Cucumbers have to be one of my favorite vegetables in the garden. There is nothing like a cool, crisp cucumber on a hot summer day. If you love cucumbers like me, then you should learn how to save cucumber seeds so you don't have to buy new seeds every year.
How to grow cucumbers for seed
While cucumbers do need to fully ripen before you can save seeds from them, you can grow cucumbers just like you were going to eat them. You can learn how to grow the best heirloom cucumbers here.
While growing your cucumbers make sure to watch for the healthiest plants. You will want to save your seeds from these plants so that your future cucumbers are also healthy.
Also take note of plants that are resistant to cucumber beetles, powdery mildew, or other pests and diseases. You do not want to save seeds from unhealthy plants!
Hand pollination or isolation
To keep your cucumbers from cross pollinating with other cucumber or squash plants (and creating weird hybrids) you will need to either isolate your plants (grow them far apart) or hand pollinate them.
I choose to hand pollinate my cucumbers because the isolation distance for cucumbers and squash is ½ a mile! There is no way I can grow my cucumber and squash plants that far apart.
Even if you are only growing cucumbers and nothing else, you can cross pollinate with other cucumbers because you never know if your neighbors may be growing cucumbers.
How to hand pollinate cucumbers
Hand pollinating cucumbers is very similar to hand pollinating zucchinis. Here are the steps you need to take to hand pollinate your cucumbers.
- Find male and female flowers the evening before you plan to hand pollinate your cucumbers and seal them up with a clothes pin or tape.
- The next morning pull off the male flowers and open them so you can see the anthers.
- Find the female flowers and pollinate them by rubbing the male's anthers on the female flower's stamen.
- Seal the female flower up and mark it so you will know which cucumbers to save your seeds from.
- Repeat these steps for every cucumber you plant that you want to save seeds from.
When to harvest your cucumber seeds
You will need to wait until your cucumbers are fully ripe before you can extract the seeds from them. The cucumbers will have to grow way past the usual picking time so they can reach maturity.
Cucumbers will either turn yellow (for black spined cucumbers) or orange (for white spined cucumbers) when they are fully ripe. This can take a long time, so be patient.
If your cucumbers have not fully turned their ripe color and a frost is approaching you can pick them and keep them in a cool place until they ripen (a cool basement works great for this).
How to extract cucumber seeds
Once your cucumber is fully ripe you can extract the seeds and start the drying process. To extract the seeds I cut the cucumber length ways and "split" it open.
Make sure when you cut the cucumber that you do not cut all the way through the center as this could also cut your seeds.
Once you have the two cucumber halves you can use a metal spoon to scoop the seeds into a glass jar. You will need to ferment your cucumber seeds to get that gel like coating off the seeds.
How to ferment cucumber seeds
Fermentation is necessary to properly save cucumber seeds. This process will remove the coating on the seeds allowing them to germinate better.
You will need to put your cucumber seeds and a little bit of water in a glass jar. Make sure that the room temperature will be between 700F-800F.
Cover the jar with either a loose fitting lid or plastic wrap. Let this mixture set for 24 hours before giving it a gentle swirl. Continue to swirl the seeds every morning.
This mixture should start to get a fermented smell to it (you may also notice a white film growing on top of the mixture, this is totally normal). After 2-3 days it is time to rinse and dry the seeds.
Use a strainer to rinse your seeds. Make sure to rinse them in cold water (hot water will kill the seeds) and remove all of the pulp. You should be left with a strainer full of off white cucumber seeds.
How to dry cucumber seeds
Like all seeds cucumber seeds need to be dried before you can store them, or they will rot. I use an old window screen to dry all of my seeds on.
I lift this screen off the ground with wooden blocks and point a fan on low at it for air circulation. This whole set up is in my basement which offers the perfect environment (cool and dry) for seed drying.
You can dump your strainer of seeds right onto your drying screen. Make sure to spread the seeds out so that they are not touching. If they dry when they touch they will stick together and make one big clump of seeds.
Give the seeds 2-3 weeks of drying time before you put them in storage. I like to use the snap test to see if my seeds are ready for storage.
The snap test
Seeds need to be dry before storage or they will spoil. The snap test is a super simple way to test your seeds' dryness.
Take a cucumber seed and try to snap it in two. If the cucumber seed bends then it is not dry enough for storage. If the cucumber seed makes a clean snap then it is ready for storage.
If you find that your seeds are too small to bend in two you can use the hammer test. If the seed shatters when you hit it with a hammer if is ready for storage. If it smashes it is not ready for storage.
How to store cucumber seeds
I recommend placing your cucumber seeds in either an airtight jar or a paper envelope. You can read my full post on seed storage here.
Materials needed for saving cucumber seeds
- Mesh strainer
- Drying screen
- Glass jars for storage
- Small fan
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