Like many gardeners , it only take me a year or two of ( overzealous)seed shoppingand ( impulsive ) planting to gather a voltaic pile of partially used seed packets in my sign .
thing set out to get a bit ungovernable in my loo or service department , but hey , I ca n’t help buy more ! ( I love you may relate . )
While seeds purchased the same class usually provide the eminent sprouting rates , older seed can and do remain viable for at least a couple more years ( according to thisseed viability chartI’ve compiled , which I urge you download too ) .
The key to making certain those remnant seeds do n’t become misfire next twelvemonth ?
Proper storage . And it does n’t have to be complicated !
Disclosure : If you shit from my article or make a leverage through one of my connection , I may receive commissions on some of the products I recommend .
First, start with completely dry seeds
If you’resaving seed from your own garden(or you were devote seed from someone else ’s garden ) , check that they are totally , thoroughly , 100 percent dry before stack away them . I can not overstate the grandness of this !
That means you should wait a few day after a rain to harvest seeded player from your plant . If you collected seeds that have a gelatinous software ( like squash seeds ) , or youfermented the seedsfirst ( like tomato seeds ) , lay them out in a warm room to dry out out .
Most seeds dry out entirely within seven days , but some ( particularly thicker or larger seeded player ) may take up to a month , depend on how humid your room is .
How do you know when the semen are dry enough ? They ’ll feel heavy and brittle . They wo n’t bend under pressure , and if you taste to snap them in one-half , they ’ll bring out apart .
At this degree , the seeds are quick to pack into envelopes ( which go into airtight container ) or at once into airtight containers ( I ’ll go over my favorite below ) . I likethese resealable kraft paper envelopeswith spaces for immortalise info about your seeds .
Ideal conditions for storing seeds
Most seeds will persist viable in storage for several years if they ’re keep under optimum circumstance — namely , low humidity and low temperatures ( ideally 42 ° F or less ) .
A dewy-eyed way to recall about it is : The join of the temperature ( in Fahrenheit ) and the per centum relative humidity should match less than 100 .
Now , that ’s not the best - instance scenario , but it ’s the best real - life-time scenario . If you keep your seeds at 55 ° fluorine with 35 percent proportional humidity ( which is feasible for a cellar ) , you ’re right at the upper close of what ’s view “ optimal condition . ” You ’ll still get your money ’s deserving out of them , but you ’ll probably be buy seeded player more often .
Best - case scenario is stash away your seeds below 40 ° atomic number 9 with less than 10 percentage humidness , inside an airtight container in a sullen surroundings .
Unless you have a second refrigerator or freezer to store your seeds in ( or you dwell in an igloo ) , not many places inside a home can go that downcast in temperature .
But a few areas typically stay cooler than the rest : basements , theme cellars , pantries , closets on the north side of a house , rooms with north- or Orient - look windows , rooms with modest or no windows , the cold corner of an insulated service department .
Places you generally require to avoid for source storage are laundry elbow room , bathrooms , dome , rooms that get plenty of sun , and uninsulated service department or outbuildings .
Remember : The high-risk atmospheric condition for lay in germ are place with high moisture and eminent temperature .
Best containers for seed storage
While you may use an old shoebox ( or any eccentric of container with a lid ) to store seminal fluid packets , one simple feature can vastly amend the shelf lifespan of your semen : airtightness .
The more airtight the storage environment is , the longer your seeds will last . But you do n’t have to go as far as vacuum - waterproofing — you just need something that will keep a reasonable amount of melodic phrase and moisture out ( and you credibly already have it around your house ) . This can let in :
Note that if you expend a percipient container , the container should be salt away in a grim area .
Where to buy
Seed storage containers
How to maintain low humidity
Let ’s blab out humidity next . This was something I fight with when I subsist on the Southern California glide , but now that I ’m in the Central Oregon high desert , we ’re favorable if the relative humidity inside our house gets above 15 percent . ( We in reality instal a whole - sign humidifier to help with this . )
Humidity is a challenge for those who go in the Dixie , and especially in summertime , when you ’re give your seed container more frequently and have all that warm humid zephyr circulate around your cum mail boat .
The good and loose way to safeguard against gamy humidity is to repurpose those little desiccant mail boat from your shoebox , vitamin bottleful , or electronics packaging and use them inside your come container . These desiccant packets check silica gel , which absorbs moisture from the air .
If you do n’t have any of those things rest around , they ’re very inexpensive to buy .
Desiccant packets
In a pinch , you may also make your own desiccant mailboat by meet a newspaper chocolate filter with ( tender ) Elmer Rice and then seal the top and bottom with tape or staple fibre .
Frequently asked questions
Seeds start to die at temperatures above 108 ° farad and are wholly fix at 140 ° F ( which unremarkably materialise in raging compost piles ) . However , it only takes uniform in high spirits temperatures over 90 ° F to pretend theembryo inside a seedand lessen the chances of germination .
void storing your seeds in an attic or uninsulated service department , or inside a hot car on a cheery Clarence Day . If ideal storage conditions below 40 ° F with less than 10 percent humidity are n’t possible , keep your germ in the coolest ( and driest ) part of the house , like a closet in a north - face way or a dehumidified cellar .
If you want to salt away source long - term , vacuum waterproofing is the ultimate method acting of come preservation . Start with very dry seeds ( they should shatter or snatch in half cleanly , rather than dash or turn under pressure ) before vacuum varnish them in a plastic base and store them in a dark place below 40 ° F .
Nope . In fact , semen store best in airtight containers in consistently cool , obscure , and dry conditions , such as those find in a humidness - hold in fridge or freezer . As long as the seeds were sufficiently dry before storage , the lack of atmosphere — along with down humidness — helps them abide sleeping and executable longer .
Seeds do n’t of necessity “ expire ” or go spoiled ( unless they ’re left in condition that cause them to modeling or decompose ) . However , they do deteriorate in timbre and vigor over time . consider of the dates printed on seed mailboat like those “ substantially by ” dates on intellectual nourishment ; they are n’t set in gem , but are more of a guideline as to how long the seeds are at their peak viability .
If you try on to plant seed past those date , you may still get a few of them to burgeon forth , but they may bring about weak seedling .
How I personally store my seeds
For the last 15 years , I ’ve been using metal ammunition rear end to store all my seeds . They ’re extremely durable , airtight , and watertight , and are size absolutely to hold come parcel upright . you may witness marque - new ammo can buoy on-line or old ( but useable ) ones in army surplus storehouse , in both alloy and charge card . ( I recommend buying charge plate if exercising weight is an offspring . )
I have several ammo cans that a military Quaker gave me over the years , so in my typesetter’s case , they were free . Each ammunition can holds between 75 to 100 ( or more ) seed bundle , depend on how bulky they are . I alphabetise them by plant name , and have used anywhere from three to five cans based on the size of it of my seed collection at the time .
All of my cum are hive away on a small work bench in the back corner of our unwarmed but insulated garage ( the moth-eaten part of our place ) , where it unremarkably stay between 40 ° F to 50 ° F at 10 to 15 percent humidness year - round .
I also created my ownseed inventory spreadsheetsto easy wield and track my 350 - plus seed packets — all online ! ( Which helpsso muchwhen it ’s time to grease one’s palms new seeds . ) If you ’re still sorting and agree all your seed packets manually and still ca n’t remember what you have , get the same spreadsheets I utilize ( in Airtable or Google Sheets data format ) to make inventory a breeze .
digitalise your seed inventory
Get my seed inventory templates
Keep track of the seeds you have , how much is left , and how sometime they are , and get at your inventory from anywhere . You ’ll get my usance templates in Airtable and Google Sheets formats — just copy them to your own story .
How do you know when seeds are no longer viable?
Every time a seed have less than ideal conditions , it suffers a decline in quality . It may not cash in one’s chips correctly off , but it might take a small longer to germinate . finally , it will go bad to germinate at all .
show more : Here are 6 ways togerminate unregenerate seedsfast
If your seeds have been sit around around for a while , using thebaggie method with paper towelsis an promiscuous and effective way to examine their sprouting rate so you fuck whether to bribe new seed .
By occupy a sample of 10 to 20 seeds and pre - burgeon forth them in baggies , you’re able to gauge how viable those seeds are before committing tostarting more of those seedsortransplanting the seedlings .
A good rule of thumb is : less than 50 pct germination rate mean it ’s sentence to buy new seed .
Can you freeze seeds to make them last longer?
Yes . All ejaculate banks immobilise seeds that are intend for retentive - condition reposition , and you could do the same at home . The key is to start with good dry out seeds ( if yousaved seed from your own plant ) and store them in airtight , freeze - proof containers to reduce the risk of seeded player absorbing moisture . Keep the germ in a reliable freezer that hold coherent temperatures and is n’t open often . When it ’s sentence to plant , thaw the frozen come overnight on a table until they give room temperature .
