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S.O.S.

Save Our Seeds!

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What seeds do we eat?

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If we want to grow plants, where do we get our seeds?

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Store-bought Seeds

Saved Seeds

Ask students: if we want to grow plants, where do we get our seeds?

Answer 1 - Buying seeds (***click for animation): In modern times, we can buy almost any kind of seed we want from nurseries, grocery stores, and online.
Answer 2 - Saving seeds from the garden (***click for animation): Thousands of years ago, farmers couldn’t just go to the nursery and buy a packet of new seeds when they ran out. Instead, they let their plants grow to full maturity until blossoms formed (***click twice for animation). Once the flowers were fertilized with pollen, seeds formed and farmers harvested them. Because of this, it was crucial to keep their crops alive so that they would have seed to plant year after year.

This is process known as seed saving
**If anyone answers “saving seeds from vegetables,” emphasize that we’re going to talk about how to save seeds from home grown vegetables, because saving seeds from store-bought vegetables only works if they’re heirloom (which they often aren’t)

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The 3 Types of Seeds

Heirloom
Hybrid
Genetically Modified (GM) Seeds

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Heirloom Seeds

Saved for many generations
Well adapted to their environment
Cultural importance

Hopi Turquoise Corn

Various types of heirloom tomatoes

Even more valuable than me!

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Seed Libraries

For heirloom seeds
SLOLA next to Venice High School

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Hybrid Seeds

when humans cross two different varieties of the same species.

plum

apricot

pluot

broccolini

tangelo

romanesco

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The Best of Both Worlds

orange

smaller leaves

big root

Parent A (small orange)

Parent B (big yellow)

Hybrid Plant

The goal is to get a baby plant that has the best qualities of its two parents. On this slide, the hybrid baby plant has Parent A’s smaller leaves and orange color, and Parent B’s bigger root size (like when a child gets their mom’s eye color and their dad’s nose)

This is done by plant breeders using controlled pollination.

Tell students to recall their Seed Cycle lesson and ask the class: How does pollination occur? What happens?

Answer: Pollen (from the same or a different plant) fertilizes the ovary inside a flower. Seeds will develop after this.

Farmers control pollination by physically moving pollen from a specific plant (Parent A) to another (Parent B).

Ask the class: What might be a good quality in a parent plant?

Answer: high yields, disease resistance, tasty fruit, bigger fruit, etc.

Optional/Extra Credit: Tell students to recall their Mendelian genetics lesson: Would a hybrid be a heterozygote or a homozygote?

Answer: heterozygote

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Create Your Own Hybrid!

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Genetically Modified (GM) Seeds

Engineered by humans
DNA from two different species
Doesn’t occur in nature

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Parent 1/Species 1

Parent 2/Species 2

GM Corn seeds

GM Corn W/ Herbicide Resistance

Herbicide Resistance

Corny-ness

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+

More GM examples:

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PROS

CONS

Higher yields
Fewer chemicals (sometimes)
Not harmful to humans (so far)

Unknown health consequences
GM seeds “infect” non-GM seeds
Farmers using GM seeds might outcompete heirloom farmers

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How are hybrid, heirloom, and GM seeds different from each other?

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Heirlooms:

GM Seeds:

Hybrids:

Combinations of two different plant varieties

Combinations of two different species

One pure variety passed down many generations

All-Natural

Manmade

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Time to Review!

Get in pairs and work on your handouts

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How to Save Seeds

Heirlooms only!

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Today’s Garden Activity:

A Seed Scavenger Hunt!

Go on a “seed scavenger hunt”! Tell students to find a vegetable that has gone to seed and explain how they identified it.

Possible answer: it is very tall and flowers and/or seed pods have formed

Set up three stations: one for fruiting crops, one for leafy greens or root crops, and one for beans and peas

Demonstrate how to gather seeds from the plant (see below), then bring the seeds to the classroom to dry out on newspaper or a paper plate for a few days. Distribute to students to take home in small manila envelopes.

Fruiting crops (ex: tomatoes, apples, squash, cucumber…):

Pick the fruit and pick out the seeds. Allow them to dry a few days, as above.

Root or leafy vegetables and herbs:

When the plant is fully mature, a tall shoot will grow and flowers will form, followed by small seed pods. Once brown and dry, pick and break open the pod and collect the seeds inside.

Beans and peas:

Let the pods dry up on the plant then pop out the bean or peas (the seeds)
Allow the seeds to dry at room temperature until completely hard.

Make sure to demonstrate with heirloom, not hybrid, crops. Saved seeds should be kept in a cool, very dry spot away from the sun.
If anyone asks, seeds need to be completely dried because unless you plan to plant them right away, they will easily get moldy if there is any moisture and won’t be able to grow.

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Steps for Seed Saving

Fruiting Crops

Beans and Peas

Root Veggies, Leafy Greens, Herbs

Let the pods dry on plant then pop out the bean or peas (the seeds)
Dry seeds until hard.

Pick out seeds out and dry.

A tall shoot with flowers, then small seed pods.
Once brown/dry, pick pods, break open, and collect the seeds.

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Snack Time!

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Snack Time!

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Snack Time!

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Please keep this slide for attribution

Created By: Grace Danon

UCLA Intern

Spring 2021

Supervisor: Paula Sirola

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo,

including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik