How to get and when to collect radish seeds

How to get seeds

Getting radish seeds in your garden is a snap. They lie perfectly and remain viable for 6 or more years. Experienced gardeners, who have organized the cultivation of several varieties, get them from one variety every year, constantly replenishing their stocks, absolutely not needing to buy expensive Dutch seed.

If you do not know which variety to opt for, then buy a few of those that you like with their description or those that you have already tried. Plant the seed on the plot as usual, and then choose from them the one (or those) that you want to grow next year. The choice must be made after the test of the harvest - when you taste the root vegetables, you will see how they grew. This way you can easily decide which radish seeds to choose.

No need to try to breed Dutch (or other) F1 hybrids. Their seeds do not retain their varietal characteristics. If you get Dutch F1 seeds and then sow them, then they may not germinate at all, or their germination will not yield a crop.

The fact is that the authors of these Dutch F1s are trying to protect their products, this is their earnings, which they want to have consistently. But there are many true varieties of early or late radish, the seed of which retains its properties perfectly.

With an increase in daylight hours to 13 or more hours, the radish shoots, that is, it forms a peduncle, which makes its root crop rough, tough and tasteless. The flowers bloom are modest, four-petaled, white, yellow or lilac in color with a strong pleasant scent that easily attracts insects. Radish is a cross-pollinated plant, but it can also be self-pollinated. It is easily pollinated with different varieties or with radish. Pollen is carried by insects or wind.

After pollination, it forms a pod fruit, and from 4 to 8 pieces can form in it. Radish seeds are very small - 1000 pieces and weigh 10 g on average. Only half a glass of seeds is collected from 10 seed (or mother) plants.

Features of growing radish for seeds

Radish seeds can be obtained in two ways - transplant or direct. The second is usually used for industrial cultivation, it takes up to 160 days. The transplant method allows you to get the result somewhat faster - about 120 days after germination is enough. In addition, it allows you to make a more accurate selection of plants for propagation. The choice of planting material is easier to do when the harvest ripens en masse and when all varietal differences are visible.

You need to choose a plant with a large, even in shape and color root crop, make sure that it does not crack, does not rush to form an arrow. When a plant with a high-quality root crop is chosen for reproduction, then one can hope for its same offspring.

The selected plant (preferably several) is taken out of the ground, examined carefully. If the choice is confirmed, then the root is shortened to 3 cm, the outer leaves are removed, leaving 3 or 4 in the very center of the outlet - this should stimulate the formation of a peduncle. The root is dipped in a special chatter made of equal parts of mullein and clay, diluted with water to a liquid state. This will help to quickly form new roots and protect existing roots from drying out during all these manipulations. Plants are planted in a light garden bed protected from the wind at a distance of 50 cm from each other, away from radishes and radishes. Root crops are buried in the soil by 2-3 cm, watered abundantly.

In order to protect against possible cross-pollination, plants are covered with a film or non-woven material during flowering. The garden bed is closed as soon as at least one flower appears. The fact is that cross-pollination is possible, even if a radish of a different variety or a radish blooms at a distance of up to 500 m.If this happens, the seeds will not retain the varietal qualities, it will turn out like with the Dutch F1 hybrids - there will be no shoots or a root crop will not form. If seed of different varieties is grown on the site, then the beds with it must be placed as far as possible and carefully covered.

After 2 weeks, when the flowering has completely ended and the pods have formed, the covering material is removed, and the tall arrows are tied to a support to protect them from accidental damage. For the prevention of diseases and pests, plants are treated with "Skor" or "Fufanon". After a month, the seeds begin to ripen, and birds begin to take an interest in them. To protect them, they are again covered with non-woven material. During cultivation, seed plants are looked after in the same way as before - they water, weed, loosen the ground around them.

Seed collection and extraction technology

In early radishes, fruits ripen in August, in late ones - in September. You need to collect them after the pods begin to open.

They are cut directly from the stems, tied in bunches, suspended by the stems until completely dry in a shaded place, for example, in the attic. It is imperative to lay sheets of paper under them, on which the seeds will fall out.

When the stems with pods are completely dry, the pods are collected and rubbed by hand along with the seeds. After that, they are separated from small light debris using a jet of air. A fan can be used. By pouring the resulting mixture next to a moving stream of air, you can separate heavy seeds (they will fall on the laid paper or cloth) from light debris and underdeveloped seeds, which will be carried by the air stream to the side. After that, the seeds themselves are sorted, sifting them through a sieve with the desired mesh size, usually 2 or 3 mm.

Only large seeds need to be collected and left for future cultivation, they will have high germination and an excellent yield.You can get seeds in this way from any full-fledged radish varieties, but not from Dutch hybrids.

Video "Collecting radish seed material"

This video will show you how radish seed is harvested for sowing in spring.