How to Save Bitter Melon Seeds? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Seed-Saving Methods
Bitter melon is a vegetable people often eat in summer, with the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, and it can be planted in warm climates. When you have a good variety, you can collect and save seeds yourself and plant them again the following year, and the excellent genetic traits of the previous generation can still be maintained. This article aims to introduce how to select seed melons, how to save seeds, and how to handle the seeds.
1. Isolated Pollination
Bitter melon is a cross-pollinated plant. Once you decide which variety to save seeds from, you must plant these seed stock plants in an area isolated from other bitter melons. Generally, you can keep them away from other bitter melons, or set aside a separate seed-saving plot and plant small trees around it to block pollen sources. This ensures self-pollination of the plants and maintains the purity of the variety. Also, during hot and rainy weather, natural pollination and fertilization are poor, so you need to pollinate by hand to ensure fruit set so that there are seeds to collect.
2. Selecting Seed Plants
After planting the seed stock plants, take care of every bitter melon plant as thoroughly as possible, so that each one grows normally and produces bitter melons suitable for seed saving. Generally, choose bitter melons from plants with strong growth, dark green foliage, and no pest or disease damage. Likewise, not every melon produced can be kept for seed; you must choose large ones with no pest or disease damage and normal, glossy color before they are suitable for picking and seed selection.
3. Collecting Seeds
Choose seed melons on healthy plants. Generally, after the first two rounds of bitter melons have matured and been harvested, start selecting bitter melons for seed saving during the plant's peak growth period. When the bitter melons reach medium size, you can select seed melons, mark them, and then give them special care as they grow. When the bitter melons change color to orange-yellow and mature, past the edible stage, you can pick them, otherwise over-maturity will cause them to split open. After picking, handle them gently, lay the bitter melons out together in a cool place for about three days; the color will deepen and they will split open on their own, making the seeds more mature. Then take out all the seeds, remove the empty, shriveled, lighter-colored, too-small, deformed, and incomplete seeds, then rinse once in clean water to remove the pulp. Then soak them in running water for two hours, and finally rub and wash them to remove the sticky mucus. Dry them in the sun and then store them.
4. Storage
Sun-dried seeds should have a moisture content of about 15%. Then put the seeds into plastic bags; if there are few seeds, you can store them sealed in a glass jar or a small plastic bag. If there are many seeds, you can store them in a plastic bucket. But all containers must be clean and sterilized before use, must not be breathable, and must be absolutely sealed. To prevent insects, you can put a dried medicine packet inside.
If you want to save seeds from bitter melon for planting or for sale, you must first select good fruiting plants and high-quality melons for seed saving, and pay attention to correct operations when extracting seeds and so on. Do not do it carelessly; collect mature seeds and do not rush. So if you want to save seeds, you can do it this way.