Regular seeds are a great choice for growers looking to get the most out of their grow experience. They have the same starting process and lighting requirements as feminized seeds, but require a bit more care to become productive.
Seeds are a nutrient-dense food source that contain many vitamins, minerals and nutrients. They also contain fiber, which helps stabilize blood sugar levels and digestive health.
Breeding
Regular seeds are a great choice for growers who want to produce robust clones from their strains. They’re also ideal for breeders who want to create new cultivars from their favourite male and female plants.
When you’re growing regular seeds, it’s important to save the seed from healthy plants that display the traits you want in your varieties. This will help you maintain the diversity of your genetic pool and prevent weakened lines.
For many, this involves saving seeds from their own garden, and swapping them with neighbours or friends. Over time, this practice can result in plants that are well adapted to their region’s soils and microclimates.
In addition to helping you build your own garden, saving seeds can be a fun and fascinating hobby. And it can also cut your costs and ensure you have a steady supply of food for your family.
Cloning
Plants can be cloned by taking cuttings from their mother plants. This is very common for strawberries, grass and onions.
Cloned plants will have the same genetic make-up as the mother plant, so if you want to grow a specific strain of tomato or potato, cloning will be your best bet. Using clones will also save you money and time as it is a much faster way to go from cuttings to small plants than it is to go from seeds to seedlings.
To clone, cut off a healthy and hardy tip of the mother plant and dip it into a rooting gel or liquid hormone. The new clone will then take root and be planted into a different growing medium.
Mother Plants
Seeds are the characteristic reproductive bodies of both angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms, including conifers and cycads. They have an embryo inside, surrounded by a protective covering or hull.
The embryo, containing the first leaves and radicle of the plant, is enclosed in a seed coat that protects it from water and insect attack. The seed also contains nutrients, which are needed for the embryo’s development.
Some seeds fail to germinate soon after separation from the mother plant because they are immature. This is because structural developments or chemical processes must be completed before they can grow.
In this case, the seed must be kept in a favorable environment. These conditions include a lot of light and oxygen, along with favorable temperatures and the presence of certain nutrients in the soil or around the seed.
Harvesting
Collecting and saving regular seeds from your garden is an old gardening technique that can help you save money on buying seeds each year. Moreover, these seeds will adapt to the local climatic conditions and develop resistance to common pests and diseases.
Some of the more popular and easy-to-collect seeds include beans, peas, carrots, beets, and radishes, as well as many vegetables from the Brassicaceae (mustard) family. For these plants, you should harvest only when the seed pods are dry and brown.
You can check the seeds for maturity by pulling a seed stalk and hitting it lightly against your palm; if it releases seeds, you’ll know they are ready to collect.
Once you’ve harvested the seeds, be sure to clean them properly. This may involve several different methods depending on the type of seed. Typically, you’ll need to separate the seeds from their surrounding flesh or pulp and rinse them thoroughly. You’ll also need to dry them out to prevent mold growth and damage.
