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Washington, The Evergreen State

One grower will say he puts his seeds in a plastic zip-lock bag and throws them in the fridge. And another will tell you that he puts them in a wooden box on the fireplace mantel. The variations are numerous, but the goal remains the same, to safely store your seeds. And we may even be seeing an increase in the number of older seeds traded and offered up for auction. Has the time finally come for the various members of the different pumpkin growing organizations to get together and come up with a standard for storing seeds?
Ten-year-old and older seeds are bringing in hundreds of dollars at auction. And yet do we even know if these seeds will germinate? Do we actually even know enough about the viability of older seeds to in good faith be offering these seeds up for sale? The truth is, that for the most part, we don’t even how these seeds were stored.
What is needed is a standard. A way for the different growers to store there seeds the same. A way to guarantee the quality, and a way to help build a data base on the viability of older seeds.

1/19/2003 1:54:17 AM

Washington, The Evergreen State

Let me give you an example. Let's say that the different pumpkin growing organizations get together and they come up with a standard method of storing pumpkins seeds that they end up calling "K1." Now at least with the K1 the different growers would have a guideline to follow. And as the year's pass, and the methods and or technology improve, who knows maybe there will end up being a K2 or even K3 standard to follow? Look at it as a kind of guide to help improve the quality and the storage life of your pumpkin seeds. And if you are trading seeds or are having them offered up for auction the K1 would be a way of telling folks that at least that guideline was followed in the storage of the seed.

1/19/2003 12:22:30 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

Harvesting and Storage ideas from a Professional

Pumpkins used for seed saving must be grown until fully mature. Pumpkins have a greater number of viable seeds when cut from the vine and left to sit for three weeks or longer. Pumpkin seeds will remain viable for six years when stored in cool, dry, dark conditions.

-- Suzanne Ashworth, from the book "Seed to Seed"

1/19/2003 1:00:45 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

Storage Advice from a Professional

Storage of pumpkin seeds in dry climates is very simple. The main factor for long storage and maintaining the viability of the seed is that they are as dry as possible. In climates where the relative humidity is low, you need just air-dry them. This should take a couple of weeks. To maintain this low humidity, place the seed in a ziploc bag of appropriate size. Be sure to leave some air in the bag when you seal it. The bag of seeds should then be placed in as cool a spot as you can find in your home. Do not put them in the refrigerator. The refrigerator contains a high relative humidity and this could age the seed at an accelerated pace. Seed stored this way will retain its viability for up to five or more years.
You can also freeze the seed. Again, the main thing is to have the seed as dry as possible and sealed so that the seeds cannot take up moisture while being stored. Freezing will definitely prolong the storage life of the seeds.

-- Jim Bruce, National Seed Storage Laboratory

1/19/2003 1:01:52 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

Taking it a step further

I e-mailed Jim Bruce at the National Seed Storage Lab and asked him if the way I was saving my seeds was adequate. I save my seeds in the plastic 24 count Excedrin bottles which comes with a small capsule of desiccant in it to keep the tablets moisture free. I make a label with all the seed information and attach it to the bottle. I keep them in a box in the bottom of the bookcase and Jim said that this was excellent. The desiccant will take care of any excess moisture and I could keep seeds in this manner for periods exceeding 10 years. I could also freeze the bottles and keep them even longer. Everyone saves their bottles for me and it has turned out to be a neat, organized, uniform manner to keep up with Atlantic Giant seeds. Again, thanks to everyone who has donated seeds to me. Just thought I would share that with you all.

-- Scott Parsons

1/19/2003 1:02:42 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

More details

The best way is to reduce their moisture content to 8% or less, then freeze them in airtight containers. A quick and easy test is this: seeds will break instead of bending if their moisture level is 8% or less. You can speed the drying of seeds by putting them in jars with silica gel, which absorbs a tremendous amount of moisture, for seven or eight days. Then remove the silica gel and move the seeds into a freezer. Color-indicating silica gel is the best as you can tell by its color (pink or blue) whether or not it is unable to absorb any more moisture. You can then reuse it by drying it in a 200 degree F oven for eight hours. Dried frozen seeds can maintain viability and vigor for years using this technique.
More details can be had in Suzanne Ashworth's excellent book "Seed to Seed" on pp35-38.

-- Shaun in Spokane

1/19/2003 1:03:22 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

Dear Mr. Paynter:

At Saskatoon we have so far not conducted increase of pumpkins. From other experience I recommend to dry the seeds carefully and store them in sealed envelopes at - 20 C.

Yours sincerely

Dr. Axel Diederichsen
Curator
Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC)
Saskatoon Research Centre
107, Science Place
Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0X2
CANADA

1/19/2003 1:04:20 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

JJ...this is all taken of the net or e-mails and there is probably lots more info if you care to look.

pick one.......hope this helps

..........Peter

1/19/2003 1:07:28 PM

Washington, The Evergreen State

Cool stuff lobsterclaw. And food for thought!

1/19/2003 3:40:27 PM