Sage seed production

Common sage (Salvia officinalis) is a crop I have worked with from the seed-production side: I followed a ten-hectare certified organic sage field all the way from flowering to a tested, export-quality seed lot. Medicinal-plant seed is a trade of its own within herb growing, and it asks entirely different questions than growing for the herbal drug.

The stand did not start from named-variety propagating material. In a medicinal plant that is not a shortcoming: a genetically diverse, farm-propagated population copes with extreme years more flexibly than a variety with a narrow genetic base – and in organic farming that adaptability is one of the most important reserves. In exchange the lot is not uniform, and that has to be handled openly towards the buyer.

The look of the field can mislead anyone searching it for a weed-free stand: there are weeds among the sage. In organic farming, however, the goal is not a weed-free field but the greatest possible plant cover. The task is twofold: to support the crop’s own weed-suppressing ability, and to keep out the few weeds that really matter – dangerous and invasive species, and those that damage the purity and quality of the medicinal-plant lot at harvest. With seed, the latter is the bottleneck.

I work the same way in rosehip and oregano growing too.

If you are thinking about medicinal-plant seed production, this is something I can help with: take a look at my advisory service.

If you have any thoughts on the subject, feel free to get in touch with me.