Saving aubergine seed
Same method as tomato — ferment the gel off — but the fruit has to stay on the plant well past eating ripeness, which tests your patience.
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Pollination
- Self-pollinating, but insects cross
- Isolation
- 30–50 m
- Seed life
- 4–6 years
- Yield
- 1 fruit gives 200–500 seed
Aubergine seed is embedded in flesh rather than gel, but it still benefits from a short fermentation and the fruit must be genuinely mature. A glossy eating aubergine is nowhere near ready.
They are self-pollinating but insects cross them readily, so isolation of 30–50 m is worth observing if you grow more than one variety.
The protocol
- 1
Leave a fruit to over-ripen
Until the skin is dull, hard, and beginning to turn yellow or brown. It will look unappetising — that is correct.
- 2
Cut and scoop
Cut in half, scoop the seed and flesh into a jar with a little water.
- 3
Ferment two to three days
Until the pulp floats and the seed sinks.
- 4
Rinse, dry, store
Sieve, rinse, dry on paper for a week, then a sealed jar in the fridge.
What goes wrong
Harvesting at eating stage. Glossy and firm means immature seed.
Impatience. An aubergine may need six weeks past eating ripeness to mature its seed.
Crossing with other aubergines. Same species, same problem. Bag the flowers if you are growing several.
Saved seed from this crop?
Germination rates, what came true and what crossed — post it and let other growers learn from it.
All 14 protocols
Annual, biennial and vegetative crops all save differently. The index compares them side by side.