Storing Seeds
Sharon March 19th, 2008
One of the essential elements of growing your own is having enough seed - as y’all know, this is a big subject for me this month. One of the most important ways of staying secure is knowing how to store seed so that it will stay viable as long as possible.
So, if you want to store seed for more than one year, you have several options.
1. Keep them in a cool, dark, dry place.
-This will enable your seeds to have about the usual storage life. The estimated storage life of seeds is listed here. I would note, however, that this is one of those YMMV things - I’ve had no trouble keeping spinach seed for several years, for example. If you have a fridge, are very, very careful not to let them get moist (use silica gel and package them carefully), you can keep them in the fridge. Me, I’ve got way too many seeds for that.
2. Vacuum Pack Them
- Lack of air exposures will extend the seed’s life a bit. You can buy pre-canned and vacuum packed seeds or pack them yourself with a food saver or a straw. Remember, they still have to be cool and dark. This should add at a minimum one year to their lifespan.
3. Freeze them. Thanks to Pat Meadows for explaining how to do this to me.
-Obviously, this only works while the power is on, but will substantially extend the life of your seeds while the freezer is working. I keep and use too many seeds to do this with all of mine, but I plan to use this technique for short lifespan seeds, such as onions, parsley and parsnips.
Pat double packs her seeds in two layers of plastic, and before using them but after taking them out of the freezer, allows them 24 hours to come to room temperature before opening the packages, so that any condensation forms on the outside of the packet, not where it could hurt the seeds.
Before you do any storing, however, make sure that any seed you grew yourself is completely dry and ready to be stored.
And remember, never plant all your seed if you can avoid it - even the best gardeners have crop failures, and the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley. The reality is that seed varieties are lost all the time - it is never wise to assume that there will always be more of a particular variety. So save a little extra, and store it carefully for next year.
Sharon
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