Proper Seed Drying and Storage - Ep. 216
Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home GardeningSeptember 17, 2024x
216
00:29:0126.57 MB

Proper Seed Drying and Storage - Ep. 216

Last week on the podcast we talked about which seeds we should be saving from the garden, how mature the fruits need to be when we harvest seeds and a bit about how to dry and test them. This week, we’re focusing on storing them properly.

When we get seeds from a catalog or other seed supplier, they’ve often gone through a set of steps that we may not be duplicating at home with our own saved seeds. Seed suppliers are required to test their seeds not just for germination percentage, but also for diseases and moisture content. These tests ensure that we’re not brining outside diseases into our gardens and make sure the seeds we get will maintain their integrity in storage without spoiling.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how we can achieve the same results in our own seed collection. If you garden where certain diseases are prevalent you certainly don’t want to saving that disease to plant again with your seeds the next year. We also want to be sure our seeds remain intact in storage and we don’t open up a fuzzy, moldy mess when it’s time to plant in the spring. Let’s dig in!

Question of the Month: What was your biggest success in the garden this season?

References and Resources: Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon

Just Grow Something is Bonus content for supporters of the Just Grow Something Podcast! (buymeacoffee.com)

Vegetable: Hot Water Seed Treatment | Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst


00:00:00
Last week on the podcast, we talked about which seeds we

00:00:03
should be saving from the garden, how mature the fruits

00:00:06
need to be when we harvest those seeds, and a little bit about

00:00:08
how to collect and test them. This week we're focusing on

00:00:12
storing them properly, so when we get seeds from a catalogue or

00:00:16
other seed suppliers, they've often gone through a series of

00:00:19
steps that we may not be duplicating at home with our own

00:00:22
saved seeds. Seed suppliers are required to

00:00:26
test their seeds not just for germination percentage, but also

00:00:29
for diseases and for moisture content.

00:00:32
So these tests ensure that we're not bringing outside diseases

00:00:36
into our gardens, and it makes sure that the seeds that we get

00:00:39
will maintain their integrity and storage without spoiling.

00:00:43
Today on Just Grow Something, we're going to talk about how we

00:00:45
can achieve the same results in our own seed collection.

00:00:49
If you garden where certain diseases are prevalent, you

00:00:51
certainly don't want to be saving seeds and saving that

00:00:55
disease to plant again with your seeds the next year.

00:00:59
We also want to be sure that our seeds remain intact in storage

00:01:02
and we don't open up a fuzzy, moldy mess when it's time to

00:01:06
plant in the spring. Let's dig in.

00:01:09
Hey, I'm Karen, I started gardening in a small corner of

00:01:12
my suburban backyard and now 18 years later, I've got a degree

00:01:15
in horticulture and operate a 40 acre market farm.

00:01:18
I believe there is power in food and that everyone should know

00:01:21
how to grow at least a little bit of their own.

00:01:24
On this podcast, I share evidence based techniques to

00:01:26
help you plant, grow, harvest and store all your family's

00:01:30
favorites. Consider me your friend in the

00:01:32
garden. So grab your garden journal and

00:01:34
a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.

00:01:46
So a quick reminder, if you've not already voted for me in the

00:01:50
Women in Podcasting awards, could you please just take 5

00:01:53
minutes out of your day to do that pretty please?

00:01:55
The voting window closes on September 30th and I actually

00:01:59
have some pretty stiff competition including a

00:02:01
podcaster who also happens to be a broadcaster and her podcast is

00:02:06
part of the Fox Broadcasting Network, so you know she has a

00:02:11
huge audience to call upon to vote for her.

00:02:13
So I am calling on you. Every vote helps and you can

00:02:18
only vote once in each category. So I will leave a link to the

00:02:22
voting in the episode description.

00:02:24
Thank you in advance for your vote.

00:02:26
I truly appreciate you. So let's talk about the best

00:02:31
ways to dry our seeds for storage, and then talk about the

00:02:34
techniques that we can use to kill off any diseases, and then

00:02:37
finally how to store them properly.

00:02:40
When we're talking about our typical garden plants, our

00:02:43
fruits and vegetables, and many of our annual flowers, the seeds

00:02:47
have to be dried to the point of being brittle before we store

00:02:51
them. Even a small amount of excess

00:02:54
moisture in a seed can cause that seed to rot or even to

00:02:57
germinate and sprout in storage. Now, as a side note, there are

00:03:03
some species, specifically a lot of the rainforest plants, whose

00:03:06
seeds are what we call recalcitrant.

00:03:09
Recalcitrant seeds actually are not supposed to be dried.

00:03:12
They are unable to survive in the way that a seed with our

00:03:16
traditional sort of dormancy can be.

00:03:18
So those seeds actually cannot be allowed to dry out between

00:03:22
when they're being planted or when they're being saved and

00:03:25
when they're being planted and germinated.

00:03:27
But our run-of-the-mill fruits and veggies and flowers

00:03:31
absolutely need to be dried to be successfully stored away for

00:03:34
the next season. The ideal level of moisture for

00:03:40
a seed conditioned for storage is between 3 and 7%.

00:03:44
And the corn is a little bit different.

00:03:46
It's moisture content is closer to 15%, but it's the anomaly in

00:03:49
this case in in some cases you actually are going to have a

00:03:54
really difficult time getting your seeds below a 10% moisture

00:03:58
content. And that could be for any number

00:04:00
of reasons like you had a really rainy season or like me, you

00:04:03
live in extremely humid conditions.

00:04:05
So how do we dry those seeds to as much as possible to make sure

00:04:10
that we are saving them successfully?

00:04:12
Air drying is the most common method for home gardeners and

00:04:16
the easiest and just the simplest, right?

00:04:18
We just spread our seeds out on a paper towel and let them air

00:04:22
dry to help with the circulation.

00:04:23
We can put them up on a cooling rack like what we have in our

00:04:26
kitchen just to get more air flow in and around the seeds and

00:04:30
this is going to help them dry more quickly.

00:04:31
And if you're drying a lot of seeds and you want to save some

00:04:34
room, you can use stackable cooling racks.

00:04:37
My daughter bought me a set one year for my birthday or

00:04:39
Christmas or something and it actually comes in really in

00:04:42
handy not just for holiday baking but also for drying out

00:04:45
the seeds. You stack them just on top of

00:04:46
each other and they still have a gap between them which allows

00:04:49
for that air flow. You can have a fan or 2 in the

00:04:52
room, but just make sure that you're not facing them directly

00:04:55
at the seeds. You don't want them blowing

00:04:57
around the room, but that's going to help to circulate the

00:04:59
air. Just face them away from the

00:05:00
seeds. Now you might be tempted to use

00:05:04
like a food dehydrator or even your oven to dry the seeds, but

00:05:09
I really don't. This is not a good idea.

00:05:11
OK, this again. What we always say.

00:05:13
A seed is a little package that contains a baby plant and a sack

00:05:18
lunch, right? Enough food to get it through

00:05:20
its first week or so of life. If we are exposing that little

00:05:23
package to temperatures that are warmer than 96°F or 36 Celsius,

00:05:28
that can actually damage the little plant area that's in

00:05:32
there. And the minimum temperature on

00:05:34
your oven is likely closer to like 200 Fahrenheit.

00:05:38
And even our food dehydrators are generally a lot higher than

00:05:42
that. If you have one that has a

00:05:44
digital thermometer that can maintain a temperature below

00:05:47
that 96°F, then go for it. But anyone that I have ever

00:05:52
owned has never gone that low. So I would just tell you to

00:05:55
stick with air drying at this point.

00:05:58
Now, remember that humidity that I mentioned?

00:05:59
Yeah, I'm totally familiar with that here.

00:06:01
Even in the fall when I'm saving the majority of my seeds, the

00:06:05
humidity can be very, very high, 80% plus on some days.

00:06:09
That is not conducive to drying seeds fully unless you are

00:06:12
really running your air conditioning a lot in the house

00:06:15
and that Nair is just naturally dry.

00:06:18
So I will use desiccant packets to help finish up the job a

00:06:21
little bit. I will get the seeds as dry as I

00:06:24
possibly can and then I will bag them up how I'm going to store

00:06:27
them. And I will put a couple of

00:06:29
desiccant packets in with those packages just to make sure that

00:06:34
I'm pulling any additional moisture out.

00:06:37
You can also use powdered milk as a desiccant, so just, you

00:06:42
know, put a couple of tablespoons of powdered milk

00:06:45
into a piece of cheesecloth or into a tissue or something, and

00:06:48
you put that into the container with the seeds.

00:06:50
So that's going to help to draw that moisture out.

00:06:53
I will leave the desiccant packets in with the seeds till

00:06:57
later on in the fall after the humidity has given us a little

00:07:01
bit of a break. And I just double checked those

00:07:03
seeds to make sure that they're dry before I put them into their

00:07:06
final little storage place. So how can you test the level of

00:07:12
your seeds? If we really want to be

00:07:14
accurate, we need to be a little bit creative.

00:07:17
There is a good rule of thumb for the different types of

00:07:21
seeds. So generally speaking, for

00:07:23
things like beans or peas, if you can press your thumbnail

00:07:28
against the seed and it doesn't break that skin, that epicarp

00:07:32
and it doesn't leave a mark, then your seed is dry enough to

00:07:37
store. Or if you can bite it and there

00:07:40
is no mark, then the the seed is dry enough to store.

00:07:44
For things like our curcubits, so cucumbers and squashes, try

00:07:48
bending the seed. If it's really hard to bend that

00:07:51
seed or it actually breaks when you bend it, then it is likely

00:07:55
dry enough to go ahead and store.

00:07:57
But if it still bends very easily, then it needs more time

00:08:00
to dry. You can also try to do the same

00:08:02
thing with like the smaller seeds, like, you know, Peppers

00:08:05
or even tomato seeds, but you're going to need a little pair of

00:08:08
tweezers and just kind of use the tweezers to squeeze the seed

00:08:12
and see if you can make any mark.

00:08:15
Now again, in most instances, if the seed is dry and brittle, it

00:08:19
should be fine for storage. But if you've had problems with

00:08:23
seeds either rotting or sprouting before in storage, or

00:08:28
if you're a little more scientifically minded like me,

00:08:30
and you really want to know the moisture level, there is another

00:08:33
way. But you need to do this test

00:08:35
before you start drying your seeds.

00:08:38
And you have to be able to, you know, give up some of those

00:08:41
seeds that you have have saved in order to run this test.

00:08:44
I don't do this process in most instances unless I'm dealing

00:08:48
with a type of seed where I've had germination issues or

00:08:50
storage issues before. This specifically has happened

00:08:53
with heirloom watermelon seeds with me.

00:08:55
So that is one that I will use this technique for.

00:08:59
It's just also good information to understand, you know, so we

00:09:02
know what a good dry, ready for storage seed looks and feels

00:09:05
like. So in order to do this, once you

00:09:07
have harvested your seeds and you've gotten them completely

00:09:09
cleaned and you've sort of dried them to the point where you

00:09:13
think they're ready to store, pick a specific number of the

00:09:17
seeds. So like 10, right?

00:09:19
And then weigh them. And you're going to record this

00:09:23
weight as the fresh weight in a notebook or something, right?

00:09:27
A lot of times for this, you're going to want a kitchen scale

00:09:30
that is like a food scale, so one that will measure by grams

00:09:33
or oz if you have one of those available.

00:09:36
That makes this very, very easy and it makes it really accurate.

00:09:38
You don't have to use as many seeds.

00:09:41
You don't have to sacrifice as many seeds.

00:09:43
So record the fresh weight and then put those seeds into your

00:09:47
oven at 265°F or 130°C, and you're going to leave them there

00:09:53
for an hour. After the hour, allow the seeds

00:09:59
to cool and then weigh them again.

00:10:01
This is your dry weight. OK, so we have our fresh weight

00:10:05
before essentially cooking the seeds in the oven, and then we

00:10:09
have our dry weight. So now you want to know if this

00:10:13
dry weight is the correct moisture content for storage.

00:10:16
So you'll take the fresh weight, you'll subtract the dry weight,

00:10:20
and then divide that again by the fresh weight and multiply it

00:10:23
by 100. OK, yes, math.

00:10:25
So again, take your fresh weight number, subtract the dry weight,

00:10:31
divide that answer by the fresh weight and then multiply it by

00:10:34
100 and this is going to give you the moisture percentage of

00:10:38
your seeds at their fresh weight.

00:10:43
If this number is between 3 and 7%, boom, you have done your

00:10:47
job, they are good to go and you can store those seeds.

00:10:50
But if not, then that means you have to leave those seeds out

00:10:53
longer to dry them some more. Again, you're just air drying

00:10:57
them. You're not going to put them in

00:10:58
that oven, right? Because we're cooking them at

00:11:00
that point. We're only using the oven to

00:11:02
test the weight of the seeds. So you can see how this might

00:11:07
have you running through a lot of seeds.

00:11:09
So be judicious in terms of how many seeds you have saved versus

00:11:13
how many you really need for planting next year versus how

00:11:16
many you can use to run this test.

00:11:17
But you know, when I do this with the watermelon, there is a

00:11:20
boatload of seeds in those watermelon.

00:11:22
I don't necessarily need all of those seeds.

00:11:24
So I will make that sacrifice. Once I think the watermelon

00:11:28
seeds are dry enough, I will run this test.

00:11:32
And if I don't get that 3 to 7%, then I leave them out and let

00:11:35
them dry longer. And then once I've air dried

00:11:38
them some more than I take another sample and then I run

00:11:40
the test again. So let's do a little math here

00:11:44
and and do an example, right? So if I have my watermelon seeds

00:11:49
and I weighed out, you know, 10 seeds and they weigh 100 grams

00:11:55
and then I dry them in the oven and the dry weight is then 95

00:11:58
grams. Well, I take 100 grams and then

00:12:02
I subtract the 25 grams and then I divide by the original 100

00:12:08
grams and multiply by 100. And that gets me 5, which means

00:12:12
that my watermelon seeds are at 5% moisture level and I am good

00:12:16
to go. But if my fresh weight was 100

00:12:19
grams and my dried weight was 50, well, that means that my

00:12:23
seeds are only at a 50% moisture content and I have a ways to go

00:12:28
to get them to where they're in storage condition.

00:12:30
OK, so hopefully that makes a little bit of sense if you've

00:12:33
gotten the trouble to isolate a variety of heirloom watermelon

00:12:38
like in my instance, and you know, made sure that you've I've

00:12:42
saved the seeds and I mean, hey, it's it's worth the extra effort

00:12:46
to make sure that the moisture content is correct before I go

00:12:51
to put them in storage because I don't want those babies to mold

00:12:54
and I don't want them to sprout in storage.

00:12:57
OK, so another concern about storing our seeds is preventing

00:13:03
disease in our saved seeds. So healthy seeds make healthy

00:13:08
plants. Diseased plants can actually

00:13:11
pass on diseases within the seeds, which then can lead to

00:13:17
poor quality plants the next season.

00:13:19
We don't want that. Remember, we're trying to save

00:13:21
the best and eat the rest. There are bacterial, fungal and

00:13:24
viral diseases that can all survive and be transferred on

00:13:28
our seeds. And of course, when that

00:13:29
happens, then the infection cycle in each planting just

00:13:32
begins earlier and earlier in the season.

00:13:34
And then every year of saving and planting those infected

00:13:37
seeds just promotes the buildup of that disease in our garden.

00:13:41
The the diseases can be either attached to the outside of the

00:13:44
seed coat or they can actually be carried inside the seed and

00:13:47
you would have no idea. So there are two different ways

00:13:52
that we can prevent passing on the diseases on our seeds and

00:13:58
that is by treating our seeds with either a bleach solution or

00:14:01
a hot water treatment before planting.

00:14:05
So a chlorine bleach treatment can eliminate certain pathogens

00:14:10
from the surface of the seed. The hot water treatment can

00:14:14
eliminate or you can just reduce the seed borne fungi and

00:14:20
bacteria. So it's going to be important

00:14:23
though, to pay attention to the ratios and the and the

00:14:25
temperatures and things here because you also don't want to

00:14:29
damage the seed because of course that's going to make it

00:14:32
to where it doesn't sprout at all.

00:14:33
And that completely defeats the purpose, right?

00:14:35
Just understand that your infected seeds and the

00:14:40
subsequent infected transplants very rarely show obvious signs

00:14:45
of being infected, so you really will have 0 idea that you have

00:14:50
passed that disease on until you've actually got it out in

00:14:53
the garden and it's way too late.

00:14:56
So there are. Let's use tomatoes for example,

00:15:01
right? There are a lot of different

00:15:02
fungal and bacterial pathogens that infect garden tomatoes.

00:15:07
A lot of them are just passed on through the wind or soil

00:15:10
contamination, and that's not really something that we have to

00:15:12
worry about in our seeds. But there are ones that can be

00:15:16
passed on by seed. And if you know what the problem

00:15:21
is in your area and you can learn the signs and you can

00:15:24
choose healthy fruit from healthy plants, then that is

00:15:28
your first line of defense. But if you are determined to

00:15:32
save the seeds and the only plant that you have is very

00:15:35
clearly diseased or the tomato is diseased and these are, you

00:15:39
know, prized heirloom tomatoes from your great, great granny's

00:15:43
garden and you need to save them, we have a couple of

00:15:45
options. OK, The first one is that bleach

00:15:47
treatment. And it is very simple and

00:15:49
straightforward. You just make a solution, one

00:15:51
part bleach to four parts water, add in a couple drops of the

00:15:55
dish soap, throw in the seeds into the solution and just allow

00:16:00
it to sit for about a minute, stirring it occasionally.

00:16:02
Make sure that you don't over pack.

00:16:04
You don't want to put too many seeds in it once you want them

00:16:06
to float freely. And so you because you want all

00:16:09
of the surface of that entire seed to come in contact with the

00:16:13
solution. And then once you're done, then

00:16:15
just pour that solution through a colander, a mesh sieve, some

00:16:20
cheesecloth, whatever it is to catch all of your seeds and then

00:16:25
rinse them off really, really good under the running water.

00:16:29
And then you can dry them thoroughly at this point and

00:16:32
then store them. OK.

00:16:34
This bleach seed treatment can be used on any kind of seed.

00:16:40
So it's going to remove the pathogens from the surface of

00:16:44
the seed coat, but it is not going to take care of anything

00:16:48
that is within the seed. So that is where the hot water

00:16:51
treatment comes in. Now water treatment actually is

00:16:55
done prior to planting. So with the bleach treatment,

00:17:00
we're doing that before we dry it completely and put it away in

00:17:04
storage for the hot water treatment.

00:17:06
These seeds have already been stored.

00:17:08
We are bringing them out of storage and we're getting ready

00:17:11
to plant them, but not all of our seeds are candidates for a

00:17:16
hot water treatment. We really are looking mostly at

00:17:18
tomatoes, Peppers and any of our brassicas because there are

00:17:22
common bacterial and fungal diseases of these really small

00:17:25
seeded crops that are very easily killed through this hot

00:17:29
water treatment. It also means that the larger

00:17:34
seeds too often really can't withstand the higher

00:17:38
temperatures and actually made it to where they will be

00:17:43
damaged. The outer seed tissue and this

00:17:45
will be damaged and so the seed won't germinate.

00:17:47
So the time and temperature of the hot water treatment is going

00:17:53
to vary for each seed type. So I'm going to include a link

00:17:57
to a table on the University of Massachusetts Extension

00:18:01
vegetable program website that has all of the details on all of

00:18:05
this, especially if you know, it's, this is a little

00:18:07
overwhelming because it can be, but it, it gives a step by step.

00:18:10
It's, it's very simple to do, but you have to be precise.

00:18:14
So the temperature of the water for treating your seeds is going

00:18:17
to vary depending on the crop. And the time that you treat it

00:18:22
is also going to vary anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.

00:18:26
Which This is why the larger seeded crops like your beans or

00:18:30
your zucchinis or your peas and stuff can't really be

00:18:34
effectively disinfested with a hot water treatment.

00:18:36
Because again, the temperature that's required to heat that

00:18:39
whole seed, because remember, we're trying to penetrate

00:18:42
through the center of the seed, that would kill the outer seed

00:18:45
tissue, and so the seed just wouldn't germinate.

00:18:47
But the nightshades and the brassicas are really good

00:18:49
candidates for this. And essentially all you're going

00:18:51
to do is you're going to have two different water baths.

00:18:55
You're going to have one that is heated to 100°F, and then the

00:18:59
other one is going to be heated to the treatment temperature.

00:19:02
And you start with that first bath because what you're doing

00:19:05
is you're preheating the seed so that when you put it into the

00:19:08
treatment bath, it doesn't drop the temperature of the treatment

00:19:12
bath. So you want to heat enough water

00:19:14
to allow the water again to move around those seeds really freely

00:19:17
and make sure you have a really accurate thermometer because

00:19:20
it's important that this water is maintained at a uniform

00:19:24
temperature. And it doesn't go above that

00:19:27
because we don't want to damage the seeds.

00:19:30
So you're just going to make a baggie for the seeds out of some

00:19:33
cheesecloth or, you know, insect netting or screen or whatever,

00:19:36
and fill the baggie about halfway full of your seeds.

00:19:40
Again, this is making sure that the water can move throughout

00:19:42
the the little baggie. And then you're going to put

00:19:45
something heavy in the baggie too, like a coin or some other

00:19:47
weight that's going to keep it down in the water, Preheat them

00:19:50
in the 100°F bath for about 10 minutes, and then you move it to

00:19:55
the treatment bath. And again, there's going to be a

00:19:57
specific temperature and there's also going to be a specific

00:20:00
time. So if we're looking at this for

00:20:02
tomatoes, the recommended temperature is 122°F and it's

00:20:06
for 25 minutes. So 10 minutes in the preheating,

00:20:10
the 100°F, and then 25 minutes in the treatment bath, which is

00:20:14
120°F. And again, you want to make sure

00:20:17
it stays at that 122°. It doesn't get too hot, it

00:20:21
doesn't get too cool. Let it do its thing for that 25

00:20:24
minutes and then you're going to take them out, pat them dry, let

00:20:27
them air dry, you know to to room temperature basically

00:20:32
7075°F, whatever. Just dry them out, lay them out

00:20:35
on a paper towel like you would before you were putting in the

00:20:36
storage. And at that point your seeds are

00:20:39
ready to plant. So that should take care of the

00:20:42
majority of those seed borne illnesses or borne diseases that

00:20:48
your tomato plant or your tomato seeds could carry into your

00:20:51
garden. If you're not sure whether or

00:20:54
not your seeds are going to remain viable, if this makes you

00:20:57
nervous, try a small batch of seeds 1st and then do the

00:21:02
germination test that we talked about in last episode just to

00:21:04
make sure that they are still viable.

00:21:06
But you know, this whole thing is better off being prevented by

00:21:12
just starting with healthy plants to begin with and just

00:21:15
avoiding all of that nonsense. All right, so once we have

00:21:21
collected and dried and possibly treated our seeds, how do we

00:21:26
store them properly to make sure that they stay good for the next

00:21:30
season? Just like almost anything else

00:21:32
out of our gardens that we intend to store for the long

00:21:34
term, our seeds are going to be happiest when they are stored in

00:21:38
a cool, dark and dry plate. So a dark closet in a cooler

00:21:42
part of the house is good if you have a dry, cool basement.

00:21:45
That's a good spot if you have a heated garage.

00:21:47
If you live somewhere where the temperatures get below freezing,

00:21:50
that is also a really good space.

00:21:52
The ideal storage temperature is between 35 and 40 Fahrenheit or

00:21:56
one to four Celsius. We also want a relative humidity

00:21:59
of less than 40%. The drier the better because

00:22:04
once that moisture tries to get back into the seeds, especially

00:22:07
if you don't have them in a, you know, like really secured

00:22:11
container, then that's going to cause them to want to suck up

00:22:15
that moisture and that might cause them to sprout.

00:22:17
So this might make you think that the fridge is actually a

00:22:19
good place to store. And yes, most refrigerators will

00:22:22
hold a temperature of about 40°F, but our fridges also have

00:22:28
a high relative humidity and that temperature is going to

00:22:31
fluctuate with people opening and closing the refrigerator all

00:22:34
day. So unless you have a specific

00:22:35
fridge that is dedicated to your seeds and it's not being opened

00:22:38
all the time, then the fridge is actually not your best option.

00:22:41
Neither is the freezer. You can actually damage the

00:22:44
seeds by temperatures that are too cold for too long.

00:22:48
I mean, this would depend on the temperature of your your

00:22:50
freezer, but you can use the freezer very briefly to kill any

00:22:55
insects or eggs that might be hiding in or on the seed.

00:22:59
So you could do that for a few days and then pull them out of

00:23:02
the freezer and store them elsewhere.

00:23:05
But what are we putting our seeds in?

00:23:07
OK, the general storage area is one thing, but what are we

00:23:11
actually putting them in individually?

00:23:14
This can be as simple and straightforward or as fancy and

00:23:17
creative as you want to be, just like everything else in the

00:23:20
garden. And this goes for the purchased

00:23:23
seeds that you may have leftover at the end of the season.

00:23:27
I absolutely always buy in bulk if I can, and I try to take

00:23:33
advantage of like end of season sales when I do that.

00:23:36
And I certainly am not using all of those seeds in one season.

00:23:39
So I always have a lot of seeds on hand from my suppliers in

00:23:43
addition to the ones that I save.

00:23:45
And knowing how to hold on to those the proper way is really

00:23:49
important. So you can either do just a

00:23:52
simple envelope with the name and the variety and the date

00:23:56
that you collected it written onto the envelope and then put

00:24:00
it inside a plastic sandwich baggie completely sealed up and

00:24:04
then put that into a shoe box. That would be fine.

00:24:07
You could, you know, even take it one step further and you can

00:24:09
put those envelopes into like a plastic container, Tupperware or

00:24:13
Gladware. Or if you have a large amount of

00:24:15
seeds, I have used the like the Rubbermaid totes or tubs.

00:24:20
Those are fine. You can use old spice jars and

00:24:22
make sure those are labeled and then store them in a dark place

00:24:25
so they're not being degraded by the light.

00:24:27
If you can put them in an envelope before you put them in

00:24:29
a spice jar, that's even better. You're blocking the light.

00:24:32
You're also preventing the moisture from getting in there.

00:24:34
CD cases, photo albums that have the large slip pouches in them.

00:24:39
Those are great for storing seeds.

00:24:40
You can have a labeled envelope and then slide it into the

00:24:43
plastic seed sleeve and then you can categorize them by like the

00:24:48
seed type or by season. These are my spring seeds, these

00:24:51
are my summer seeds, whatever. There are also those larger

00:24:55
photo storage boxes that have the individual pull out trays

00:24:59
that fit seed packs beautifully and you can color code them if

00:25:04
you really want to get fancy. And then also those little tool

00:25:08
boxes that have the individual little pull out drawers for

00:25:11
nails and screws. Those are really good for

00:25:13
storing seeds. Craft supply organizers, mobile

00:25:15
file boxes, whatever. You know, just whatever method

00:25:19
you choose, be sure that they're being stored in a cool, dark,

00:25:24
dry place and that you can protect them from rodents.

00:25:28
Mice love dried seeds stored in places that they have access to,

00:25:33
like a basement on a rural farm. Ask me how I know.

00:25:42
And honestly, seed saving can be a little addicting.

00:25:46
Once you get started, you might find yourself with way more

00:25:49
seeds that you know what to do with.

00:25:51
You're going to be giving them away to strangers, you're going

00:25:53
to be going to seed swaps, you're going to be giving them

00:25:54
as gifts. But it's important to know how

00:25:58
long those seeds are viable for before you get too carried away.

00:26:01
Certain seeds are longer lived in storage than others, and so

00:26:06
knowing which one is which is going to help you to plant which

00:26:09
seeds you need to save pretty much every season and which ones

00:26:13
you can save in bulk and just do every few years.

00:26:16
This also helps again, if you're buying in bulk and your seed

00:26:19
supplier is having an end of season sale or they've got an

00:26:22
overrun in the spring. So you know which ones you can

00:26:25
buy in bulk and not use up right away and then you can hang on to

00:26:29
for a while and which ones you do need to use immediately.

00:26:32
So Oregon State University, my alma mater, this is what they

00:26:36
have always said is the, you know, the actual life of our

00:26:39
seeds. Short lived seeds are ones that

00:26:42
you can store for one to two years and that's corn, onions,

00:26:47
leeks, parsley and parsnip. So these you likely need to be

00:26:51
collecting every year or every other year to use for the next

00:26:55
spring. Intermediate seeds, these are

00:26:58
ones that can store for three to four years.

00:27:01
Asparagus, beans, carrots, celery, peas and spinach.

00:27:06
So a little bit longer lifespan on those.

00:27:08
And then our long lived seeds are at least four to five years.

00:27:12
Some of these I know can go even longer than that.

00:27:14
We're looking at beets and Chard, anything in the Brassica

00:27:18
family, the cabbage family. So cauliflower, cabbage,

00:27:20
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, all those fun guys, Turnips,

00:27:23
radishes, cucumbers, and anything else in the curcubit

00:27:27
family. So zucchini, any of our

00:27:28
squashes, and then the nightshades.

00:27:31
Also eggplant, Peppers, tomatoes, plus our lettuces, and

00:27:36
then our Musk melons and our cantaloupe and our watermelon.

00:27:39
Those all can be stored for, like I said, at least for five

00:27:43
years. Some of them I have stored for

00:27:45
even longer than that. I will say that if you have

00:27:49
seeds that have gone beyond about that 4:00 to 5:00 mark and

00:27:53
you are questioning how well they are going to germinate for

00:27:57
you again, do that germination test that we talked about last

00:28:00
week. And if you see that your

00:28:02
germination percentage is less than 50%, then just double up on

00:28:05
the number of seeds that you plant.

00:28:07
And that is usually how I sort of get around it if I realize

00:28:10
too late that my seeds have likely expired and maybe I don't

00:28:14
have anything to replace them with.

00:28:17
So that's pretty much what you need to know about accurately

00:28:20
saving seeds and storing them properly.

00:28:23
Between last week's episode and this one, you are now fully

00:28:27
equipped to save seeds from your own garden that you can rely on

00:28:31
next season to produce new plants and new healthy fruit.

00:28:35
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating

00:28:37
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.

00:28:41
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Just Grow

00:28:43
Something podcast. For more information about

00:28:45
today's topic and to find all the ways you can get in touch

00:28:48
with me or support the show, go to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com.

00:28:53
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep learning and keep

00:28:55
growing.