How Do You Store Seeds ?

[flowerweaver]

Dark, cool, and dry. I store mine in plastic bags in a file system to which I've added silica gel desiccant. Our house is air-conditioned, so that's where I keep the files. I keep track of my seeds on Folia, which assigns them a unique number, and helps me remember when/where/who they came from, when I've planted them, notes on germination rates, harvest tallies from them, etc.

Since we have gone from gardening to small scale farming, I now have four of these file boxes. After this season I will probably move all my bean and corn projects into the freezer, now that we have a spare.

 

[ninnymary]

flowerweaver, your system is so neat and organized! Love it.

Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

It kind of puts me to shame.

 

[baymule]

Umm ..... plastic baggies in a plastic bucket with a lid. I put the buckets on bottom of the pantry.

 

[flowerweaver]

@ninnymary thanks! You wouldn't know it from that photo but I tend to be a disorganized person, except when I can come up with a working system and then I stick with it. Things I use a lot have systems...books, CDs, spices, etc. For paperwork and fabrics I use the 'archeological method', most recent on top of the pile! The rest is in artistic chaos.

 

[thistlebloom]

@ninnymary thanks! You wouldn't know it from that photo but I tend to be a disorganized person, except when I can come up with a working system and then I stick with it. Things I use a lot have systems...books, CDs, spices, etc. For paperwork and fabrics I use the 'archeological method', most recent on top of the pile! The rest is in artistic chaos.

Oh! Can I borrow that term @flowerweaver ? The "archaeological method" of organization sounds so much better than "recently burgled" which nobody believes anyway.

And I find your seed organization overwhelmingly impressive.

 

[ducks4you]

We are so damp in the winter and humid the rest of the year, I don't like to just keep seeds in their paper packets. I save jars from yeast, jelly, spices and whatever fancy looking glass that used to have food. I particularly like the jars that you buy with minced garlic, but I have to soak the lids in bleach to get the garlic smell out.
I like to cut and roll up the paper that labels what the seeds are and put in inside the jar where I can read it. That way, I know what the seeds are, I don't have to later on scrub off a stuck on label, and when the seeds are gone I can easily reuse the jar without washing it out.
Regarding how long seeds last, I was very surprised to finally read a 40yo book on gardening that listed the sprouting rates of each vegetable seed after one year and after, I think 5 years. Surprisingly, with many seeds, 70% will sprout, even if they are old. Of COURSE, they will have had to have been stored dry, and maintained dry. Still, it makes you think twice about throwing away old seed.
However, Before planting I like soaking my seeds overnight and seeing which ones sink. The ones that float are dead.
I just bought some beet seeds and french radish from my local FS store. I liked buying by the scoop.

 

[flowerweaver]

@thistlebloom LOL sure!

Tomato seeds are usually listed as 4 years, but I have had 10 year old seeds sprout.

The float method hasn't been entirely accurate for me @ducks4you . I've found some viable seeds do float depending on the shape of the seed. Can't remember what it was, but a few years ago everything floated of whatever it was, and since it was rare and all I had I went ahead and planted it and they came up!