How to save seed from radishes

If I had not mentioned the title of this article would you be surprised if I told you the above picture is that of a radish flowering? These flowers belong to a flowering watermelon radish on our small farm.

Radishes are cool season crops either grown in early spring or fall; if radishes are grown during warm temperatures the plants will soon begin to bolt and become unfit to eat. Bolting is the process in which plants produce flowers in order to produce seed. They will essentially put all their energy into making flowers. 

They will send up a strong stalk and soon beautiful clusters of flowers will appear. These flowers are insect pollinated so it's best to only allow one radish to flower at a time either through just growing one variety or perhaps through staging them to flower at different times. Bees in particular especially native bees such as sweat bees, bumble bees, and even carpenter bees love the eye catching beauties

Once the flowers are pollinated the seed pods on the sides of the stalk will begin to fill out and eventually they will turn brown and dry out once the seeds inside are mature. Once the pods are dry you can collect them or even pull up the plant and hang it upside down to finish up the drying process.

Then remove the seeds and allow them to set a few days and once they are fully dry simply bag and label them for the following year. 

So I hope this helped in your gardening journey and if you need seeds please visit us @ 

www.southgaseedco.com