Saving Our Seeds

This novel idea for Japanese beetle control comes from William and Eileen Stephens. (Eileen is one of our former seed growers.) William’s idea was to use Japanese beetles to disperse the spores of milky spore disease, thus enlisting the beetles to become agents of their own (organic) doom. This is what they did:

They trapped Japanese beetles in a live trap (the type with yellow plastic vanes, and green holding container). Beetles are attracted to the trap, fly into the vanes, lose their footing, and slide down into holding container where they remain trapped. After the trap was full, Eileen coated the beetles with milky spore disease. This was done by mixing the milky spore powder with sufficient water to make a slurry. A small amount of honey was added to function as a spreader-sticker so that the spores would adhere to the beetles. The beetles were coated with the slurry and then released into the neighborhood. Because Japanese beetles may travel some distance from site of emergence, the Stephens drove around the neighborhood 1/4 mile in each direction releasing “globs” of coated Japanese beetles around preferred habitat, such as lawns and fields. The result? Japanese beetle population declined significantly for a few years afterwards.

Because Japanese beetle populations grow and shrink in cycles, it is difficult to know how much of the success of their experiment can be attributed to their control efforts, but this type of approach, using insects as vectors of their own disease, has been successfully used with other insect control programs. If you have a large expanse of lawn and a low budget for milky spore, this method is worth exploring.

In the species description of Capsicum pubescens I made reference to the seeds being covered with short, downy hairs (page 4), and also in the extraction methods section on page 10, I again referred to the downy or hairy seeds of this species. This is in error. When I examined them under high magnification I found that they were not hairy, but instead rugose (rough), which is the term I should have used.

The following email was received from Ben Gabel and posted here with his permission:

Hi Jeff, your seed saving booklets came through just fine. I’ve just
started reading them and wanted to say that they’re great!

I had a couple of comments so far - after reading the ’seed processing’ one.

You mention a query about the effects of UV light on seed when sun
drying. It just happens that about 18 years ago I did a small
undergrad project looking at the effects of UV light on the leaves of
small rosette-shaped weedy things growing in grassland. The Ozone
Hole was big news at the time and though I can’t remember all the
details, we zapped these poor plants with a whole range of UV
intensities, and then looked at changes to the leaf structure under
the electron microscope.

The relevant point is that even at the highest UV rates (much higher
than predicted ‘naturally’) the only part of the plant that was
affected was the topmost surface layer of cells, with no damage to
the mesophyll at all. So I think that any seed with any decent sort
of coat is pretty unlikely to be affected by UV during drying.

Also re heat treatment of seeds: here we use a wide-necked thermos
flask for tomato seed . Get the water inside to just the right
temperature and then pop in the seeds. Obviously only works on small
quantities (cooling by mass of seeds) but much easier than any other
method I know, as it stays the right temperature for ages with no
extra heat input.

Also I can add to your water-treatment list : Elephant Garlic seeds:
50 - 55 Centigrade for 30 minutes with minimal loss of viability. I
assume that leek would be similar but haven’t tested it. I was trying
to get rid of white rot from an old variety.

Ben Gabel, The Real Seed Catalogue, Brithdir Mawr Farm, Newport, Pembrokeshire SA42 0QJ
Illustrated Catalogue at http://www.realseeds.co.uk

This blog was conceived initially as a place to keep seed savers abreast of changes, to report any new developments in seed saving, and especially as a place to inform visitors about revisions to the series of Seed Production manuals that I have published. I came to recognize some time ago, that all works produced by an individual are really works that derive from community and the inter-relationships of community effort (regardless of the authorship). For that reason, I would like to feature feedback and contributions from other individuals who have helped in the process of improving the Organic Seed Production Manuals featured on Saving Our Seeds. My intent is to continually improve and expand these manuals as time permits.

When I first started in the seed business in 1983 I held everything close to the chest, but since then I have learned that sharing and working in community is much more spiritually satisfying, and rewarding in so many ways — hence this blog and the Saving Our Seeds website. Where this blog ultimately leads I don’t know. It will surely change in scope, but I hope it proves informative and useful.