Learn how to save acorn squash seeds so you can plant them next year and grow your own squash. This step-by-step guide covers harvesting, drying, and storing seeds to ensure healthy germination for next season’s garden.
How to save seeds from acorn squash
Now that you've grown acorn squash in your garden, harvested the squash and preserved it, you can save the seeds to plant next year in your garden. (If you're looking for recipes to use up all that squash from your garden, check out How to use all that winter squash.)
You'll want to save seeds from heirloom squash, not hybrid varieties which won't grow true to the parent squash.
Check your seed packet to see which type you are growing, or check the plastic tag that came with the squash seedlings you bought.
If you purchase squash from a farmers market, ask the seller what variety he or she grows and if it's an heirloom or hybrid type.
Beware of cross-pollination
When the pollen of one plant is transferred to a flower of another variety of plant, it can cause problems for vegetable gardeners who want to save seeds to grow the following year. This is called cross-pollination.
Squash are easily cross-pollinated by other varieties of squash. Winter squash such as acorn squash, summer squash like zucchini, and pumpkins (another variety of winter squash) can all cross-pollinate with each other.
This won't affect the squash that you eat, they will look and taste perfectly normal, but it will affect the seeds if you want to grow them next year. Next year's squash may be misshapen and might taste a little strange, like a cross between pumpkin and zucchini!
There are ways to discourage cross-pollination. One of the easiest is planting varieties of squash several weeks apart. One variety should have finished blooming by the time the next type begins to bloom.
Preparing the seeds
To process the seeds for planting next year, remove the seeds from the squash and wash them, removing the pulp and strings. Using a serrated grapefruit spoon makes this a little easier.
Lay the seeds in a single layer on a screen or a paper towel and allow them to dry completely in a dry place out of direct sunlight. Allow a week or so for them to dry.
I've found that the seeds are pretty well stuck to that paper towel when they're dry, so I'm now using a window screen instead.
Remove the seeds from the screen when they're dry and store them in an envelope labeled with the variety of seed and the date. Store in a cool, dry place.
Acorn squash seeds can be viable for up to six years.
As seeds get older, they can lose their viability, or their ability to germinate. Here's how to check the germination rate of your seeds.
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