Many plants are very easy to propagate from seeds, for example Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) and Bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis). Others are easy to propagate from plant leaves, such as Saintpaulias. Some plants need to be grafted, making a clone, in order to preserve their species characteristics such as apple trees. Some plants are reproduced by tubers or small seed bulbs, such as garlic.
Growing seed savers: Plant life cycle, systematics, flowering and pollination (ppt) Recording 4 min.
Growing seed savers: Plant propagation (ppt) Recording 7 min.
Growing seed savers: Diseases spread by seeds (ppt) Recording 10 min.
SSEHeritageFarm: Webinar: Seed Saving for Beginners, 29 min.
SSEHeritageFarm: Webinar: Saving Seeds from Flowers, 18 min.
SSEHeritageFarm: Webinar: Saving Seeds from Legumes, 5 min.
SSEHeritageFarm: Webinar: Seed Storage, 14:57 min.
Guide to Seed Saving (pdf)
Plant documentation form (doc)
Example 1: Nõmmetädi bean (doc)
Example 2: Gerda broad bean (doc)
Example 3: Vändra wax bean (doc)
Making a seed envelope (guidelines)
Maatiainen ry. - the Finnish seed saver organisation. Check that the trait is old.
If you are interested in some special plants, then you can ask for seeds in some seed saver Facebook group. The Finnish group in Facebook Maatiainen ry. group for example old indoor house plants are not often sold in shops, you get them ony by making an exchange with somebody. Finnish Seed Saver organisation Maatiainen ry. arranges plant exchange each spring in Helsinki.
If you want to grow in a greenhouse or try to make a plant adapting to Finnish climate then you can also order seeds from other seed saver organisations for example Seed Saver -järjestön kautta. It is not guaranteed that their seeds will be successful with us, so it is good to order seeds through Maatiainen ry's website as well, just to be sure.
Danish Frøsamlerne seed saver organisation sells only seeds for own memebers.
Swedish Föreningen Sesam seed saver organisation sells only at fairs, but usually also only for own members. If you join as a member you get seeds from them but you have also to produce seeds for them and send them back.
Estonian seed saver organisation MTÜ Maadjas do not have own seeds but their members exchange seeds with each other.
An old local garden shop may also sell old landraces and old varieties, be in contact with them.
The following organisations may also sell Finnish heritage plant seeds:
Eddible plants - Hyötykasviyhdistyksen organisation's seeds are not all landraces, but you may find some in their sortiment.
Suomen niittysiemen company do sell seeds, but most are of foreign origin.
If you are interested in Finnish landrace grains then contact annika.michelson@hamk.fi
You may collect seeds, use them and share them with your friends. You can also collect seeds and send them to Finnish seed saver organisation Maatiainen ry. Read seed saver collecting guidelines.
Finnish or finnished old cultivars of useful crops that have been in cultivation for a long time, several decades (at least 40–50 years) are being mapped. Cultivation strains can be farm varieties or commercial varieties bred at least 40–50 years ago.
We are looking for old strains of the following crops:
cereals (autumn rye, spring rye, midsummer rye, midsummer rye, double barley, multi-faceted barley, oats, winter wheat, spring wheat) farm varieties and commercial varieties bred more than 40 years ago
old potato stocks
old lawn plant strains (such as white clover, red clover, timothy, sedge)
old legume stocks (cow bean, field and garden pea)
old buckwheat, flax, hop stocks
old beet rootstocks (such as turnips, turnips)
old onion stocks (such as spring onion, yellow onion)
old strains of spices and herbs
Luonnonvarakeskus (Luke) maps Finnish (and Finnish) old agricultural and horticultural useful plants and their agricultural strains. Old useful plants and their old cultivars are a valuable Finnish cultural heritage that is in danger of disappearing. Luke is responsible for promoting the maintenance of these national plant genetic resources. Information or an estimate of the long cultivation history of the plant stock (in the museum or elsewhere) is sufficient to answer the survey. Researched information about the origin of the strain is not required. If you suspect that you have an old plant stock in your possession, contact us and we will find out together.
Inform: Report a plant (in Finnish only) With this form you can tell about an old crop that you know of, which is known to have been cultivated or has grown in place for several decades, preferably already in the 1940s or before.
Biodiversityvideo: 'Seeds for Needs' project in India, 7:41 min.
SSEHeritageFarm: Webinar: Seed Starting, 47:19 min.
Cleaning seeds is a big job. Maatiainen ry. seed saver organisation arranges courses in seed collection and cleaning.
If you create a seed collection for yourself, be sure to mark where the seeds were collected. You can do this using GoogleMaps and you can also attach photos to the map. You can make a seed collection of useful plants or also of wild plants. The end result can also be a decorative arrangement.