How to extract seeds from berries

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How to extract seeds from berries

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Tuesday, 14 May 2019 at 3:00 pm

Plenty of trees and shrubs can be grown from seed extracted from berries. We show you how.

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It's easy to extract and sow seed from fruits and berries you've collected, and it's also free. Plants grown from seed aren't always exactly like the parent plant, unlike those grown from cuttings, so look forward to results that could be new, different, and sometimes better.

You Will Need

Secateurs
Kitchen towel
9cm pots
Loam-based compost
Horticultural grit
Sieve

Step 1

Removing berries from a plant

Choose a healthy plant, such as sorbus, holly, cotoneaster or rowan, and check the berries are ripe by squeezing them. Remove a generous bunch with secateurs.

Step 2

Squashing the seed out of the berry

Squash the berries onto a sheet of kitchen towel and clean away the skin and flesh to expose the bare seeds. Alternatively, clean away the flesh by running them under the cold tap in a sieve.

Step 3

Sowing seed on gritty, loam-based compost

Mix loam-based compost with horticultural grit to make a gritty compost. Use this to fill a 9cm pot and sow the seeds evenly across the surface.

Step 4

Sprinkling compost over the seeds

Sprinkle a layer of compost over the seeds, water, then stand the pot in a cold frame or sheltered place in the garden. Keep it watered and protect it from birds.

Allow seedlings to develop a few true leaves before pricking them out into separate pots and growing on.

Seedlings. Photo: Getty Images.

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