How to Preserve Cantaloupe Seeds

One of the real treats of the summer is the ripening of melons. Whether watermelons, honeydew melons or cantaloupe melons, all are greeted with smiles and hungry mouths. Sometimes there is a crop that is so tasty and so succulent that you wish that you could grow this strain of melon every year. All you need to do is preserve some of the seeds of these melons for the next planting season. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

1. Pick the fruit at the peek of ripeness. The seeds inside the melon will have matured by this time and can be harvested as you enjoy the outer fruit.

2. Cut the melon with a sharp knife and carefully scoop out the inner seed lining and save them for processing the seeds.

3. Place the seedy pulp into a bowl and remove as much of the pulp as possible by hand. Discard the pulp and add warm water to the bowl. You can then skim the surface of the water to remove seeds that will not produce plants, as they will be floating on the top.

4. Rinse the rest of the seeds once more to remove any remaining sugar and pulp and place on a screen to dry. Allow these seeds to dry for about 3 days.

5. Place the seeds in a bag and mark with type of seeds they are and when they were harvested. Place the bag in the freezer until next season.

Resources

• Cucumis Seed Production
• Pumpkin seeds