How to Save Cucumber Seeds From Your Garden – Follow These Tips to Grow More of Your Favorite Cukes
Grow more of your favorite cucumbers by saving the seeds to plant again. Here's how to do it.
Amy Grant
Knowing how to save cucumber seeds is a good way to preserve a favorite variety. In fact, the fabulous heirloom seed collection that’s available nowadays is the direct result of our gardening predecessors’ forethought (and thriftiness) in saving seeds from each season.
Saving seeds from your garden to grow next year is rewarding and cost saving project for the home gardener. But some seeds take a bit more time and TLC to save than others. Collecting seeds after growing cucumbers, though relatively easy to do, requires a little bit of knowledge.
Cucumbers have fairly large seeds, which makes them simpler to harvest than tiny seeds. Once you harvest, clean, dry, and store your cucumber seeds you can use them for several years. Here’s how to perpetuate your own cucumber seed collection for years of tasty veggies for free.
Benefits of Saving Cucumber Seeds
When you save cucumber seeds you are preserving genetic diversity. You are also giving your wallet a break. It removes the middleman and allows you to have food security without relying on traditional commerce. Knowing how to harvest cucumber seeds and preserve them properly allows you to be more self-reliant and sustainable.
Saving cucumber seeds is a wonderful way to share your favorite crops with friends and family, too. The practice is also a fun way for kids to learn about nature and how to grow their own food – important knowledge for their future.
Is Saving Cucumber Seeds Easy?
Well, yes and no. Saving seeds from cucumbers is definitely doable, but there are a few quirks to cukes to be aware of before trying it.
First of all, don't attempt to collect seeds from any cucumbers that are labeled “hybrid.” Hybrids are created by crossbreeding specific parent plants selected for an outstanding characteristic. But seeds saved from these plants will not reproduce a true copy of the parent plant and, in fact, are often sterile anyways.
Secondly, since cucumbers are open pollinated – meaning they require either insect pollinators, wind, or people to transfer their pollen from plant to plant – they may cross-pollinate with other members within the Cucurbita genus. Thus, you may end up with an odd mix of cucumber crosses when collecting cucumber seeds.
If you’re interested in saving seeds from your cucumbers, it is necessary to isolate the plant you wish to propagate. Plant it well away from its cousins to prevent unwanted crossbreeding. This requirement isn't always practical for the average home gardener's modest plot, so it’s an important factor to consider before saving seeds.
Lastly, seeds can transmit some common cucumber diseases. So be sure that when saving seeds from cucumbers, no disease has infected the crop that you plan to harvest.
Choosing Cucumber Seeds to Save
The cucumber seeds you save should only come from healthy, well-formed fruits. Saving the best means you will grow the best the next season. It may seem sensible to take a fruit that is damaged and save the seed from it rather than waste the cucumber. But the healthier the fruit, the better the seed. Preserving only the best seeds will also ensure better germination and lower rates of disease.
Since cucumbers can cross-pollinate with other plants in the Cucurbit family, you have to take a few extra steps to propagate seeds that are true to type. You can choose cucumber varieties that are less likely to cross-pollinate. These include Armenian cucumbers, West Indian gherkins, and serpent gourds, which belong to different families and do not cross with other Cucurbits.
Or during the growing season, hand pollinate cucumbers by rubbing male flowers over the female flowers’ stigmas. Then bag the female flowers so insects cannot cross-pollinate them. These organza produce bags from Amazon are ideal for this task. Remove the bags once fruit forms, but mark their locations for easy seed collection later.
When to Harvest Cucumber Seeds
Towards the end of the growing season is a good time for harvesting cucumbers for seed. Let the fruit fully mature, which is past the prime time for harvesting to eat. Fruits will grow fat and turn slightly yellow to brownish. Pick yellowing cucumbers before the skin becomes soft.
How to Harvest Cucumber Seeds
To harvest seeds from fleshy fruits like cucumbers, use the wet method of vegetable seed saving. This fermentation process kills viruses and separates the good seeds from the bad seeds, as well as the pulp from the fruit.
To collect cucumber seeds, cut your fruit lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Place the seeds in a container with a bit of water in a low light location for a couple of days. A foamy, fungal film will develop on the top, but that is fine. Stir daily. The good seeds will drop to the bottom of the container, while the pulp and bad seeds will sit atop.
Scoop away the bad stuff and then rinse the good seed several times, ensuring the rest of the pulp has soaked away. Then strain the seed and spread it out on a screen to dry. As the seed is drying, keep it out of direct sunlight. It can take a week or more for fully dried seed.
How to Store Cucumber Seeds
The most important step to saving any seeds is storage. With proper seed storage should let them last several years. Small glass jars, like these ones from Amazon, make excellent seed storage containers. But you can also use paper seed envelopes, which you can also grab on Amazon, mesh or cloth bags, foil envelopes, or even plastic containers with lids.
Place the container with your seeds in the freezer for two days to kill any residual pests. Then store seeds in a cool, dark, and dry location. The best temperatures are around 59°F (15°C). It is okay to store seeds in the refrigerator, but remove them a few days prior to planting to allow the seeds to warm up to prime them for germination.
Seed viability decreases over time, so be sure to use the seed within the next three years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to dry cucumber seeds?
Cucumber seeds are considered to be “wet seeds.” No matter how you dry them, they must be free of any pulp first. Then you can spread them out on mesh, paper towels, coffee filters, or another absorbent material. Avoid drying seed on a ceramic or plastic plate which will hold moisture. The idea is to draw out the moisture completely. Mixing the seed around and turning it will expose all sides for faster drying.
How do you know if cucumber seeds are still good?
Cucumber seeds that were prepared and stored properly should be viable for about three years. If seeds are discolored, they are probably no longer good. If in doubt, test seed viability by placing them in a cup of water. Any bad seeds will float to the top. The seeds that sink to the bottom of the cup are still viable.
