Zucchini Seed Saving

by Elizabeth Jones, Seed Librarian

‎September ‎17, ‎2021

Seed Saving preserves the varieties of plants we enjoy. Many seeds are easy to save and only require a little effort and time.

Zucchini has a few steps you need to go through to get its seeds ready for saving. Even though zucchini is labeled “difficult” to save seeds, as you will see it’s really NOT THAT HARD once you know what to do. It just takes a little planning and time.

Step 1: Prevent

Cross-pollination

If you’re going to go to the work of saving seeds you want to make sure the seeds you save will grow into the same kind of plant as the parent plant. This is called true-to-type. Zucchini will cross-pollinate with other zucchini and some varieties of pumpkins. Also, hybrid plants will not produce true-to-type seeds, so you will need to save only from an heirloom variety to avoid frankin’ squash seeds.

Frankin’ squash doesn’t taste nice. These are seeds that have either come from a hybrid plant or have been cross-pollinated and grow up to be some very strange combination that is usually inedible.

To prevent frankin’ squash, I like to cage my zucchini with sheer curtains. This has an AMAZING 2 pronged effect! I keep out the nasty squash bugs and squash borers and prevent cross-pollination all at the same time!

Step 2: Hand pollinate

Since zucchini is insect dependent for pollination and because I’ve caged my plants, I must act as the bee. It is so SIMPLE to pollinate zucchini to prevent cross-pollination. You do have to get up early in the morning since the flowers will close up as the day starts to get warm. Look for the female flower. She’s easy to spot with that baby squash. Cut off the male flower on that thin stock. Trim off his petals. Transfer his pollen to the female flower and…

Watch that baby squash grow! Mark the squash that was hand-pollinated with colored yarn or twist tie, so you know not to eat it. Next, it is VERY important to close up the flower to prevent any insect from transferring any unwanted pollen to the flower, ruining your hard work!

If you are growing more than one variety of squash And are NOT caging your plants, you will need to hand pollinate the same way. Just take a paper clip and close up the female flower so no insect can transfer unwanted pollen. And you’ll need to get up before the bees aka O’ dark hundred!

Step 3: Patience

Let the zucchini grow beyond the eating stage. The skin should be hard and leathery before harvesting. This will take a few days.

Step 4: More

Patience

Now you can bring the zuchs inside and let them cure….for 20 days. Some squash seeds will gain size and viability as they sit during this waiting period. Viability is the energy the seed needs to germinate–you want good viability for healthy seeds.

Step 5: Scoop and Ferment

Cut the zucchini in half. Scoop the seeds and pulp out and place them in a bowl. Add about half as much water as seeds and pulp. Store in a warm place 75-85 degrees for 1 1/2 to 5 days and let them get nasty! I put mine outside on the patio, because who keeps their house that hot and it stinks horribly! I just made sure they were shaded from the sun to keep them from getting too hot, while still receiving the heat required.

Fermentation will be evidenced by bubbling and/or by the formation of a white mold on the surface of the mixture. As soon as the bubbling or mold has been evident for a day or so, Remove the seeds that float and the pulp. Viable (good) seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour the viable seeds into a colander.

Step 6: Clean and Dry

Clean and Dry. Gently rub them underwater to remove the naturally occurring gel from their coats. Dry the seeds on a shiny surface like a plate. (They will stick to any kind of paper.) Dry them until they are brittle and then store them in paper bags. This can take a week or more.

As you can see, saving zucchini seeds isn’t hard. All it takes is a little patience a bit of knowledge and the willingness to get dirty!

Patience is a saved zucchini seed!

You may want to wait until closer to the end of the growing season to start the seed saving process. The zucchini will put a lot of energy into the squash you are saving for seeds and may not produce other squashes until after you harvest the one you are saving.

I did my seed saving at the beginning of the season. So I didn’t have squash to eat until later in the season. But it worked out as I took the cage off after I got what I wanted for seed saving. Then I let the insects pollinate the squashes I was going to eat. I just had to keep an eye out for those squash bugs!

Don’t ferment the seeds if they did so naturally during the 20-day waiting period. Fermentation will be evident by the smell (stinky) and appearance of the seeds.