How To Store Seeds for Years...

Greetings Fellow Cannabis Connoisseurs

Over the Last Several Months, I Acquired Quite the Seed Collection.(Link)
I Managed to Accumulate 500+ Seeds, and Currently I'm Not even Growing so I Needed to Find a Way to Preserve these Amazing Genetics
With a Little Research and a Bit of Common Sense I Devised a Method.

Deep Freeze: IMO is Good For Storing for Decades or More. Bare in Mind a Small to Medium Percentage (20-35%) WILL be Lost Due to the Deep Freeze. The Seeds that Survive the Freeze Should Stay Viable for a Lifetime.

Refrigerate: I Plan on Using Most-All my Beans Within 3-5 Years. I Believe With the Proper Tact/Precautions the Fridge proved to be the Most Practical (Everyone has One, If Not Seed Storage is the least of Your Problems )

Seeds Store Best in Dark Places, a Cool, Steady Temperature is Important.
Moisture can be your Worst Enemy and you Best Ally. Too Much and the Bean will Germinate, not Enough and The Seed Will Dry Out. There is Enough Moisture in a Refrigerator to Actually Start Germination in a Seed. To Counter Act the Moisture I Use Instant Rice. The Instant Collects more Moisture than Regular Rice.

Problem was Keeping Several Different Strains Separated yet Combined in the Same Container.

Solution: Small Glass Vials

Used for Sample, Oils, Perfume, Cocaine, Ect.
They Can be Found at Spice Shops and Ebay.

Their Unit of Measurement is Called a Dram
1 Dram= Holds approx 1/8 Fluid Oz and is 1.75" High x 0.5" Diameter/Wide
I Found 1/2 Dram was perfect size for me (1.375"H x .375"W) which can hold up 40 seeds/Max with Rice. Although they are Ideal for 20-30 Seeds and Leaves Enough Extra Space for Plenty of Rice.


I Fill The Bottom With a Layer of Rice, Then a Layer of (10-15) Seeds...





Then Another Layer of Seed and Rice to Top it Off





Cap Installed





Although the Caps Fit Pretty Snug, I Use White Electrical Tape to Create an Even Better Seal, Also it Works Well for Labeling





I Then Use Black Electrical Tape to Block any Light from Penetrating the Vial, Which Also Prevents them from Braking if They Get Knocked Around





My Vials, All Ready for Next Step...

I Use a Small Mason/Ball Type Canning Jar





I Found the 6oz Jars are an Excellent Size (3.75"H x 2.75"W). Nice Thing is This Size is VERY Common, for Candles, Spices, the Larger Baby Food Jars. Lots of Recycled Jars on E-Bay

Sweet Thing is, They're Tall Enough I can Stack the Vials Inside. A Row of 14 on the Bottom + a Row of 14 on Top of Them for =28 Total Vials





I Fill All Remaining Space in the Jar With Rice





Just Like The Vials, I Cover the Entire Jar with Electrical Tape to Block Out any Light Penatration, then Seal the Lid with the Tape


Then In The Fridge it Goes




I Save all My Original Packaging in a Separate Jar



I Know All This May Seem a Bit Over Board However I have Close to $5K in Seeds, I Believe, Many of Which, Soon Won't be Available

I Hope This is Helpful to Someone!!
Keep IT Up Everyone!!


-Capt Dutch

Very KEWL thread love it much better way to store these suckers!!! May I make a suggestion instead of taping the jar although you can do that if that is all you have you could just buy an opace jar that had one of those automatic plastic seals when you close them. peace out Headband707

very nice, i like it.

you should report back here in 1,2,3,4,5 years when you germ these to show what % you got and if this is the best method. looks pretty sound to me.

Nice thread.
Thanks
Its a 'good' to know' kind of thing

Empire,

That is a great post!
This definitely should be a sticky or be in one of those "Links for things you need to know" posts.

K+ to you, my friend!

Nice post dutch...


Get to poppin' a few now while you wait for the results of the deep freeze

love it

If you are going to freeze seeds fridge first for a day or two then into deep freeze you will lose less viability because there is less chance of ice crystals forming in embryos. I use the fridge only and currently have beans close to 9 years old that mostly still all germinate. It really depends on where they came from to begin with, genetics, health of mother plant, ect. Great thread, only substitute I would make is white cotton q-tip ends instead of rice because it is inert and no chance of mold or bacteria that could occur with rice long term if it did become moist. +K to you!

SOTF420 said:

If you are going to freeze seeds fridge first for a day or two then into deep freeze you will lose less viability because there is less chance of ice crystals forming in embryos. I use the fridge only and currently have beans close to 9 years old that mostly still all germinate. It really depends on where they came from to begin with, genetics, health of mother plant, ect. Great thread, only substitute I would make is white cotton q-tip ends instead of rice because it is inert and no chance of mold or bacteria that could occur with rice long term if it did become moist. +K to you!

Click to expand...

Interesting addition to Freezing them Sounds correct to me, In fact...May be wise to thaw them out the same way.
As an Electrician , I Once went to a Frozen Seafood Processing Plant that Recently Closed. All The Food was Still There Cryogenically Frozen (-200° C!!).
I Don't Really Know The Technicalities, However to Move the Preserved Food, They Couldn't Simply Thaw out Food When it is THAT COLD They Had to Gradually Raise the Temp a Few Degrees Each day...
Thats Where I Came in , The Last Couple People that Still Had Their Job at the Plant, Were the People who Monitored the Temperatures of the Freezers. We where Installing a Remote Monitoring System, so The Temps could be Observed Elsewhere (We Took Our Time, So The Workers There Could Get a Final, Full Weeks Check )

Interesting Blurb from the Wikipedia Page on Cryogenics:
"Cryogenic storage at very low temperatures is presumed to provide an indefinite, if not near infinite, longevity to cells although the actual “shelf life” is rather difficult to prove. In experiments with dried seeds, researchers found that there was noticeable variability in deterioration when samples were kept at different ‘frozen’ temperatures–even ultra cold ones. Temperatures below the glass transition point (Tg) of polyol's water solutions (around minus 136°C) appear to be accepted as the range where biological activity very substantially slows down, and minus 196°C (liquid phase of liquid nitrogen) is the preferred temperature for the storage of important specimens. While fridges, deep freezers and extra cold deep freezers, all similar to domestic ones, are used for many items, generally the ultra cold of liquid nitrogen at -196°C is required for successful preservation of the more complex biological structures to virtually stop all biological activity."

BTW SOTF420, The "Q-tip ends" is a Commendable Idea, However it wouldn't work with these Vials. The Top Openings(Necks) aren't Wide enough (5mm) Some of the Larger Seeds where a close fit. Well I bet you could get the Q-Tips in. However getting them out Would be a Whole 'nother Struggle

I Don't Think the Rice will get Moldy or Nasty ...I've Never Read of anyone Having that Problem...

Think of When You Order Chinese Food, You Always get The Free White Rice. Because you got the Delicious Pork Fried Rice Unfortunately the White Rice Usually goes to Waste...When you (Maybe this ONLY Pertains to me

??) Come Back a Month or so Later , The Rice is Simply Dried out...Not Moldy or Even Nasty, and That was Moist when it was refrigerated...So I Think It'll be Fine

Thanks for The Input ...Please keep it Coming, I'd like this Thread to be Up for a little while so It can be Seen, to Teach

-Capt Dutch

You might win the award for the informative AND most animated postings in ICMag.

All good points!

i just watched a program a few days ago on freezing seeds i think it was on the history channel (modern marvels). it was based on freezing seeds from every strain like rice,wheat,corn,soy,etc in the artic below a glacier off of norway & also had a storage in a big building somewere else....they talked about freezing seeds at 0* degrees & they are good for like 50+ years & cryogenicly freezing theyre good for 400+ years im sure they lose germination to freezing but their storing thousands of seeds at a time anyway really cool stuff you could also use kitty crystals used in kitty litter to absorb any kind of moisture that may build up too.

nice job empire...

Thanks for the Kind Remarks Everyone!!

Not to Sound Ungrateful, I Thought this Topic, would Create more Feedback/Discussion...
Perhaps with Members Inherent Methods, Experiences, and or Constructive Criticism /



-Capt Dutch

Well I'm actually going to jump in here and say I don't agree with freezing seeds . I do believe their will be a degration of the seed and genetics the longer the seed is stored in the cold. Anyone who has pulled frozen food out of their freezer after years and seen food or any other seed knows this to be true. The seed itself starts to break down and I'm not sure how much of the genetics is lost but I would say the longer you keep it in the worse it must become. So myself I don't recommend keeping genetics for years and years in the freezer. Not sure why ppl keep these seeds for years anyways plant them already lol peace out Headband707

I have never frozen seeds personally but scientific research & real world efforts have proven it to be an effective means to preserve and store live seeds. Once a certain low temperature is reached the seed bascially remains in a state of suspended animation and biological processes cease therefore preventing any organic decay or aging of the embryo.

This is the positive side, now of course some of the seeds (usually 10-20%) will die when frozen due to moisture inside the embryo forming ice crystals which burst the living cells basically and kill the seed. Best bet is super cold fridge right above freezing it has always worked for me & everyone I know that stores seeds of any kind not just Cannabis seeds.

EmpireSeeds said:

Not to Sound Ungrateful, I Thought this Topic, would Create more Feedback/Discussion

Click to expand...

It does indeed! There is a sticky in the Breeder's forum: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=140233

Thank you for such a great thread!

Wish I ran into this a year ago.

great thread gonna have to try this got some genetics i don't want to loose

WOW excellent post! and you do indeed have a great eye for animated posting! LOVE IT!

Funny thing is I have been storing seeds exactly like this (minus all the black tape) for yrs. and I will attest that all your claims of good storage are true!

I have seeds that have been in my frige and freezer for over 10 yrs and i still get +/- 80% germ rates. This really is one great way to store seeds for any given length of time.

Like SOTF420 said, I agree putting them in the coldest part of the frige, usually the top shelf, just above freezing for a few days before putting them in the freezer is a much better idea and results in much less dead loss. Same goes for thawing them out, do it slowly in the fridge by moving them down a shelf every day or so.

THANKS! for posting it in such a excellent way! Should help out a lot of people.



SG