Saving seeds

Comptine

Comptine

I had two jalapeño peppers finally turn red, and I even left them on for nearly a week extra, just to make sure they are mature, since I want to save the seeds. Now, I've extracted the seeds, and roughly half of them are a bit dark, are these bad seeds that I should discard? 
 
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I usually discard dark or black seeds and I always have high germination rates. Looks you have more than enough seeds to get rid of them and save the healthy looking ones.
 
Comptine said:
I chucked the dark ish ones, and the others are still drying. How long do you let them dry out before putting them into baggies?
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Depends, I usually let mine dry about a week.  You can see them change when they are dry, they will compact some when the moisture evaporates and there is a color change as well. 
 
If you arent saving multiple varieties like most of us, you could put a silica gel pack in with the seeds to make sure you absorb any moisture that is left.  I find that not needed but it sounds like your apprehensive about the process. 
 
cheers
 
Buzzman19 said:
 
 
Depends, I usually let mine dry about a week.  You can see them change when they are dry, they will compact some when the moisture evaporates and there is a color change as well. 
 
If you arent saving multiple varieties like most of us, you could put a silica gel pack in with the seeds to make sure you absorb any moisture that is left.  I find that not needed but it sounds like your apprehensive about the process. 
 
cheers
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Also if you do not have the silica pack sitting around a small amount of white rice placed in with the seeds will do the same thing (the dried rice will absorb any moisture that remains if the seeds were not fully dry - and is pretty easy to separate out when ready for planting)
 
I let my seeds dry a couple weeks. Then save them in envelopes. Just remember to label the envelopes. I'm growing sweet chocolate bells that I forgot to label. Didn't know what was going to come up. I grew them in 2009, and the seeds were still good. Just keep the envelopes in a dry place and you should be fine.
 
JDFan said:
 
Also if you do not have the silica pack sitting around a small amount of white rice placed in with the seeds will do the same thing (the dried rice will absorb any moisture that remains if the seeds were not fully dry - and is pretty easy to separate out when ready for planting)
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Good tip on the rice, I like it.
 
Seed saving becomes an addiction in and of it self. I keep a exell spreadsheet to help me keep track Here it is as an example: Click ME
 
I need a better storage method though. Last night I just had to move them all to a larger container and I put the smaller baggies into larger ones separated by type IE chinense, baccatum, crosses ect. 
 
Old container
 

 
New container
 

 
One Idea I like and  may use is a baseball card binder and putting packs of seeds in the pockets. Seem like a nice organized way to sort through them. 
 
 
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