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Hudsonville, Michigan ([email protected])

Just wondering how many out there freeze their seeds, and how many store at room temp. I'm leery of freezing seeds with the intention of saving for several years....sometime in those several years I'm bound to lose power and they'll thaw out. Won't thawing and refreezing hurt 'em?
Frank

10/18/2003 12:18:25 PM

Sequim, WA

It doesn't seem to hurt the ones in the field that come up as volunteers each year. Repeated freeze and thaw cycles throughout the winter and spring may actually help stimulate them and aid in germination.

10/18/2003 1:09:16 PM

Oz

i dont know about freezing them,,but i know you can put a insulated container in a freezer and chill it down befor storing things in it.then load it up and tape the cover on tight.it will hold them in a colder temp than the meat ,etc,, for a day or two.....

10/18/2003 1:23:39 PM

San Diego

I think most growers freeze and believe it's the best way to store seeds for the long haul. Just make sure they are dried out good and in an air tight package or container. Jim

10/19/2003 12:24:53 AM

Roanoke Il

Freeing is the way to go I've read some where where they found a lupine seed that was 10,000 years old and germinated it in was found near the artic. While talking with a grow that has grown pumpkins since the mid 80's he told me not to freeze them in the freezer in your frig due to the fact that it draws to much mositure out of the seed but it is alright to freeze them in a chest freezer or upright.mark

10/19/2003 8:39:47 AM

Otis Orchards WA.

My sister sells Tupperware, and she told me the "round" containers are air tight and the square type ones are not.

10/19/2003 10:34:13 AM

Deer Park WA

I have to freeze them all, that way my great, great, Great Grandchildren can grow one of my crappy 654.5 seeds....

10/19/2003 10:31:28 PM

Syracuse, NY

i should call and get a reiteration from a guy at a seed lab
in Colorado--what i gathered just before a fire alarm went off at his place of work was the recommendation to keep the temperature and the humidity equalling or falling short of 100. i think he meant that if the storage temp. was 75F,
the max. humidity should be <= (less than or equal to) 25%,
and so on----67F/33%, etc. my belief has always been to keep them as DRY as possible, so i have ALL of my seeds, including my own and ones to die for, in 1-gallon jars with
screw-on lids with AT LEAST one giant desiccant packet in each jar, soon to be reduced to quart Mason jars, one jar per my own cross...the BIG (ones from other growers) seeds i'm keeping in the gallon jars...............'pal

10/20/2003 3:29:35 PM

Syracuse, NY

and no, i don't freeze them, for i also fear a power failure, the coldness bringing-out the moisture and condensation, etc.----let's just say that the way they are
stored/packaged/transported in no way reflects or presents to us that it is advantageous to freeze them. otherwise we would be doing some pretty wild things to get them from point A to point B in a frozen state....lol.....however, whatever floats your boat! 'pal

10/20/2003 3:34:11 PM