Hardcover
408 pages
8 x 10 inches
This is the ultimate guide for seed growing on a more serious scale. If you're a home gardener, homesteader, or farmer who wants to make seed growing a major part of your food sovereignty, subsistence, or income, this is the book for you. Out of the three books we offer on seed saving: Seed to Seed, The Seed Garden, and The Organic Seed Grower, this is the most in-depth and comprehensive, geared towards seed production crops beyond home-scale use.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Organic Seed Grower is a comprehensive manual for the serious vegetable grower who is interested in growing high-quality seeds using organic farming practices. It is written for both home seed savers and diversified small-scale farmers who want to learn the necessary steps involved in successfully producing a seed crop organically.
Detailed profiles for each of the major vegetables provide users with practical, in-depth knowledge about growing, harvesting, and processing seed for a wide range of common and specialty vegetable crops, from Asian greens to zucchini.
In addition, readers will find extensive and critical information on topics including:
• Seed-borne diseases
• The reproductive biology of crop plants
• Annual vs. biennial seed crops
• Isolation distances needed to ensure varietal purity
• Maintaining adequate population size for genetic integrity
• Seed crop climates
• Seed cleaning basics
• Seed storage for farmers
This book can serve as a bridge to lead skilled gardeners, who are already saving their own seed, into the idea of growing seed commercially. And for diversified vegetable farmers who are growing a seed crop for sale for the first time, it will provide details on many of the tricks of the trade that are used by professional seed growers. This manual will help the budding seed farmer to become more knowledgeable, efficient, and effective in producing a commercially viable seed crop.
Written by well-known plant breeder and organic seed expert John Navazio, The Organic Seed Grower is the most useful guide to best practices in this exciting and important field.