• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

seeds Seeds Saving - How to save seeds the right way?

I have some plants growing right now and a lot of seeds in my fridge. I read this is the best way to save seeds. How do you guys save your seeds from your homegrown pods?
 
I store mine in plastic bags in a living room closet next to the A/C unit. Stays cool and dark... and dry
 
I use coin envelopes to prevent moisture issues. The envelopes are in fabric box thingy, stored in a closet. I throw desiccant packs into the box to ensure things stay dry.
 
hottoddy said:
I use coin envelopes to prevent moisture issues. The envelopes are in fabric box thingy, stored in a closet. I throw desiccant packs into the box to ensure things stay dry.
 
If you are having a hard time finding these (apparently a lot of places wont stock them because people use them for drugs) walmart has them in their crafts section as jewelry bags.
 
probably, I think most are just saying its not needed.  They are room temp in envelopes in stores across the country (after whatever distribution/ storage/ hot delivery trucks) so more enduring than you would think
 
Boxes of coin envelopes can be found at office depot, staples and the like. They are just mini versions of a regular envelope. Breatheable paper.
 
For short or long term storage it is ideal to freeze your seeds. You have to make sure the seeds are dry, really, really dry before freezing otherwise you wasted your time.
 
Having said that, I store in paper envelopes at room temprature in  hot, humid area. 
 
Id be afraid to keep em in the fridge myself. Room temp (i.e. 72°F), is just fine. I keep mine in jewelry ziploc bags in a baseball card binder under my bed.
 
I've never had any problems storing seeds in cool, dry basement corner where the canning jar shelves are, but I recently was given a mini fridge that I'm using now.  Interesting bit of trivia...I present: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
 
 
Basically dried seeds when preserved properly (kept dry and cool) can be preserved...I dunno...thousands of years?  Like the wheat and date palm seeds they found in a desert in Israel or something.  There are also supposedly a handful of pepper seeds that originated from Native American relics that were grown out and distributed.
 
I just remembered I recently saw the episode of dirty jobs where he worked at that doomsday seed bank, they stored their seeds in a super cold room. I believe neoguy is right, you could even use a freezer if you got rid of the moisture which could damage the seeds at freezing temps. So.. a fridge should be fine.
 
I got my coin envelopes from Amazon... box of 500 for $20 or so and split half with a buddy.

I store them in a 3 ring binder in clear plastic coupon insert pages as they fit perfectly.
 
Yeah I borrowed the baseball card binder idea from Jamison, saw it a few months ago in a thread somewhere, so that's where mine go.
 
I store mine in air tight translucent orange pill bottles, after completely drying with fan forced air, with a slip of paper on the inside of the bottle stating type/year/etc. then they're put in shoe boxes to keep light out.  I used to use paper envelopes but they just didn't hold enough, particularly for things have larger seeds like okra or extreme seed count like herbs.
 
hottoddy said:
I use coin envelopes to prevent moisture issues. The envelopes are in fabric box thingy, stored in a closet. I throw desiccant packs into the box to ensure things stay dry.
What he said. But in a tacklebox.
I deseed from purchased pods, slip them into a regular envelope and put on a window sill till dry, than put them in little coin envelopes.
 
My own iso seeds stay in the pod on a window sill till dry, then crumbled and put in the coin envelopes.
Leaves a taste sample inside for reference.
 
Back
Top