I can't remember if this is in the archives. I recall reading a Geri Guidetti piece (she's the Ark lady) which suggested desiccating seeds for a week (one to one of dessicant weight to seeds), then puting them in baggies and storing them in freezer for maximum long-life. To be thawed carefully and entirely upon resusitation.

Correct? Crazy?

We are done with this year's planting (remember, we live at the North Pole) and wanting to do right by our ridiculous amount of seed. In the past, we never bothered much, except to keep things reasonably dry.

My wife, the real gardener, takes a laissez-faire approach ("put them away and most of them will germinate anyway") but, natch, I'm the "programmer" and have to fiddle.

.... in my nightmares, we thaw all our seeds to discover I killed them.

Also, can seeds get TOO dry? I know that them's seeds and them's seeds (millions of varieties) but, generally speaking. I figure, seeds from Egyptian tombs germinated millenia later. Then I remember my nightmares.

Help!

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), June 03, 1999

Answers

There are some seeds which need to freeze before germinating. The seed packet will say so in these cases. I have never frozen seeds to preserve them, and I have usually gotten reasonable germination from the seeds I have used. I seem to recall that some seeds should NOT freeze, but I don't remember where this information comes from. I would guess that seeds of foods of tropical origin like tomatoes and peppers should not freeze. It might be difficult to keep condensation off of thawing seeds. I would recommend against freezing seeds.

Too dry? I dunno. I will look for some answers on this, and post what I find.

-- Bingo (ecsloma@spectra.net), June 03, 1999.

Big Dog - Yes, you can dry some seeds too much. The reference book I have from the Seed Savers Exchange specifies just what you said: use an equal weight of silica gel with the seeds in an air-tight container (include the weight of the paper seed packets, if you are drying several different seeds at one time). Let them dry with the dessicant for 5-7 days. It is important to properly dry the seeds if you will be freezing them, or they can be killed. Some seeds (such as beans, I think) can be killed if they are dried too much.

The advantages of freezing seeds is that they can often be kept 3-5 times longer than just refrigerating them (up to 5-15 years, sometimes more). Let the seeds thaw completely before opening the air-tight packages. It is also hard on the seeds to be thawed and frozen many times, so you might want to divide larger amounts of seeds into two or more packages, so you can remove and thaw just some of them at one time (maybe a year's worth). If you are like me, I have several years worth of seeds on hand, and my refrigerator is overflowing!

-- Debra (dgraff@vt.edu), June 03, 1999.

Big Dog..... Given the dehumidifing effects of a freezer that would be the perfect place to really dry them out. if you store in the freezer seal tight and remove all excess air. Also experiment with saving seeds now as apposed to later. Let one of the largest of all plants and vegetables provide seeds for next season,and contrary to popular belief hybrid seeds can be saved. May not reproduce true to original form but will germinate and produce food the next season.

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), June 03, 1999.

BigDog,

Call the experts at the National Seed Storage Laboratory. They have hundreds of thousands of varieties of seeds stored at -300 F in liquid nitrogen, and many thousands of seed types stored under traditional refrigeration at -30 F.

I called these folks last year when I bought all my non-hybrids, and spoke to a seed storage scientist. (Talk about division of labor!) This fellow told me to just make sure they were "pretty dry", to seal them into a plastic bag, leaving some air in the bag for them to breathe, and to just pop them into my deep freeze. They've been in there at -8 F for ten months now. Seed life doubles for every ten degree drop in temperature, so my seeds are losing viability at only 1/250th the rate they would at 70 degree room temperature.

-- DMH (not@just.yet), June 03, 1999.