PS I saw response on other posts about cucs but I am curious about the breakdown of saving seeds vs just taste.

For taste - corn is the only one commonly listed. You can eliminate most things simply by understanding which are self-fertile/self-pollinating (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans and peas, etc.) from which are dependent on manual or insect vector pollination.

http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops-that-do-not-need-pollinators

For seed saving it is much more complex because the goal is keeping purity of the strain so eliminating all risk of even chance crossing.

The search here pulls up many past discussions about this.

Dave

Anything in the same species can cross pollinate. Some things are classified as "self pollinating" and have a very low risk of crossing but the possibility is still there.

Rodney

There are some beans that never open for cross pollination. Other than that, without more direct questions, it's too big of an issue to answer with specifics.

Forgot to add. If it is Seed Saving you are interested in there is an entire forum here devoted to that topic and it is full on FAQs on how-tos for various veggies and flowers. There are also FAQs on how to prevent cross pollination.

Dave

I'd just like to point out that you don't have to avoid crossing between varieties if you don't want to go to all that work - I save my seeds with an eye toward what grows best in my garden and what I think tastes best. Cucurbits you have to look out for b/c the bees share their pollen so freely and you've got different veggies in the same species, and I've heard that carrots can go native, as it were, if you've got a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot) growing around, but other than that, if you're not super chuffed about making sure you definitely have, say, a Brandywine tomato, don't worry about it - with very few exceptions, the seed will still make tomatoes.

That said, if you grow any F1s, things can get a lot more uncertain quick-like. You've got to decide what your goal is in saving seed, really.

I saved a bunch of seeds a few years ago. Different tomatoes varieties can cross and you won't know it until you get fruit on the following years plants. Peppers, eggplants etc are all the same way. Squash and melons ( and corn) can cross in the same year (don't plant yellow squash next to zucchini or you may get striped squash). Pick some heirlooms and separate the varieties by a lot of distance and you can save the seeds. Tomatoes, peppers, etc you need to "ferment" the seed. I found, as a beginner, that the saved seeds did not produce as vigorous plants as the seeds I bought. It is a noble goal, and some year I'll try again. I'm still using up my saved seeds this year (I plant the squash as Chicken food).

Beans, peas, tomatoes, and lettuce are good plants for beginners to save seed from since they usually self pollinate and complete their life cycle in a single season.

Seed Savers Exchange has some helpful info you may like to read. Their seed saving chart summarizes a lot of info on a few pages.

Chart: http://www.seedsavers.org/seed-saving-chart

Cross pollinated squash won't make different fruit in the same year - you'll still get squash. There's just no real telling what you'll get out of the seed. Look at it this way - the fruit a plant produces is like a woman's pregnancy. The plants that come from the fruit's seed are like the children. Pregnancy doesn't look all that different from woman to woman, and for the most part, the man's genes don't affect the actual appearance of the pregnancy. The children, on the other hand, get half their genes from the father (or male flower, in this case,) and so will display traits from both "parents." Squash is no exception to this rule - corn is an exception, because of the way it's pollinated and the way the seed forms.

And squash won't cross with melons - they're different species. There are too many different squash family plants to keep track of them all (unless you get really serious about it, I suppose,) but this is a website I go back to all the time for saving seed, and it's a great resource:

http://howtosaveseeds.com/seedsavingdetails.php#squashfamily

Same common myth with peppers also. Plenty of sources say that if your hot peppers are close to your sweet or bell peppers they cross pollinate and can make your bell peppers spicy. Also not true. It's true the saved replanted seeds could become hot but otherwise no. I plant the bell peppers, mini yummy sweet peppers, poblanos, jalapeños, banana and anaheims all together in the same section. Never an issue

"No offense but that statement isn't true."

It's true about corn, just not about squash and melons.

You are right. I was referring to the part about striped squash and zucchini. Sorry I should have been more clear. Thanks for the correction.

Dave

Although you still won't get striped corn, most likely. :-P

If you plant a white and a yellow, you will get a bi-color. I use to plant Silver Queen and Golden Queen interchanged to get Bi-Queen. The only time crossing becomes a real problem is when a super sweet (Sh2) is crossed with an Su or Se. The Sh2 takes on the texture of rubber. That is why isolation is required for this type.

@farmerdill, I don't really like super sweet corn, but that's good info right there. Thanks, it'll be useful if I ever decide to grow some.