When you carve this year’s Halloween Jack-o’-lantern or cook pumpkins, With how to save pumpkin seeds so that they don’t rot easily to plant in the garden next year. The seeds of the yellow pumpkin plant are easy to store in part because they are large in size and easy to harvest.
First, determine whether your pumpkin plant is a hybrid or not. If it does, it will not multiply from seed. A large orange pumpkin purchased in a store this year can produce seeds that give smaller and less colorful offspring.
Well, here the author will give a little explanation about how to save pumpkin seeds so that they don’t rot and are easy for daily consumption for you. Let’s look at the related articles by lavitaebellablog below:
How To Save Pumpkin Seeds
If you plant heirloom seeds or seeds with open pollination, most likely they will give reliable results. If you buy a pumpkin on a farmer’s farm or market, ask the grower if the pumpkin is a hybrid or not.
Even with seeds from homemade heirloom pumpkins, you may notice cross-pollination between pumpkins and pumpkins, such as zucchini. To increase your chances of getting truly breeding seeds, keep seeds from three or more of your best pumpkins.
Items needed to store pumpkin seeds:
- Equipment / Tools
- Knife
- Spoon
- sieve
- Pastry sheet or screen
- material
- Pumpkin
- Water
- Paper towel or wax paper
- Envelopes or small brown paper bags
Instructions
- Take the Seeds
- Cut your pumpkin open and take all the seeds into a colander.
- Rinse The Pulp From The Seeds
- Run a colander under cold water to separate the pulp from the seeds.
- Clean the adhering pulp from the seeds. You don’t want any dregs left because it will slow down the drying time and can lead to fungal growth, and seed rot.
- clean the pulp of the pumpkin to separate the seeds
- Prepare the Cookie Sheet
- Line the pastry sheet with a paper towel or wax paper. Some people prefer wax paper so that sticky seeds do not stick to paper towels.
- Place Seeds on a sheet
After all the pumpkin seeds are clean, place them on a baking sheet of pre-greased parchment paper in one layer. Separate the seeds from each other, taking care not to coagulate or touch. This will help them to dry thoroughly on all sides.
Placing the seeds on a paper towel
- Use a baker’s cooling rack with paper towels instead of baking sheets to increase airflow to all sides of the seeds.
- Let the Seeds Dry
- Place the sheet in a cool, dry place.
- Stir and Turn
- During the first few days, it is often stirred and turned over, so that it dries on each side.
- Continue Monitoring When Seeds Dry
- Continue to let it dry for three to four weeks. If you see a fungus, remove the seeds. It’s also a sign that your cool, dry place isn’t cool and dry enough.
- Put Dried Seeds in envelopes
- Once your seeds are completely dry, put them in an envelope or brown paper bag. Label it with the date and details about the pumpkin.
- Store in a cool, dry place
- Store your seed envelope in a cool, dry place until planting time. Some people keep it in the fridge if they don’t have another suitable place.
How to Store Pumpkin Seeds
- Cut off the top of your pumpkin and take all the pulp. A large spoon works well for this task.
- Separate the seeds from the pulp with your finger, and then put the seeds in a colander for rinsing with cold water. Try to remove as much pulp as possible from each seed.
- Carefully inspect the clean seeds, and choose the largest one to store. Larger seeds will have a better chance of germinating and growing healthy vines.
- Spread the seeds on a layer of wax paper and let them dry overnight. Pumpkin seeds are sticky, so wax paper works best for the initial drying period.
- After the seeds are dry, line the baking sheet with a paper towel. Spread pumpkin seeds in one layer.
- Place the tray in a dark cool place for at least a month. This allows the seeds to become completely dry.
- After a month, separate the seeds and remove those with mold or moss. Place good seeds in envelopes. They can be stored in envelopes until planting next year.
Alternatives to storing pumpkin crops
Whether you’re planning on making delicious, seasoned pumpkin cakes, making autumn decorations, or simply carving the best Lack-O Lanterns on blocks, you’ll probably be left with a pile of pumpkin seeds.
So why not come forward for next year’s harvest and save for planting next spring? Here’s a very easy guide to storing pumpkin seeds.
How to Save Pumpkin
First, remove the seeds from inside the pumpkin. A metal spoon is great for this. You may have to scrape some meat with them, but that’s fine.
Next, put the seeds in a colander or colander and wash them under running water. Gently rub the meat or pieces of thread from the seeds as you go.
You certainly don’t want to plant every seed you harvest or your garden will be completely flooded, so browse the seeds and choose the fattest and healthiest one. It is a little time-consuming, but it is worth it to get the seeds that are most likely to germinate well and grow best.
Spread the seeds on absorbent paper (paper towels are ideal) and make sure that they do not touch each other or will not dry well and they will stick together. Put the seeds in a warm, dry place for about a week.
When the Seeds Dry:
After complete drying, cover the seeds in a paper envelope (plastic bags will retain moisture and may affect germination). And don’t forget to label the envelope! You think you will remember what’s inside, but you really won’t remember it next year!
Store the envelope in a dry place. Some people like to keep it in the refrigerator to simulate winter. Put the envelope in a plastic container, make a few holes in the upper part to remove moisture, and keep the container at the back of the refrigerator until spring.
Then just wait until the temperature starts to rise and the sun appears, and you are ready to plant the pumpkin again.
Those are some article about how to save pumpkin that you can practice. Hope this info is helpful. Hope the author, you can put it into practice. Good luck. And hopefully, the gardening will be pleasant.