A Seed Saver's Garden

[Zeedman]

The best way to store seeds is with less oxygen getting to the seed. Colder and dryer the storage environorment the better. Oxygen oxidizes not only the seed coats and continues to darken them with time, but oxygen also oxidizes the amino acids in the seed that is reponsible for getting the embryo plant inside the seed to come out of it's dormancy when the temperature is high enough and the seed has taken in enough water. The oxidization of these amino acids is why old seed when old enough and enough of the amino acids have oxidized the seed no longer comes to life. Look at what they do at the World Seed Bank in Svalbard. They put seeds in special laminated seed packets so they won't absorb any moisture with all the air vacuumed out of the packets. Storage temperatures are what -18 C or
-.4 F. The thing about keeping seed cold and dry is the viablility will be lengthened the more even the temperature is maintained. At Svalbard the sourrounding mountain will keep tempertures very even. They figure that seed stored there will remain viable for 500 years. I'm not going to live 500 years but I'll settle on my freezers. I have already acquired bean seed that was stored in a freezer for 17 years and my germination when planting was 100%. The best freezers to store seed is one that is not frost free. The walls keep warming up to eliminate frost build up and I have been told that will affect the seed stored in a frost free freezer. So in a nutshell. For long seed viability. Colder, dryer and the less oxygen the better. You know those silica gel tabs that absorb moisture. Well there also exists little tabs like that you can place inside little ziplocs and they will absorb the oxygen that is in any air inside your baggie.

Then with your seed frozen you want to get at it sometime to grow. Allow frozen seed to warm naturally to the out of freezer enviornment. You don't just want to open a container of frozen seed until it has equalized with the tempearture in your room. It harms viability when suddenly exposing frozen seed to the air.

I agree that after moisture & temperature, low oxygen is the next most important factor in long term seed storage. I've utilized that philosophy by storing seed in zippered freezer bags, and rolling them tightly to expel as much air as possible before closing. Provided that the seed has been dried to a low moisture content, this will extend seed life beyond the often-posted limits - even stored at room temperature. My original reference for this was a Spanish study which I can no longer locate, but the reference below (while dated) has similar information, and is still useful for serious seed savers:
Priciples and Practices of Seed Storage

Many years ago, I acquired a large can of commercial seed, for water spinach. I didn't open that can for 5-6 years, until I had used up the seed I already had. When I finally opened that can, germination was very high. The label on the can said that the seeds were packed in nitrogen, so obviously the lack of oxygen had not harmed them. This was one kilo of seed, so I divided it into 3 jars; one that I am currently using, one in the refrigerator, and one in the freezer... that seed should last as long as I am able to garden.

 

[Zeedman]

Then with your seed frozen you want to get at it sometime to grow. Allow frozen seed to warm naturally to the out of freezer enviornment. You don't just want to open a container of frozen seed until it has equalized with the tempearture in your room. It harms viability when suddenly exposing frozen seed to the air.

To @Bluejay77 's excellent advice, I would only add that if the frozen seed will be removed often (say, for seed exchanges) it would be helpful to divide the seeds into smaller zippered plastic bags, within a larger container. That way a single packet can be quickly removed, without thawing - and potentially harming - the whole container.

@Bluejay77 I have a freezer in my basement right now that is not being used, but it's not a chest freezer it's a upright fridge type. I'm afraid to use it because I don't know if it will harm the seeds. It's old I know that, we bought it used and we've had it for about 7 or 8 years. I know I won't get my beans to live as long in jars as they would in a proper freezer but I'm afraid my freezer might wreck my seeds. Maybe I should go visit a shoe store and see if they have any of those shoe box packets that they are throwing away. People tell me they throw thousands of those packets away.

While a frost-free freezer is not ideal, any freezer will improve seed storage life. That the freezer is not being currently used is a good thing, since there are no moisture sources present (such as food) and air-tight sealing of containers would not be as critical. It would be easy to control the humidity within the freezer by using desiccant. The color-changing type is best, since you would know when the desiccant has become saturated with moisture... and some desiccant can be recharged in the microwave.

 

[heirloomgal]

no, i meant for keeping track of the lids. so when they are clean and dry to put the lid on only lightly so it can still breathe a bit. for storing beans i only open them when i use them, but i'm sure it is not a completely air tight seal, but it is better than open containers.

i've never put my seed selection beans in the freezer or even in the fridge to store them, same for peas. i do have some that will not sprout and grow but i think many of them are just not viable seeds to begin with as i do have a lot of malformed beans at times and it is a fact that certain crosses will not be viable. i don't know what the oldest bean i've grown recently but they are all kept dry and in somewhat sealed containers but they are not air-tight. we do have the AC for the summer so they do not get cooked in high-humidity here for those summer months. cool storage in a basement in sealed jars that might get a little air in some slight gaps is probably ok enough. if you haven't had a problem getting the well formed beans to sprout then i think you're doing ok.

when i planted this past spring i think there were only a few beans that didn't sprout and i was questionable about them to begin with so it was no surprise.

some year i do hope to get a good reliable seed saving quality freezer but that will only happen after i have space for it. i don't right now.

the oldest bean seeds i'd have would be about 10-12yrs old. i had to edit this to say that i might have some others that other people have given to me that are older but i don't recall which ones they are or how old they might be.

Oh, oh, on the empty jars! Okay, that makes more sense now!

 

[heirloomgal]

i don't think they're very useful by the stage you'd get them.

What happens to the packets to make them no longer work?

 

[heirloomgal]

My cool/dry basement seems to be a great place to store seeds. I have had viability there. I think what we should avoid is leaving paper packages of seeds out. They Should be put in ziplock bags to keep out Any humidity.
IMHO I like to do everything I can gardening-wise without using any electricity, but that's just ME.
I LOVE reading about everyone's success stories here!!
This week I saved cinnamon basil seeds. I had a purchased plant in a pot at DD's house. The plant had died last month from the frost and had been drying out. I pulled off the spent flowers/seed pods into a metal bowl, then sifted them with a metal colander. The seeds are tiny and I am satisfied that I have over 50 seeds from next year, repackaged and labeled, "for 2022," just like seed packages that you buy.
I didn't realize how instrumental the Shakers were in seed saving.

We can thank the Shaker religious community for seed packets | HeraldNet.com

Their innovation led to seed tape, whose turn-of-the-century packaging is coveted today.

www.heraldnet.com

Thank you for that @ducks4you , neat article! The Shakers really do have a wonderful history in the way they regarded seeds, and probably do to this day. I'd like to read more about them someday and their perspective on hybrids, and the various varieties of seeds they saved.

 

[flowerbug]

What happens to the packets to make them no longer work?

they've soaked up the moisture or oxygen and they can only soak up so much before they won't take in any more.

 

[ducks4you]

Not to be Pharlap aGAIN, but we should all be trying to save our seeds as much as possible and I encourage anybody who is lurking this thread to get your 2022 seeds NOW before you cannot find them.
Don't Count on the box stores. I almost fell over when I went to Menard's first week in August to be told that they threw away ALL of the seeds that hadn't sold. Their display was at least 12 ft wide and 4 ft tall. You could have fed a small town from that produce and it was trashed.
Box stores have NO compulsion to help you grow things, just sell you what the population says that wanna buy.
In early 2021 seed companies had sold out of stock. Even if you look NOW, you will discover some varieties that were saved THIS year for 2022 are out of stock and won't be restocked.
Just a warning...else Ducks will be saying: "I told you so!"

 

[Marie2020]

I've met a few people who give their dogs raw food @Marie2020 , particularly those with senior dogs. I met a lady with an old doggie and she told me when she switched him from the grain stuff to raw he really perked up. She felt it had added a few years to his life. I don't do raw with my dog, he won't eat it, but I give him cooked turkey and salmon all the time. He seems to be doing very well with it. You do gotta watch with raw though, my vet told me one of her dogs (her client's dog) died from an antibiotic resistance pathogen that was in raw meat. They couldn't save him.

Mine has a raw quality dog food I add almost hot water to. Plus he has fruits and vegetables. When I have meat or chicken he has that as well. in addition he has a raw egg once a week.

I'm pleased to say he's doing pretty well and insists on his daily walks

 

[Marie2020]

Love, love, love lentil shepherds pie!

Never tried it myself. Would love a recipe

 

[Marie2020]

Not to be Pharlap aGAIN, but we should all be trying to save our seeds as much as possible and I encourage anybody who is lurking this thread to get your 2022 seeds NOW before you cannot find them.
Don't Count on the box stores. I almost fell over when I went to Menard's first week in August to be told that they threw away ALL of the seeds that hadn't sold. Their display was at least 12 ft wide and 4 ft tall. You could have fed a small town from that produce and it was trashed.
Box stores have NO compulsion to help you grow things, just sell you what the population says that wanna buy.
In early 2021 seed companies had sold out of stock. Even if you look NOW, you will discover some varieties that were saved THIS year for 2022 are out of stock and won't be restocked.
Just a warning...else Ducks will be saying: "I told you so!"

What a waste that's just so selfish. There are people in need of food everywhere.

This company should be really ashamed