2 heads.
cucumbers - 3 kg;
peppercorns;

sugar - 800 g;

Hand-collected cucumber seeds should be prepared as follows:

if there was not enough liquid in the seed chamber, add water to the container with the seeds;

It is worth noting that for growing cucumbers on a balcony or in a greenhouse, it is recommended to use either parthenocarpic hybrids (which do not form seeds) or self-pollinating hybrids, since there will be no one to pollinate the plants. Therefore, collecting cucumber seeds for greenhouses only makes sense if you regularly ventilate the greenhouse, allowing insects into it to pollinate the flowers.

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2. 4 fresh cucumber the same size, 1/2 beets, 1 carrot, 1 onion, salt, sugar, pepper, vegetable oil, 1/2 cup sour cream.

You will need

Place the bowl in a warm corner of the apartment for 2-3 days. Usually desired temperature on top of kitchen cabinets or under the radiator. Be sure to check in the morning and evening whether there is water in the bowl, otherwise the plant buds may die from drought.
- water.
Cucumbers for this recipe are best started in the evening. Pour washed vegetables cold water, add salt and leave it like that overnight. The next day, drain the water and rinse the cucumbers under running water.
apple cider vinegar - 1 l;

Instructions

dill and parsley.
currant leaves - 8 pcs.;
Next, place the cups tightly in the boxes and place them on a window (preferably south) or in a greenhouse, covering the boxes with film. The temperature must be maintained at +25+28 degrees, then you will see the first shoots after three days. When the shoots appear, remove the film and move the box to a window with good lighting, while the temperature will need to be reduced to +19 degrees and +14 degrees at night so that the cucumber seedlings do not stretch. You can regulate the temperature on the windowsill using the window, and in cloudy weather, additionally highlight the plants fluorescent lamp, providing them daylight for 10 hours a day.
warm up for two weeks in a bag in the sun or near a radiator;
Place the dishes in a warm place for fermentation for 2 days so that the amniotic membrane is separated from the seeds;
How to get cucumber seeds? To do this, you will need to leave several fruits until they are fully ripe, until they turn yellow and become soft (if the cucumbers turn yellow ahead of time, this is an alarming sign). Remember, as soon as you stop picking cucumbers, new fruits on the vines stop appearing, so seed cucumbers should be left at the end of the season.
Chop boiled beets and carrots, mix with sautéed onions and chopped cucumber core, season with salt, sugar, pepper, vegetable oil.
After this time, you will notice a root appearing on one side of the seed. Do not wait until the roots become large, but put the container with the seeds in the refrigerator to harden. After 12 hours, sow the planting material in separate pots filled with nutritious soil.
First, plan where exactly you will grow cucumbers in your dacha. If you have a reliable shelter for these plants in the form of a modern polycarbonate greenhouse, then you can plant keystone seeds in it in early May.
Peel the sweet peppers and cut them into several pieces. Onion peel and chop into rings. Cut the hot chili into small pieces.
salt - 4 tablespoons;

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how to make cucumber boats.

Victor

Wash small cucumbers (gherkins), remove seeds from bell peppers and cut into slices. Divide the garlic into cloves and peel. Peel the carrots. Rinse currant leaves and greens under running cool water and shake.

salt - 4 tablespoons;

Video about the correct preparation of cucumber seeds
fill in seed material hot water and keep in a thermos for a couple of hours to improve germination;

after fermentation, rinse the seed material in running water, while the heavy seeds should sink to the bottom, pour out the light seeds, pulp and pericarp that float up;

There is also a special technique for collecting seed cucumbers after the first frost, so that the seed material survives not only the high summer temperature, but also the low autumn temperature, thus being hardened. Such stratification will help obtain bountiful harvest the very next season after collecting seed cucumbers.
Pasib
If you are planting directly in open ground, then prepare a bed for the plants in advance so that the soil has time to settle.

Cucumber is the most common member of the pumpkin family in our personal plots. Its juicy and crispy flesh is refreshing summer heat, and canned and salted fruits add variety to the winter table.

For more than six thousand years, this vine has ceased to be only wild plant with small and often very bitter fruits. From the foothills of the Himalayas and the tropical forests of India, it has spread to all countries and continents. This vegetable was popular in Ancient Egypt, was valued by the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, and in the 1st millennium AD began its victorious march through the countries of Europe. In Russia, the first mentions of cucumber date back to the beginning of the 16th century.

Nowadays, the number of varieties of this widespread and beloved culture is simply impossible to list. However, experienced gardeners, having tried many options, often settle on only a few varieties they especially like. It is quite natural that in this case you want to have your own seeds for planting. This guarantees that in the next season you will receive delicious cucumbers with exactly those taste and other characteristics that you especially like.

How to grow seed material?

If you decide to grow greens from next summer own seeds, you should pay attention to several subtleties in obtaining them yourself.

Before choosing a variety for harvesting seeds, make sure that it is not a hybrid option. Such cucumbers are usually more resistant to diseases and vagaries of weather, they bear fruit more abundantly, but are completely unsuitable for further propagation, since they practically do not retain all their wonderful properties in the next season.
To obtain high-quality seed material, you should isolate plants of the variety you like from other varieties to avoid cross-pollination. If this is impossible, then you should resort to artificial pollination, then covering the fruits with gauze.
Choose no more than two seeds on one plant and be prepared for the fact that you will no longer get a bountiful harvest from this plant, since all your energy will be spent on ripening the seeds. That is why it is better to select greens for seeds at a time close to the end of fruiting.
To obtain seeds, it is better to choose fruits that bud not on the main branch, but on the first lateral shoots. This seed material compares favorably high yield and more early dates fruiting.
When leaving cucumbers for seeds, choose “female” specimens. IN cross section they have quadrangular shape and the corresponding number of sectors, while “male” fruits are distinguished by a triangle in cross-section and three sectors. It is from the “female” seeds that plants with a large number of ovaries are formed, while the “male” seeds produce a lot of barren flowers.
Cucumbers selected for seeds are marked with bright tape or otherwise and left on the plant until fully ripe. To prevent them from rotting, it is recommended to tie the whip to a support so that the ripening fruit does not touch the ground. For the same purposes, you can lay it on a board or piece of plywood.
The finished testis becomes soft and acquires a dark yellow or brown color. To harden the seeds, you can leave it in the garden until the first frost. Thus, your seed material will undergo stratification, which will allow you to successfully use it in the next season and, undoubtedly, will have a positive effect on the quality of the harvest.
Ripe testes are plucked when the lashes are completely dry. Most often, they need to ripen on a sunny veranda or windowsill for two to three weeks.
As a rule, from one ripened cucumber you can get from 2 to 5 g of seeds. Considering that 1 g usually produces 25-30 plants, then a pair of seeds is enough to provide the whole family with crispy cucumbers.

Proper seed preparation

Growing mature testes without loss is only half the battle. The main difficulty is the correct collection and processing of seed material. To preserve ripened grains without loss, it is necessary to carry out several stages of their preliminary preparation.

For future sowing, only those seeds that are located in the front half of the fruit are selected. The closer the seed is to the far end of the cucumber, the higher the likelihood that it will grow into a bush with bitter greens.
To extract the seeds, the ripe testes are cut lengthwise. The grains along with the possessed chamber are placed in a small container and diluted a little with water.
The “gruel” is left for 2-3 days in a warm place, covering the dishes with film, so that the fermentation process begins. This procedure allows you to clear the seeds from the amniotic membrane.
Be careful not to ferment the seeds, as this will significantly reduce their germination rate. The first sign of excessive fermentation is the darkening of the tips of the grains.
The fermented mass is poured with a large amount of water and mixed, and then allowed to settle. At this moment, pulp and low-quality seeds float to the surface. They are drained together with water, and the mature seeds that have settled to the bottom are well dried.
The drying process is very important for future preservation and quality planting material. During this process it is very important to follow temperature regime. Drying at high temperature(from 30 to 40 °C) requires active ventilation to prevent overheating of seeds. Cooler air combined with high humidity threatens the appearance of mold or premature germination.
To dry, the seeds are spread in a thin layer on a sheet of cardboard, thick paper or plywood and often mixed thoroughly. In good weather, it is recommended to dry the grains outdoors in the sun and put them in a warm and dry place at night.
It is strictly not recommended to use additional heat sources for drying. They will not be able to provide gentle temperatures and the necessary uniformity of heating.
The finished seeds have the color of baked milk and rustle pleasantly when stirred.

What is needed to store seeds?

Experienced gardeners know that you won’t be able to use your own seeds to get a full harvest until after a couple of years.

Even the most best seeds In the first year of storage, plants produce plants with a small number of female flowers, which means that you should not expect abundant fruiting from them.
The largest yield can be grown from seeds of the second and third years, but high-quality seed can maintain excellent germination for up to 6 years if it is stored at a stable temperature in the range from +15 to +25 ° C.
To store grains, it is best to place them in a paper or canvas bag; it is also convenient to use small cardboard boxes. The main requirement for containers is good ventilation. In addition to choosing a suitable container, it can be ensured if the seeds are not placed too tightly. They should be freely distributed throughout the entire volume.
The place for storing seed material should be dry and well ventilated.
Do not forget to mark the date of collection and the name of the variety on the envelope or box. This data will help you avoid mistakes when landing in the future.