Producing Your Own Seeds

Technical articles - Living soil agronomy

Seed self-production remains quite rare in market gardening but many reasons can encourage you to embark on this path such as the desire to diversify, to take on the technical challenge of managing a seed stock plot, to aim for autonomy of your system, to adapt seeds to your terroir, or to possess seeds not found in commerce and thus preserve them.

It is therefore advisable to start with the easiest seeds : tomato, pepper, eggplant, melon, chard, parsley, spinach.

The extra time and mental load to produce your own seeds is not so significant for some vegetables (tomato, pepper, eggplant, melon, chard, parsley, spinach, …) but other vegetables are much more demanding (squashes, carrots, brassicas, …) primarily because these varieties cross very easily.

Online resources : We recommend the website Diyseeds, an international associative project that freely distributes 40 videos to learn how to make your own peasant seeds.

Producing your own seeds : a relevant model?


Advantages	Disadvantages
Economic gain (seeds are expensive) Stimulating and rewarding work Seeds adapted to the pedoclimatic context and your gardening style : seeds become increasingly efficient over generations (climate, diseases, pests, water quantities) and develop their full potential Selection of plants capable of adapting to climate changes Reduction in the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides Gain in autonomy and independence from seed companies Use of non-hybrid seeds Survival of the genetic diversity of our food Preservation of know-how	Significant additional work time Need for rigorous organization Considerable skills required High technicality in diversified market gardening Difficult management of crop plans

Necessary equipment

Ideally, you will need a thresher and an air column to sort all the seeds but if not, work with a sieve. The main thing is to have grids and a fan as well as well-labeled bags and to store your seeds in a room with constant temperature and low humidity, with slight ventilation in darkness.

Seed reproduction steps

Obtaining seeds

At the beginning, it is necessary to have seeds. These must be of quality, non-hybrid, reproducible, and already as much as possible adapted to the terroir. For this, contact neighbors, seed libraries, or simply local seed producers.

Selecting individuals

Once the first generation of the crop has grown, consider selecting individuals to harvest seeds, then condition and store them. Ideally, harvest as late as possible.

Harvesting seeds

For harvesting, each plant has its specificity : some seeds are recovered inside the fruits while others are found directly on the plant. For the latter, just wait until they are dry to collect them, carefully remove all insects then store them. For vegetables, it is quite simple to recover them. However, there is a specificity for seeds of juicy fruits like tomato or some cucumbers which are surrounded by a gelatinous part. Then recover the seeds in the fruit juice, let the mixture ferment for a few days so that the gelatin separates and leaves the seeds, which do not rot. Rinse and then retain the seeds using a sieve.

Storing seeds

Once recovered, seeds are dried on an absorbent paper such as blotting paper before being stored, always noting the necessary information (species, variety, date, place).

Seeds with short longevity (anise, chervil, onion, parsnip, leek, …) must be multiplied every year while seeds with good preservation (artichoke, chard, beet, eggplant, chicory, cucumber, squash,...) can be used which then allows to multiply as many varieties as possible during this time.

Selecting individuals, a step under high vigilance

Any reproduction process necessarily involves a selection step of individuals to reproduce. Plants have different biological reproduction rhythms. They are thus characterized as annual, biennial and perennials plants.

For the first, seed formation occurs just after vegetative development.
For the second, seed selection can be done at the end of winter based on cold resistance and storage criteria.
Finally, for perennials, the same subject can serve as seed stock for several years in a row.

The selection step allows to preserve the typical characteristics of a variety (size, color, shape, taste) but also to select traits that will improve the next generation (resistance, earliness, storage …). Seed stock plants are then not the biggest or tallest plants but the medium, balanced, and harmonious plants that gather the desired characteristics. It is best to make a progressive choice of seed stock : select more than planned and eliminate those that do not fit as you go. Throughout the selection process, it is necessary to be very vigilant, at risk of losing the "purity" of the variety, or even making it evolve towards a degenerative state. Therefore, be sure to :

Avoid accidental mixes which can happen at every stage of cultivation. For this, it is necessary to properly label bags and clean equipment (sieves, seeders, …).
Limit unwanted crossings by isolating plants by distancing crops, from a few meters to kilometers depending on varieties, or by installation of protective nets. It is important to note that the risk is much greater for allogamous plants.
Preserve genetic diversity and prevent degeneration caused by conserving too few individuals intended as seed stock. Requirements are determined by the variety, according to its degree of homogeneity : for allogamous varieties, plan at least 50 plants, even a hundred if the variety is not very homogeneous, while for autogamous plants, at least 20 individuals are needed, even if 5 may suffice for some very homogeneous varieties.

In brief

Do not grow two interfertile varieties flowering at the same time.
Eliminate wild regrowth and residues from previous crops.
For biennial plants : remove all plants that would flower the first year.

Producing seeds legally

Seed production even for non-commercial use is regulated. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food specifies that seed production depends on the protected or unprotected status of the variety :

If it is not or no longer protected then there is no restriction on the use of your own seeds, however these cannot be sold (which is of course not the case for the fruits and vegetables obtained).

On the other hand, if the variety is protected by a PVR (Plant Variety Right, held for a maximum of 25-30 years depending on species), it is not possible to reproduce it. However, since European regulation 2100/94, certain conditions allow exemption from the obligation to obtain authorization from the PVR holder : for a majority of agricultural species (wheat, barley, potatoes, lentils, beans,...), a system is provided so that farmers can use their own seed production while paying the breeder in a simplified way : a lower amount only if the seeds were directly purchased, knowing that those producing more than 92 tons of cereals are exempt.

To exchange or market seeds and plants, varieties must be registered in the official catalog of species and varieties, thus undergoing a significant number of tests. While this is not a problem for hybrids, characterized by their uniformity, the task is more complex for peasant and local varieties which are much less stable, making their registration impossible, as well as their marketing de facto.

Ensuring good seed germination

Storage conditions are important : the room, packaging, temperature, and humidity directly influence the germination capacity of seeds. Seeds must be neither too dry nor too moist. Drying is done away from direct light, in a ventilated, airy, and dry room. To avoid dissemination, it is preferable to spread the harvest on a support that allows air passage (paper, cloths, cardboard).

The sowing moment is the real test : the external conditions and seed state must be optimal. Sometimes even under these conditions it does not work : the seed has entered dormancy. To avoid sowing in vain, germination tests can be performed (illustration on the left).

Similarly, germination can be facilitated with stratification techniques (exposure to special thermal conditions), soaking, pregermination, or scarification and peeling.

Producing seeds collectively

In diversified market gardening, it can be difficult and especially very time-consuming to start producing your own seeds but this should not extinguish the desire to protect old and local varieties. That is why many collectives are formed among market gardeners, gardeners, and consumers to preserve and multiply seeds.

Existing collectives

Réseau semences paysannes
Semaille (Belgium)
Triticum (Normandy)
Active groups led by the GAB in Burgundy and Franche Comté

Other resources

There are also various books dealing with producing your own seeds. We recommend the very educational “The pleasure of making your own seeds” by Jérôme Goust which includes summary tables of the germination modalities of seeds of main vegetables and fruits. Here : an example of some lines from Jérôme Goust’s germination tables :


Species	Latin name	Family	Number of seeds per gram	Maximum germination duration (in years)	Germination temperature (official tests)			Maximum germination delay (in days)
Species	Latin name	Family	Number of seeds per gram	Maximum germination duration (in years)	Min	Max	Average optimal	Maximum germination delay (in days)
Melon	Cucumis melo	Cucurbitaceae	35	5	16°	38°	20° to 35°	10
Mustard	Brassica juncea	Brassicaceae	650	4	-	-	15°	10
Turnip	Brassica rapa	Brassicaceae	450 to 700	5	-	-	10° to 20°	10
Onion	Allium cepa	Liliaceae	250	2	1°	35°	10° to 30°	26