We’ve all seen this in the kitchen. We slice into a fresh tomato or bell pepper and find that some of the seeds inside are sprouting! This can be intriguing, or alarming, or just plain weird depending on our mood, but it always raises an interesting question: why do seeds sprout inside vegetables? Well, we’ve been wondering that ourselves so we wrote a blog to address the matter. Join us as we learn about why and how seeds sprout inside some veggies, how the process of vivipary works, and a few other interesting things. Let’s dig in!
Gardzen Executive Summary:
· Vivipary is the scientific term for seeds sprouting inside fruit that’s still attached to the plant.
· Vivipary can occur in many fruits and grains, including apples, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, corn, oats, wheat, and more!
· The causes of vivipary can vary: an imbalance of plant hormones is the most common factor, but nutritional issues can also result in seeds sprouting while the fruit is still on the plant.
· Fruits and veggies with vivipary are safe to eat, though we may want to remove the sprouts first!
· Vivipary sprouts can be planted and grown like any other seedling, though we may want to make sure we know what varietal they are first.
What is Vivipary?
The scientific term for this phenomenon—seeds sprouting inside the parent fruit—is vivipary. It comes from a Latin phrase meaning “live birth” and like many scientific terms, vivipary can mean different things in different contexts. For fruit-bearing plants, vivipary refers to the germination of seeds inside a fruit that is still attached to the plant. For most plants, this isn’t how germination is supposed to work; the fruit is meant to ripen and then either fall from the plant or be removed by a hungry creature. The seeds are then transplanted elsewhere and new plants take root from the relocated seeds. Vivipary skips a few steps and the seeds start to germinate inside the fruit, leading to some confusing looking garden discoveries and some interesting questions in the kitchen.
More on those in a bit. Let’s first take a look at how it all happens.
How Vivipary Works
How does vivipary work? This is going to involve a bit of science above and beyond our knowledge base, so we’ll be relying on the sources linked here for accurate information. Seed germination in most plants is the result of a series of interactions between two plant hormones: Abscisic acid (ABA), which inhibits growth and seed germination, and Gibberellic acid (GA), which facilitates seed germination and cell elongation. A lack of ABA is generally to blame for vivipary, and it works something like this: ABA levels are linked to the moisture levels in the plant. In wet conditions or as a result of over-watering ABA levels can drop. If they get so low that they can no longer inhibit germination, vivipary can set in.
Vivipary is relatively common in some plants; like we noted in the summary you’ve probably seen it in tomatoes, apples, or peppers of various kinds. It’s also a regular occurrence in some grains including corn, oats, rye, and wheat. We’ve read about vivipary happening in the seed heads of some ornamental and landscaping grasses, but we’ve never seen that for ourselves.
So while overly-wet conditions or over-watering are often to blame for vivipary, there may be other causes. Some research suggests that potassium deficiency or overuse of high nitrogen fertilizers may also cause vivipary. The research is ongoing, and we’ll be interested to see what comes of it.
Now let’s move on to the question that so many of us have.
Are Vegetables with Vivipary Safe to Eat?
The short answer is: yes! Vegetables and fruits displaying vivipary are safe to eat, though you may want to remove the seedlings first. There are various reasons for this: the taste and texture of vegetable seedlings generally isn’t great. These seedlings are bona fide seedlings and they can be planted and grown in your garden—though we should all be cautious and know for sure which varietals we’re growing before we plant them. Finally, for pepper and tomato plants, the leaves are toxic to humans and while it’s unlikely that a mouthful of seedlings will cause much more than stomach upset it’s best to avoid them. However, the short answer remains “yes! Vegetables with vivipary are safe to eat!”
Can Gardeners Prevent Vivipary?
This one doesn’t have a short answer. While there are some steps we can take to help prevent vivipary in our garden veggies, the reality is that vivipary is a natural occurrence and will happen from time to time. The best way to avoid it is to avoid over or under watering, keep nutritional levels in the soil balanced and healthy, and to pick fruit when it’s ripe and avoid leaving it on the vine for too long. The biggest thing we can do, however, is just remember that vivipary is a natural response by the plant to its environment and circumstances. The fruit is still safe to eat, the seedlings can be discarded or planted, and we get to learn a bit more about how plants work. This is all part of the joy of gardening, and knowing a bit about why seeds sprout inside garden veggies just makes the whole thing more interesting!
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