How to Save the Seed From Lettuce Plants
How You Can Save Money and Grow Delicious Vegetables From Seed
Nov 13, 2008
Lettuce is a very easy vegetable to grow. It is also a very easy plant from which to save the seed. Flowers produced by the lettuce plant are self pollinated, so it is very hard to create seed that has been cross-pollinated. Therefore, when you go to grow your lettuce seeds next season, the resulting plants will be true to type. Basically, they will be the same as the plants you saved the seed from. The only problem that will be encountered when saving seed from the lettuce plant, is if the original plant was a hybrid plant. Hybrid means that the plant has been crossed by the seed company with two completely different varieties to produce your plant. If seed is then saved from this plant, one of four things will happen:
- The seed will be sterile and will not germinate
- The plant will go to flower, but will not produce any seed
- The plant will produce seed that will germinate, but the resulting plants will throw back to one of the parent plants. This may result in a good plant, or any variety of the plants more wilder counterparts
- The plant will produce seed that germinates and you get exactly the same plant
While option four looks pretty good, the other three options are not that great. While it can be fun to experiment with saving seed from hybrid plants to see what you get, if you are saving seed for the sole purpose of producing viable seed that tastes as great or is as hardy as the plant that you saved it from, then this is not what you want.
A Simple Way to Save Lettuce Seed
- Firstly, you must isolate the plants you want to collect seed from. While it is possible to save enough seed from only one plant, it is advisable to save seed from more than one plant. This is because of plant diversity. They are all basically the same plant, but over time they develop slightly different characteristics. Some plants may tolerate more sun, some more shade, others still may be more insect tolerant. Most years there will be no problems, but if you get a freak wet summer and you have only been saving seed from one plant, then there will be no plant diversity. Your plants will probably not cope very well with the continual water-logging and possible pest invasion. As a result, you may lose your entire crop.
- Once you have chosen your plants, mark them. You can simply stick a tag in next to the plants to identify them as important
- Now you need to wait. Eventually the lettuce plants will bolt. This is the term used for lettuce that is going to seed. Slowly a stalk will emerge from the top of the plant. This stalk will grow and eventually flower. Each flower will self pollinate and then turn into a tiny little puff ball, not unlike the ‘clocks’ on dandelions, only smaller
- You will now need to collect the seed. Let the seed heads dry a little. Carefully cut each stalk and shake it onto a sheet or into a basket. A lot of the seed will shake free. The rest may need to dry further to release the seed
- Let the seed dry for a day or two. You will need to leave it out on sunny days, but then cover them over damp nights to prevent any mildew or moulds forming. Hanging the seed in a paper bag inside a dry cupboard is also effective
- Once the seed is ‘thoroughly’ dry, then the seed can be placed in a glass jar and stored in a dark, cool and dry place until the next growing season
