Storing seed long term

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Alaskajohn

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My wife typically manages the seeds, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to ordered $200 plus in heirloom seeds for our zone. My wife typically stores her seeds in the cellar and she sometimes has leftover seeds that do well the following year.

Any thoughts on the best way to store these seeds for long term? I understand that you can freeze them and they can be good for up to a decade. This would be ideal.

Thoughts?
 
I keep mine in a cool place. I mylar bagged a bunch of heirloom seeds a number of years ago. Don't know if that helped or not. But it kept them in a dark place. I have a large tote full of seeds, I use gallon ziplocks to store each type. Some are getting old, some or not. Still worth a shot. I bought about 40 pkgs of new seeds this year.
 
Some people store their seeds in a freezer. (I don't, but rather, I store mine in a consistently cool, dark, and dry location.) I have read that if there is enough latent moisture in the seed, the freezing can cause internal damage in some of the seeds which may (or may not) be enough to affect germination rates.

I am on the fence about that because it sounds to me like it is a delicate dance between the moisture content in relation to potential freezing damage of certain types of seeds. Some seeds freeze very well, regardless of moisture content. But some are a little more delicate and so the moisture content may play a factor in the freezer.



I highly recommend this book:

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition by Suzanne Ashworth

 
I keep my seeds in a bin, either in little baggies or in their original envelopes (depending on if I bought them or collected them from our garden). This bin has been upstairs where it's hot and downstairs where it's cool (55-65 deg F). I'm AWFUL with my seeds. Inconsistent temperatures, forgetfulness, etc.

We hadn't had a garden since 2016, but this past summer wanted to grow as much as possible. Most seeds were from 2012 to 2016, and I expected there would be problems germinating such older, poorly kept seeds. So I planted everything (indoor starts), just hoping some of it would germinate. And darn near everything grew. No germination problems whatsoever. Instead of having too few plants to work with, I had too many. Carrots, lettuce, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peas, beans, herbs, sunflowers - even field corn. The only things I needed new were sweet corn and potatoes.

So in my experience, seeds can be fairly forgiving. I wouldn't suggest banking on that, but it does take some pressure off in my mind. I'm thinking from here on out, if I keep seeds consistently cool in the basement (preferably in air-tight jars with those little anti-moisture thingies?), I should stand a pretty good chance of being able to keep them viable for quite a few years.
 
@ThePrincess. has implied that we focus on our current goals and not be distracted by what we want....

So assuming I don't spend time in the garden collecting seeds, I have to rely on my cache of seeds.

I keep all of mine in the individual paper seed packets they were purchased in or packaged when collected. Those are stored in in Ziploc bags which are stored in a non-frost-free freezer.


Frost free cycles the temp up to melt condensation but teases the seeds. They can be tricked into germination with the temp change. Not good.

I will report how my seeds perform good or bad if I am allowed by priiorties and @ThePrincess ..

Ben
 
@Neb, I had the same priorities with my husband. ;) With a big garden we weren't getting any of our projects done in the summer. So I put my foot down, we needed to take care of our priorities. And we didn't have a garden 2017-1019. You'd think we would have taken care of a lot of priorities in those years.... lol. Nope. :oops:
 
I think it would depend on where the seeds are native to. If they come from an area that freezes it freezing would be a natural occurrence. If its from the south then maybe freezing isn't a good idea.
 
@Neb, I had the same priorities with my husband. ;) With a big garden we weren't getting any of our projects done in the summer. So I put my foot down, we needed to take care of our priorities. And we didn't have a garden 2017-1019. You'd think we would have taken care of a lot of priorities in those years.... lol. Nope. :oops:
We are near the cusp of remodeling and associated tasks and gardening,orchard and forestry projects.

Keeping at it..

Ben
 
Anyone know the shelf life of Lupini or any special instructions for planting?
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My wife typically manages the seeds, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to ordered $200 plus in heirloom seeds for our zone. My wife typically stores her seeds in the cellar and she sometimes has leftover seeds that do well the following year.

Any thoughts on the best way to store these seeds for long term? I understand that you can freeze them and they can be good for up to a decade. This would be ideal.

Thoughts?

We freeze ours. I used some a couple years ago we had frozen 4 years.
 
We freeze ours. I used some a couple years ago we had frozen 4 years.

I think our plan has evolved since my OP. We will plant them this year and see how they produce, then order more and freeze them if they produce.
 
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