Longterm Seed Storage - Your Thoughts?

TGTDE

2022 COE Winner
Hey guys, I'm newer to the growing game but quickly realized I am super passionate about it! After learning the epic history behind the MNS team and then their Auctions I went a little wild but I don't regret it for a second. But as a result I need to find the best possible long term storage for the majority of these seeds. What do you think of my current storage plan below

Glass vials from amazon, I believe they're 5ml but might be 10ml. Rice at the bottom of the vial held down by a cut up cotton ball. Then I cut out small circles in paper and used them to keep the seeds from sinking in to the cotton balls and some how maybe possibly start to grow (I think it's a super low chance but the paper is helping me sleep at night lol. Then I plug the top of the vial with another piece of a cotton ball and screw on the lid. I'm going to place these vials in an air tight Tupperware container that has rice in the bottom. Plan to put the container in the fridge for a couple days. then move it to the freezer at the bottom where it's darkest for longterm storage... I have a feeling I'm going a bit overboard.. but I'm hoping that if/ when I try to germinate some of these 10 years down the road some will still be viable!
 
Hi All

I prefer to keep seed in the fridge at between 3-5C, if you keep them in that situation you will be able to keep them for some years...

If you freeze seed you will not be able to refreeze it so be prepared to use it after this one time storage method. Breaking larger batches up into smaller ones is a good option for this method also.

Heat and direct sunlight are just two methods that reduce the germination levels by basically cooking the embryo inside the seed capsule. You can tell nothing from the seed as it looks fine but inside has been killed. Irradiation is just one way the food industry treat things to preserve them longer...it is for me a very bad option but it does give shelf life a little longer. The agricultural industry has used it in Holland to erradicate exporting bugs and eggs via flower/plant export...in a limited way. If this irradiation occurs to seed it is killed, again without visible signs. The use of Kirilian photography is something we at MNS have dabbled with a little.It seems to be one of the safest ways to tell if the embryo inside the seed case is alive or dead. So maybe in the future we will impliment this to scan the seeds for viability.Till then you will need to use the fridge or freezer....all the best Sb



Hi All

well since I just sent some seed recently to a chap from 2002 stock that had been kept in a fridge all its life...and had very good germination levels I believe the methods of long term storage are as follows....

1. We keep 2 stocks of seeds, i for the everyday use and 1 for long term use.
2. Long term use means vacuum sealing the seed in small quantities in an air tight , moisture resistant plastic bag and kept in the freezer.
3. Short term use is keeping seeds dry in air tight containers, always put back in fridge when not in use.
4. Point about long term stock you cannot defreeze seed only one time and then keep it is the fridge stock, till it is used.

We have seeds from 30 or 40 years ago still in fridges and even if germination is lower it still pops up a few ...so it all works for us.

Be well all the best sb
 
I prefer the amber bottles to the clear but your labeling is great, better than my abbreviated scribbles that only I understand! When my seed collection gets passed on someday, only the MNS savvy will understand the nomenclature lol. Storage, lighting, growing, harvesting, breeding, etc., there is a lot of information on this site on just about everything. It is as simple to type in a query as it is to type a question to membership. Try it- it will open up an incredible world to deeper understanding. Thanks for the examples @longball! You rock as usual.

🤙Mu
 
I asked Shantibaba on Instagram if a 250g(contents of powdered coffee) size cylindrical metal turkish coffee tin was acceptable for putting vacuum sealed seed packs in in the refrigerator or freezer. He said yes, for in the fridge. I am going to be experimenting w/ best practices for packaging and vacuum sealing and freezing seeds for ultra long term storage like Big Sur does once I get to practicing breeding.

I am thinking 4-5 of the plastic vials like the auction packs(or jsut the auction packs since I have so many to store) come in, w/ a silica pack tapped to them, w/ a light vacuum applied, then sealed. basically just to pull any humid air out. using double sided tape, a silica pack will be put on the bottom, and the lid, followed by some gauze attached w/ the double sided tape. It will go Gauze layer, seed layer, silica pack, gauze layer.

I should already have a seed fridge as I have a few boxes of vegetable seeds. BTW, as stated before, I Do not have a problem, they are not stacked high enough, or deep enough to where my home is a maze. yet. beans, peas, tomatoes, and peppers need to stop being so productive and delicious I wouldn't have to save entire plants worth of Seed each year. not enough whiskey bags in the world for all the beans I have.
 
i saw the hands and immediately thought "L.P.L."

i store mine sealed in breeder packs in a dry box in the fridge, last for years usually . . .
 
i saw the hands and immediately thought "L.P.L."

i store mine sealed in breeder packs in a dry box in the fridge, last for years usually . . .
5-6 years in a closet, in breeders packs in a cigar box is longest for me w/ good germination rates. bodhi's old method of a dime bag, like 4 years average.
 
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