Saving lettuce seed
The easiest seed in this catalogue. Self-pollinating, annual, and a single plant produces more seed than you will use in a decade.
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Pollination
- Self-pollinating
- Isolation
- 3–6 m
- Seed life
- 3–4 years
- Yield
- 1 plant gives 1,000+ seed
Lettuce is where everyone should start. It is self-pollinating, so isolation is a formality. It is annual, so there is no overwintering. And a single mature plant throws a metre-high spike carrying a thousand or more seed, which means one plant is genuinely enough for years.
The only part that needs care is timing. Lettuce seed does not wait for you — the heads shatter over about a fortnight and the seed blows away on its own schedule, not yours.
The protocol
- 1
Let one plant bolt
Stop harvesting from one plant entirely. It will send up a central stem, branch, and produce small yellow flowers. This takes two to three weeks from the decision to the first flowers.
- 2
Watch the seed heads
After flowering, each head develops a dandelion-like pappus — a fluffy parachute. The seed is ripe when the fluff begins to show and the head starts to open.
- 3
Bag before they shatter
This is the step people skip. Tie a paper bag or a fine mesh bag over the head while it is still tight, then check daily. When the head has opened inside the bag, cut the whole stem and shake the seed into the bag.
- 4
Dry and clean
Spread the seed on paper in a dry room for a week. Rub gently to separate the seed from the fluff, then winnow by pouring between two bowls in a light breeze.
- 5
Test and store
Ten seeds on damp paper in a warm place for seven to ten days. Seven or more germinating means the lot is good. Store in a sealed jar with silica in the fridge.
What goes wrong
Shattering. The single biggest loss. If you wait until the head looks obviously ready, half the seed is already on the floor. Bag early.
Bolting too late in the season. Lettuce that bolts in October may not have time to ripen seed before the light and warmth go. Start the seed-saver plant in spring.
Not actually self-pollinating. Lettuce almost always is, but insects do occasionally cross it. If you are growing several varieties and want absolute purity, keep them 6 m apart.
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.