Is it a "thing" to grow one plant of each variety each couple of years to "refresh" the seeds or "grow" the seeds reserve?

[Skafidr]

I have some seeds that date back from 2024 (I purchased them for the summer of 2024, so they were probably grown in 2023), and the stock I still have of this variety is very thin as I did not use all the seeds from the bag to start my plants. I made the "mistake" of not bagging the heads and keep some seeds. Now I'm not really interested in growing this particular variety again this year in a large scale as I have other plans, but I'm also not interested in losing this variety "forever" due to stale seeds and be forced to buy the seeds again.

So I'm planning to sew the few seeds I have left and grow one plant out of it, essentially "just" for the seeds (the leaves won't go to waste).

I assume it's an okayish idea, the only "issue" I have with this is that, typically, I'll grow a couple of plant and select "the biggest" to keep the seeds. Now I'm kind of stuck at selecting "the biggest" at the seedling stage.

Am I overthinking this?

Thanks!

 

[deluxestogie]

I would suggest growing at least 4 plants of a single variety, for seed collection. That allows you to avoid saving seed from a conspicuously atypical plant. Another consideration to keep in mind is that well-stored (i.e. very dry) seed should remain viable for at least 10 years.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

I agree 100% with Bob on this. Maybe even upping the plants for seed collection to 5-10 to prevent inbreeding depression (which usually isn't a huge deal with tobacco, unlike other species). Bag them all, keep the seed dry and you have a minimum of at least 10 years. Germination rates will start dropping after 5-6 years but I've still had luck growing seed over 15 years old if the seed is cared for properly. Seed is crucial, lose the seed and you've lost a genetic resource for the future.
Northwood seeds obtained many of the important tobacco varieties from the USDA and grew them commercially before the USDA changed their policies on who was responsible for maintaining their tobacco seed collection and who could receive their seed stocks (now it's for research purposes only - not the general public). Northwood seeds took on a huge task of keeping these seed available to the general public at a very low cost and has done a great service to tobacco growers worldwide. I have to tip my hat to Paul at Northwood seeds for his efforts and the other members of this forum that have kept these valuable seed stocks in circulation for the public to use.
Save those seeds, keep them pure, and share them. It's up to us now.

 

[deluxestogie]

Seed from over 400 tobacco varieties acquired by forum members, and cataloged within the FTT seed bank, were donated to Northwood Seeds.

JAN 2015 FTT Seed Bank Holdings

UPDATE 2019: The FTT Seedbank is CLOSED for distribution. For an outstanding selection of seed, visit Northwood Seeds. This is the current status of the FTT Seed Bank data. There are 565 individual listings, which condense down to 421 unique varieties held. These numbers do not include...

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

I would suggest growing at least 4 plants of a single variety, for seed collection. That allows you to avoid saving seed from a conspicuously atypical plant.

collection to 5-10 to prevent inbreeding depression (which usually isn't a huge deal with tobacco, unlike other species). Bag them all,

So you suggest to plant multiple plants, but do I keep the seeds of all of them or just "the best"? If I keep all the seeds, to I keep them separated (e.g. one seed container per plant), or do I mix them all?

 

[deluxestogie]

A single tobacco seed pod can yield thousands of seeds. All the pods from a single plant can yield up to ¼-million seeds. Given the truly staggering numbers involved (compared to vegetable seed production per plant), I would suggest bagging and saving seed from a single "typical" appearing specimen, then keeping no more than a tablespoon (perhaps just a teaspoon) of that. Make sure that the pods are fully browned prior to harvesting, and fully dried prior to sifting, cleaning (removing all the chaff), and storing. Keep them ultra dry. Consider using a small pack of desiccant within your storage container, and outside the Ziploc bag used to hold the seed. Be sure each Ziploc bag is clearly labeled with variety and year produced.

Studies on tobacco seed storage in India, where refrigeration in rural areas has been historically absent, have shown that fully dry seed can remain viable for up to 40 years.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

So you suggest to plant multiple plants, but do I keep the seeds of all of them or just "the best"? If I keep all the seeds, to I keep them separated (e.g. one seed container per plant), or do I mix them all?

Depends what your goal is. Most home growers tend to select for what is best in their climate. Tobacco is an allotetraploid so it has more going on in it's genetic background than what we see expressed during growing. Most varieties are considered genetically pure after they reach about the F8 generation, but there is still genetic segregation going on behind the scenes - that's why they tend to adapt to different growing situations so well. When we artificially select for what grows best in our area we lose a little bit more of the background segregation with each generation, which can eventually lead to inbreeding depression - probably not an issue for most home growers since they are not likely to be carrying on the line for many generations.

To truly preserve the full genetic background of a variety a person needs a decent sized sample of multiple plants that breed true to varietal standards, which can in turn be crossed to other true breeding lines of the same variety over time - which gets to be beyond the scope of most home growers.

Personally I like to save seed from individual plants rather than mixing them. It gives me the option of either selecting for what does best in my climate or if I feel like a hero and want to help preserve the genetic diversity in a variety I can grow multiple plants out from different seed stocks of the same variety and cross them down the road to keep the full (or a more diverse representation anyway) of the genetic background going for a variety - not that most home growers are going to take the time and effort to do that.

 

[Skafidr]

Okay thank you both for the info.

So I could go full nerdy and grow 5 plants every 10 years and cross-pollinate those, keep a small sample of the seeds in separated bags (and repeat the process every 10 years), and keep a bigger sample of mixed just to grow year after year during the ten years.

Or keep it simple and grow 4, keep the seeds of one "typical" and use this one's seeds for the next ten years then refresh the seeds.

In any case, "refreshing" the seeds every year for the home grower seems like a not-so-good idea if one wants to keep the genetics "pure".

And it leaves me some time to figure out how to properly make sure plants are cross-pollinated in the case I want to go the nerdy way.

 

[deluxestogie]

make sure plants are cross-pollinated

Nicotiana tabacum blossoms seldom open prior to having already self-pollinated themselves (at an estimate of ~92% self-pollination). That is to say, the anthers are already dispersing their pollen to the stigma within their own blossom, prior to blossom opening. If you bag a blossom head before the blossoms open, then it's a guaranteed 100% self-pollination.

Manual pollination is truly tedious. A thread in our Index of Key Forum Threads explores this process in the context of intentional cross-pollination.

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

A thread in our Index of Key Forum Threads explores this process in the context of intentional cross-pollination.

Thanks Bob, much appreciated, I found it here: How to Intentionally Cross Tobacco Varieties