Going to Seed with Dan Brisebois

There are things you know a lot about and things you don’t know as much about.

I know a lot about Brassicas seeds and Brassica cross pollination.

But now that we’ve ran out of seed Brassicas to talk about, it’s time to move on to other crossers on #seedsavingformarketgrowers.

And next up are some storage roots – your carrots, beets, and onions.

This is my zone of seed saving discomfort.

I’ve grown these roots for farmers market and CSA for over 20 years but I actually don’t have that much experience growing their seed.

The main reason for that is the humid climate where I farm.

Carrots, beets, onions and their relatives have seeds that don’t come in pods or in fruits.Their seeds sits naked, exposed to the elements. And our climatic elements involve a lot of rain and ambient humidity

This extra wetness creates some seed challenges:

• Potential lower germination
• Potential higher disease on seeds
• Potential seeds germinating in the field

These challenges have meant that I haven’t had consistent success with these crops. So, I’ve focused on growing other seed crops that have brought me great germination and great seed quality,

And maybe that’s the lesson for today’s post.

If you get into seed saving and you have some problems, don’t swear off all seed saving.

Maybe it’s just the crop you’re working with that’s the problem. Not seed saving as a whole.

If you’re a northern grower with humid summers, maybe start with something other than carrots, beets, and onions.

All that being said, I’m still going to jump into a series of posts about these crops!