Seeds from store bought veggies

Cliff_Johns · Dec 20, 2005

So if I buy, say, a butternut squash and I like the flavor and the shape and size, etc. Can I just pop the seeds in the freezer and pull them out in the spring and plant them? Are they likely to grow or would I have better luck buying seeds from a seed catalog?

What about apples or cucumbers?

Would store bought veggies and fruits sometimes be breed to not germinate? Obviously, seedles varieties would not work so well, but what about others?

Cliff

DUMBDOG · Dec 20, 2005

The factor in determining if the seed will grow into what you took it out of, is it a hybrid or not? Some hybrid seeds will not be the same as the product that produced it.

Other factors that will determine the taste and shape are the growing season, weather, water, fertilizer, etc.

In town we always composted to the garden all of the organic waste. We had a tree grow at the edge of the garden, after a couple of years some funny green things appeared on the branches, could not figure out what they were. Towards the end of the summer, you could tell that they were peaches. They were some of the best we had ever tasted, the next spring, turned warm and then cold again and the tree split and died. So it does work.

However, I do believe that you will have better luck going to a seed catalog and selecting items for your growing area.

As far as the apple seed is concerned it would be a lot faster getting to the end product by buying a sampling as the time from a seed to the apple is a long wait.

DocHeb · Dec 20, 2005

Apples will not breed true from seed. As mentioned above, other plants may be hybrids, which means they will not breed true either.

Heirloom varieties of plants will yield the same plant year after year.