Subject Guides

The Sustainability Hub

Seed Saving

Saving seeds from one season is essential for planting in the following season. The Seed Library encourages all of its users to save the seeds that they grow, whether it is to use them in the same garden next year, or donate back to the Seed Library and restock for all to use! Saving seeds is not always an easy task, but with a little extra research, planning, and care, anyone can save their seeds!

In order to save your seeds, you must determine if your plant is an open-pollinated variety, or heirloom, meaning that they will pass on their distinct traits generation after generation! You should also determine if your plant is annual, biennial, or perennial, in order to know if the plant will produce viable seeds this season. Learning how each plant pollinates can help to determine useful isolation methods before harvesting! Finally, you must know when the seeds of your plant are mature. This may be after the fruit becomes edible, so you might have to leave a few in the garden to fully mature!

When the seeds are finally mature, they can be collected and stored! Seeds of dry fruited crops can generally be handpicked, while wet fruited crops must be cut open to extract seeds from the flesh and pulp. Once the seeds are cleaned and dried, they must be stored in a cool, dark, and dry place for the next growing season!

Seed Saving Resources

A lot of growing, harvesting, and seed saving information and techniques are specific to a type of plant. Do your own research to find out how best you can save seeds from your own plants! The resources below include online sources and books from our Sustainability Collection that are available to be checked out!

Seed Savers Exchange
This non-profit organization has many online resources and information on planting, growing, harvesting, and saving countless different seeds. Click on the link to visit the website!
Seeds of Diversity
This webpage directs to various other seed saving resources. Click on links to learn more about cleaning seeds, drying seeds, or storing seeds!
Hudson Valley Seed Company: Ultimate Seed Saving Compendium
This seed company has a compilation of online information, including the importance of seed saving and plant specific tutorials on how to grow, harvest, and dry seeds! They also offer further sources to continue learning and tools to use!

Click on any book cover below for more information!

Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds.

A seed saving guide by Seed activist Bevin Cohen takes a deep dive into the hows and whys of the modern seed saving movement. A great how-to guide, leading the reader step by step through the process of saving their seeds from 43 different crops; from adzuki beans to wheat and everything in between. Seed savers of all levels will benefit from Bevin's easy to follow explanations on important techniques such as hand pollination, isolation, vernalization and even basic flower structure.

The Book of Seeds takes readers through six hundred of the world's seed species, revealing their extraordinary beauty and rich diversity. Each page pairs a beautifully composed photo of a seed--life-size, and, in some cases, enlarged to display fine detail--with a short description, a map showing distribution, and information on conservation status. The essential guide to these complex plant creations, The Book of Seeds offers readers a rare, up-close look that will inspire scientists and nature lovers alike.

Authoritative and easy-to-understand, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties is the only guide to plant breeding and seed saving for the serious home gardener and the small-scale farmer or commercial grower. Discover how to breed for a wide range of different traits, how to save seeds and maintain varieties, how to conduct your own variety trials and other farm- or garden-based research, how to breed for performance under organic or sustainable growing methods.

Just a few generations ago we were a nation of seed savers because it was essential to our survival. Many of us have lost touch with this ancient practice, but the knowledge is still inside each and every one of us just waiting to be unlocked. The following pages are filled with tales from many seeds and their keepers; I hope that they inspire you and I hope that they entertain you but most importantly, I hope these stories get you to ask yourself the most important question,

The Seed Garden provides straightforward instruction from The Seed Savers Exchange and the Organic Seed Alliance on collecting seed that is true-to-type and ready for sowing in next year's garden. With clear instructions, lush photographs, and easy-to-comprehend profiles on individual vegetable crops, this book teaches us how to conserve these important varieties and planting in next year's garden, while providing a deep understanding of the importance of seed saving.

Seed Saving Equipment

Are you looking to save seeds, but don't have the equipment to do it? The Binghamton University Seed Library has a wide range of equipment available for anyone to use! Check out some examples below:

Blossom Bags
These bags protect plants from pests and cross-pollination. You can use blossom bags for tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and more!
Corn Shoot Bags
These bags protect plants from pests and cross-pollination. You can use corn shoot bags to protect the ear shoot of corn!
Corn Tassel Bags
These bags protect plants from pests and cross-pollination. You can use corn shoot bags to protect the tassel of corn!
Lettuce Bags
These bags protect plants from pests and cross-pollination. Lettuce bags are also used to catch tiny, light seeds before they can blow away!
Flour Sack Towels
These towels are great for drying seeds of wet fruited crops such as tomatoes!
Hanging Mesh Dryer
This three level hanging dryer is perfect for herbs, flowers, and even light vegetables!
Mesh Bags
These mesh bags are great for drying garlic and beans!
Glassine Packets
These air and water resistant packets are great for long-term storage of seeds!
Foil Seed Envelopes
These foil lined packets are great for long term storage in a refrigerator or freezer!

Fill out the form below if you are interested in using any of the Binghamton University Seed Library's seed saving equipment!

Donate to our Seed Library!

If you've harvested, cleaned, and dried your seeds after a successful growing season, you can now donate back to our Seed Library! Please stop by the front desk in the Science Library any time to drop off your donation! You will be provided with a form to fill out information you know about the seeds you are donating. This form is also attached below if you'd like to print it or just take a look before bringing in your donation!

Seed Donation Form (Single)
Use this form to fill out information for a single seed donation!
Seed Donation Form (Double)
Use this link if you have more than one type of seed to donate in order to save paper!

Become a Binghamton University Seed Steward!

The Binghamton University Seed Library needs Seed Stewards! Our goal is to keep our Seed Library stocked with seeds from the plants grown in our own community!

If you would like to commit to growing seeds for our Seed Library, please fill out our form below and become a Seed Steward!