Many owners save on planting material for cucumbers, collecting it with their own hands, rather than buying. Therefore, if you have harvested a successful crop and want to repeat it in the future, then this article will help you with this. After all, it’s not difficult at all, you just need to know certain nuances.

What cucumbers can I collect seeds from?

First of all, pay attention to the variety. If it belongs to the number of hybrids (designated as “F1” or “F2”), then making blanks from such fruits is useless:

• not all hybrid varieties have seeds at all;
• if they are, then bushes on which fruits are matched do not always grow from them;
• sometimes cucumbers still grow, however, such second-year olds no longer have productivity, cold tolerance and other positive qualities of the original form.

This degeneration is due to the fact that hybrids are cultivars of the same age. If you are not interested in a hybrid variety, then choose fruits with 4 cameras: it is from them that the female flowers form, which form the ovary.

Did you know? UAE breeders have created square cucumbers.

How to grow cucumber seeds

To get suitable fruits, you just need to let the cucumbers fully ripen: become yellow and soft. Just remember: if you do not remove the cucumbers from the lashes, then new fruits will not appear. So it is better to leave seed specimens to ripen at the end of the season. For convenience, you can highlight the selected fruit with a ribbon or any other label so as not to pick ahead of time. And so that they do not rot, put a wooden board under them.

How and when to pick cucumbers

In practice, there are several options for dates that are optimal for collecting seed fruits:

• as soon as the vegetables turn yellow-brown and soften;
• when the stalk withers in the cucumbers;
• leave them until the first frost. If the blanks survive not only the heat, but also the mild cold, then this will only strengthen them.

Important! Tearing cucumbers from the bush, leave them for another week or two to lie down on the windowsill.

Seed production process

The procedure for extracting seeds from own fruits does not take much time:

1. First cut the seed fruit in half.
2. Gently clean the seeds (not the metal one) with the spoon.
3. If there was not enough liquid in the cucumber to cover the workpiece, add a little fresh water.
4. After that, put the container with the contents in a warm place for 2 days: fermentation should begin in it, and the amniotic membrane will come off from the seed in that time.
5. At the end of this period, wash the seeds in running water, and then again fill it with fresh liquid: “soothers” will emerge in this state, and living, quality specimens will sink to the bottom.

How to dry seeds

After rejecting, remove the collected material, pat it dry with a paper towel or clean cloth to remove any moisture. And then lay them on plywood or cardboard with a thin layer and set to dry. It is better to do this in the fresh air, when the weather contributes to this, while at the same time removing the workpieces into the room so that they do not freeze. In order to dry thoroughly, seed needs 2-3 days, after which it can be packaged for further storage.

Did you know? 1 kg of cucumbers contains only 150 calories, which makes these vegetables a dietary product.

Storage of dried seeds before planting

Many beginner gardeners make a mistake by planting the collected material the very next year. Although experts recommend maintaining the seed for at least 3 years - then the yield will be higher. As for the seeds themselves, they are able to maintain their germination for 6 years, if stored correctly.

To do this, pay attention to the following factors:

1. Humidity. Pre-dry the seeds well, and then store them in a dry room. Therefore, avoid kitchens, basements, unheated rooms, otherwise your workpieces run the risk of mold, sprout or rot.
2. Temperature. The optimal level in this case is +10 ... + 15 ° С.
3. Container for storage. Paper or fabric bags are best suited for these purposes, but polyethylene with foil can also be used. Only in this case, check the tightness of the packaging.
4. Lighting. It is worth storing seeds in a dark place, because light can provoke their germination.

Collecting seed from your own garden positively affects the family budget, and also allows you to control the quality of the future crop. Many experienced gardeners even start their own file cabinets to see what seeds are in stock, when the time comes for their planting and what may be the result of planting.