Learn how to harvest and save cucumber seeds!
Learning to harvest and save cucumber seeds is totally worth it. As with harvesting anything from the garden that can be used next season, you won’t have to buy more, heirloom seeds are in high demand, and the best part… it’s free!
The steps are pretty simple. And while it does take a few days to get seeds with the best results for planting next year, the time and space it takes is minimal.
How to harvest and save cucumber seeds
To harvest and save cucumber seeds, you must first sacrifice at least one cucumber
I know, this is sad. But to get truly viable seeds, at least one cucumber needs to be left on the vine well beyond the edible stage. This cucumber needs to turn a yellowish color (some turn orange in spots as well), and it will be much bigger than the ones you’ve already harvested and eaten.
Once it hits this way overly ripened stage, pick it!
Next, cut it open and pull out those seeds
Scrape the cucumber seeds straight into a mason jar. This is where they will live for the next several days as they’re processed, prior to being dried out.
The leftover cucumber, while not yummy for us, is awesome for animals or compost. So don’t just trash it… put it good use!
Fill the jar with water and stir
Fill the mason jar containing your seeds with room temperature water. Stir pretty good with a spoon, mixing everything up.
You will see some cucumber guts and maybe some seeds immediately float to the top. Scrape those off and add the to the pile for animal feed or compost. Seeds that float are not viable and you don’t want to keep them.
Do one more quick stir, put a lid on the jar, and set aside, away from sunlight. Let it sit until the next day.
The next day…
Remove any more junk that floated to the top, strain, put seeds back in the jar. Fill with room temperature water again and stir. Let it sit for about another 24 hours.
Repeat this one more day (we’re looking for about 3 days soaking in water, removing junk and adding fresh water at least daily).
The drying process
Now that the water in the jar is pretty clear, no more seeds are floating to the top, we have the best of the best!
Strain the water out and then dump the seeds onto a paper towel or other cloth for drying. Try to arrange them in a single layer so they all dry together and none retain moisture between two seeds.
Let the cucumber seeds air dry, but not in direct sunlight. You want to keep them in a cool, dry area, but not somewhere sunny. This process can take a day or two… up to three.
Store your dry cucumber seeds!
Once fully dried out, store your cucumber seeds in a cool, dry place. I keep my seeds in envelopes in a bin that’s out of the light and in a cool area of our home.
Next planing season, these seeds should do great and give you the cucumbers you loved enough to want again!
Harvesting and saving cucumber seeds is awesome!
