Off The Grid News Better Ideas For Off The Grid Living
Editor–
I plant only heirloom seeds but want to know how to save seeds from root crops like beets and turnips. We love beets but buying the seeds every year gets expensive. Can you help me out? I love this site. I have it bookmarked.
-Janet
Janet–
I sent your question to the seed experts at Heirloom Solutions who told me about their new, helpful Growing Guide. In it there is all kinds of information about saving every seed they sell — and then some! Below is the information about beets, turnips and other root crops.
Beets
Beta vulgaris
Beets and Swiss chard will cross-pollinate, as they are from the same species. Beets/chard must be separated by wind-proof caging, bagging or up to 2 to 5 miles of distance to ensure purity as their wind-blown pollen is exceedingly small and light.
It’s easy to leave the base and center of chard plants to over-winter, flower and produce seeds while still eating plenty of leaves. However, to save seed from beets you’ll have to plant 20 to 30 plants to leave in the ground to over-winter if you want to get seeds. You can harvest tasty beet greens for the first part of the season, and you can crowd the plants a bit. You don’t have to pamper them with lots of room, water and fertilizers to get plenty of seeds in the spring—just make sure they’re big enough to get through the winter and re-sprout.
Allow beet seeds to fully mature and become dry on the plants before harvesting. After final drying the seeds can be easily rubbed off the stem.
Beet Family
Chenopodiaceae
Wind-pollinated members of the Beet Family have very light pollen and need up to 2 to 5 miles for safe distance isolation. Chard and beets are in the same species (Betula vulgaris) and must be isolated from each other or they will cross. Different Beet Family species will not cross-pollinate, so that one beet or chard, one quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), one red (Chenopodium giganteum) and one white (C. alba) lamb’s quarters, one orach (Atriplex hortensis) and one spinach (Spinacia oleracea) can all be grown together without danger of crossing.
You can bag or cage varieties of the same species for isolation, but techniques vary depending on whether the species will self-pollinate or not. Quinoa and lamb’s quarters are self-pollinating, so large paper bags can simply be fastened over individual seed heads for protection from cross-pollination. Since quinoa and lamb’s quarters produce many small seed heads up and down their stems, mark the protected seed heads so that you can tell them from unprotected ones at harvest time.
Beets, chard, orach and spinach will not pollinate themselves. These plants need to be caged or bagged in groups so that they can pollinate each other. At least 10 or more plants should be included in each cage or bag for adequate cross-pollination, and to help insure that there are twice as many female as male plants.
Bags or cages need to be windproof to prevent intermingling of the very light pollens. Shake the plants together within their bags or cages regularly, to help the pollen mix move around inside the cage/bag for good pollination.
The Beet Family includes the following species:
- Beta vulgaris: beets, chard.
- Chenopodium album: lamb’s quarters.
- Chenopodium ambrosioides: epazote.
- Chenopodium giganteum: magenta-centered lamb’s quarters.
- Chenopodium quinoa: quinoa.
- Spinacia oleracea: spinach.
- Brassica rapa
- Turnips are in the same species and will cross with—and must be isolated from—Chinese Mustards and Chinese Cabbages by 1 mile of separation or by alternate-day caging. Turnips are mainly self-sterile, so grow at least 10 plants for adequate pollination and seed production.
Turnip
As with other Brassicaceae, allow seeds to ripen thoroughly on the plants before harvesting.
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