storing seeds in cold weather

[Puffaluffagus]

How cold is too cold for storing seeds?
I know some people put them in the fridge, so I'm assuming a little cold is ok.
But what is to cold?
Below freezing?
Or is even that fine?

I don't think it's going to get lower then 10 degrees in the spot I'm thinking, but is that to cold for them?

 

[lost in a sea]

generally 5-8 celcius,, most importantly in a kilner locking jar with silica in there.. moisture is more detrimental than temperature..

with perfect amount of moisture content in the seed you can go below freezing without harm but we dont require that really..

that spot sounds ok but fluctuations in temp are not good..

 

[2 Legal Co]

If you do some reading on the net about Heritage Seeds, etc......... There seems to be a general theme, the seeds are generally stored in airtight, dry, freezing temps., in the dark.

Read one paper where a community had dedicated a chest freezer to seed storage. They kept everything double covered in paper envelopes. The contents were logged in a 3 ring binder, for referencing, owner, file name, strain, etc..., and the freezer was only opened a couple of times a year. Seeds waiting to be stored or planted were kept in a refrigerator till the 'openings'.

It also noted that they filled the 'empty' space in the freezer with full milk jugs. This was done to make the operation of the unit more efficient, and to keep the seeds frozen longer if the power failed, or the freezer died.

Saw a Doc. on PBS, about an International Facility, that was built underground in the frozen Tundra. IIRC, there were seeds from over a hundred countries stored there.

Also read that 'drying down' too far is not a good thing either tho. Something about less than 10% iirc, was detrimental to viability, as well. This was mentioned a being a 'bone of contention',,, and was not documented however.

I know my 'old farmer' Dad, always advocated freezing before planting garden seeds. He was born in the late 1800s, on a farm, so I tended to listen when he spoke. (If I didn't I'd get a rap with his 'cane'. lol)

That said, our 'saved' seed, always seemed to grow.

Bottom line; Freezing seems to be OK and Desirable,,,,IF you keep them frozen. NO freeze/thaw cycles! And Frozen is probably best for long term stroage.... i.e. strains you are looking to retain.

I wish I'd done it in the 70s, but who knew? How great would it be to pop some 'heritage' gold, or red? If only I'd put back a few hundred of each strain of the 'best shit',,,,, instead of pitching them? Nother toke. Bummed myself out.

On edit; lol That's better!

 

[lost in a sea]

no you dont want to dry any seed from any plant more than 10%.. and some cant be dryed at all without killing them..

silica dessicant is to make sure the humidity doesnt rise anymore than it is already..

if you want something to last upwards of 20 years then long storage at subzero is advised but you then go into the realm of if you dont do it right you lose more viability than it is worth..

the facility you're thinking of is the "world seed bank" in svalbard,, owned by elites just in case something happened to destroy most of life on earth, which coicidentally only the powers that be can accomplish

the problem with freezing any form of life is the damage from ice crystals within cells..

 

[Puffaluffagus]

Thanks for the responses so far.
So a dip down to 10 degrees should be OK?
And we would only be talking about a few weeks, as it's mid march. and it has to warm up sooner or later.

It would be in an unheated out building, and I imagine the fluctuations would be from 10-40 degrees, with the lows being in the night, and it may not even get that cold

 

[lost in a sea]

10-40 in farenheit yeah no problem,, in celcius it would be a big problem lol,, just jar them up if you can.. i still get good germ rates from 10 year old ganja seeds.

can anyone else see the word ganja underlined in my last sentence? i don't know what that's about

 

[2 Legal Co]

no you dont want to dry any seed from any plant more than 10%.. and some cant be dryed at all without killing them..

silica dessicant is to make sure the humidity doesnt rise anymore than it is already..

if you want something to last upwards of 20 years then long storage at subzero is advised but you then go into the realm of if you dont do it right you lose more viability than it is worth..

the facility you're thinking of is the "world seed bank" in svalbard,, owned by elites just in case something happened to destroy most of life on earth, which coicidentally only the powers that be can accomplish

the problem with freezing any form of life is the damage from ice crystals within cells..

Thx; That IS the facility I was referring to.

Should be, I think; Dried to not Less than 10%.

My impression of the folks that are involved in the Int Seed Bank, were folks who wanted to retain heritage genetics. Got the impression they didn't approve of genetic modification?

But I Have been wrong before!

 

[growbig789]

I keep all my seeds, cannabis, vegetable, flower in containers in the fridge... been sprouting various seeds lately that are a couple years old from the fridge, no problems

 

[lost in a sea]

Got the impression they didn't approve of genetic modification?

But I Have been wrong before!

who said anything about gmo?

the elites made agripharma corps like monsanto, trust me they dont want to be eating that shit, they know what it does..

 

[2 Legal Co]

Thanks for the responses so far.
So a dip down to 10 degrees should be OK?
And we would only be talking about a few weeks, as it's mid march. and it has to warm up sooner or later.

It would be in an unheated out building, and I imagine the fluctuations would be from 10-40 degrees, with the lows being in the night, and it may not even get that cold

Puff; Don't rely on our perhaps, spotty memories. Google 'Heritage seed storage', and start reading.

A deep freeze goes Down a ways, so I'm not Even convinced that there is a 'bottom' number, shy of liquid nitrogen,,, of course.

If minus Zero F, were a problem, there wouldn't be Any Volunteer weed north of the Mason Dixon line. We know that's not the case, as 'Volunteer' Hemp left over from the government 'war effort' days, is readily available.

There's a reason we call it 'Weed'! It durable,,,, more than you think. But for 'long term storage', I'd guess it counts.

 

[2 Legal Co]

who said anything about gmo?

the elites made agripharma corps like monsanto, trust me they dont want to be eating that shit, they know what it does..

That was my (perhaps flawed) recollection of what the PBS Documentary was about.

Did you see it yet? I think it's been recycled for a few years now, on PBS.

Didn't mean to de-rail the thread, however. Let's just say I'm WRONG? And leave it at that.

on edit; And I'm Damned sure you are right about the 'elites'. I'm guessing they Know the damage they are doing.

 

[Puffaluffagus]

If minus Zero F, were a problem, there wouldn't be Any Volunteer weed north of the Mason Dixon line. We know that's not the case, as 'Volunteer' Hemp left over from the government 'war effort' days, is readily available.

There's a reason we call it 'Weed'! It durable,,,, more than you think. But for 'long term storage', I'd guess it counts.

See, that's what I'm thinking.
My old roommate(we were up by the Canadian border) used to clean his weed, and just throw the seeds out the front door.
The next spring up pops all these little seedlings.
So these seeds laid out there for months under the snow and ice, with temps going down below zero, and they germed and grew just fine without any attention givin to them at all.
Once they were recognizable we had to chop them, can't have a mini field going in the front yard for the world to see, lol.
I like all the technical answers, I was looking for a simple "yeah that will be fine" Or "hell no, you'll kill them all"
But these in depth responses are very educational for me.
Keep'em coming.

 

[2 Legal Co]

Puff;
Here's more than you can read in a year.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=heritage+seed+storage&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=International+seed+bank&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[2 Legal Co]

See, that's what I'm thinking.
My old roommate(we were up by the Canadian border) used to clean his weed, and just throw the seeds out the front door.
The next spring up pops all these little seedlings.
So these seeds laid out there for months under the snow and ice, with temps going down below zero, and they germed and grew just fine without any attention givin to them at all.
Once they were recognizable we had to chop them, can't have a mini field going in the front yard for the world to see, lol.
I like all the technical answers, I was looking for a simple "yeah that will be fine" Or "hell no, you'll kill them all"
But these in depth responses are very educational for me.
Keep'em coming.

For short term; Double bag in paper, add rice,,, put in Mason jar, and throw them into the frig. Good to go.

on edit; Now, we'd both be out there, transplanting those volunteers. I'm a think'n.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Ten degrees shouldn't be an issue but if they're frozen don't thaw them until you're ready to sprout.

Thaw them by slowly raising temps... ie fridge then a quick cold water soak to medium over about three days.

 

[lost in a sea]

unfortunately/fortunately i'm not in america so i may not have..

i'm 100% sure especially since the owners of the "world" seed bank are one of the 13 most powerful families of the crown corporation the rockerfellers (rockerfeller foundation).. others by men like bill gates that want to sterilise africa.. dont hold out any hope for getting those seeds shared with you after some global catastrophe lol..

the idea for agripharma companies like monsanto and things like the codex alimentarius were cooked up by the offspring of people that mostly went to america and argentina from germany after wwII in projects odessa and paperclip and various others,, the double SS goes back along way and is synonymous with these historical terrorists..

the propaganda cooked up by the media is run by this "class" or sect of bloodlines.. hollywood is fully controlled by them,, after the second world war the worlds cinema studio filming industry moved from germany to america.. and alot of the "celebrities" around, the "stars", are quite(strangely) closely related.. the same for the political class in america.. when you look back at who their parents were.. takes alot of time digging to build a picture up of all these people just in the last 100 years that have been working against us and betting against us whilst pretending to be us and at the same time making the world sick, sinful and negative..

and these people seem to have predestined paths in life as though some hidden hand guides them together early in life to get to work doing its bidding.. like the bavarian grove just for example

the word media comes from the place media, the medes ,the people from media, mind controlled people and that is what they still do today, and that is what alot of the testing done in germany was about.. the four doctors of death, mk ultra experiments ,, most famous was mengel or dr green..


i'd imagine you dont want to know what they did to people and children and what they subsequently did with that knowledge, but lets just say its woven through everyday life on many levels.. mostly mind control and cloaking pollution to plant what they want



many industries are run by the same corporations today that were originally set up to get germany fighting.. kraft,bayer and bayer,siemens,vw group,bmw etc etc(the list is astonishing) they are winning out in the economic climate that has been created since 2008 and this is on purpose because they are fascists and so are the bankers.. all doing the bidding of a blueprint for "change" as obummer sells it.. we'll give you order, just after the chaos..


now that is how you derail a thread lol

That was my (perhaps flawed) recollection of what the PBS Documentary was about.

Did you see it yet? I think it's been recycled for a few years now, on PBS.

Didn't mean to de-rail the thread, however. Let's just say I'm WRONG? And leave it at that.

on edit; And I'm Damned sure you are right about the 'elites'. I'm guessing they Know the damage they are doing.

 

[Max Headroom]

^^^
quite true.

actually i was just wondering about sub-0 temps for seeds. my fridge isn't the best and when its hot outside (or inside) sometimes a few things freeze. i got my small seed coll. in there. i started to germ 4 spoetnik #1 beans 10 days ago - one came up after 5, one after 7 but the other two are no-shows. wondering if it's the seedstock or my storage. i guess i'll know when i start a 5-pack of mekong high today.

 

[2 Legal Co]

^^^
quite true.

actually i was just wondering about sub-0 temps for seeds. my fridge isn't the best and when its hot outside (or inside) sometimes a few things freeze. i got my small seed coll. in there. i started to germ 4 spoetnik #1 beans 10 days ago - one came up after 5, one after 7 but the other two are no-shows. wondering if it's the seedstock or my storage. i guess i'll know when i start a 5-pack of mekong high today.

Sorry to hear of your woes. OUCH! Freeze thaw is one of the 'triggers' that wake them up. I think I'd dump the frig. or find a cool corner in the basemanet/crawl space, to store them.

It'd be better to put them in the 'freezer' where they'l stay frozen, IF you don't have an 'auto defrost' model.

All of this discussion does make me curious as to what percentage of 'naturally planted' seeds germinate. We see the ones that do come up.... but how many don't? Or further still, how many come up in subsequent years,,, and for how many years, if so?

When you look at the hundreds of seeds produced by one small plant. In some instances thousands of seeds are produced. If the germ rate was as high as 50% in 'nature', how many plants would be produced? Of course 'predation' by animals and birds is, I expect, substantial.

I'm Certainly not an expert on the subject. You can read all that I have, and much more. So it's easy to be more educated on the subject, than I.

 

[Max Headroom]

Sorry to hear of your woes. OUCH! Freeze thaw is one of the 'triggers' that wake them up. I think I'd dump the frig. or find a cool corner in the basemanet/crawl space, to store them.

well, they were all the way up in the 'egg' section, so i don't even know if they ever actually froze. some juice way down got partially frozen and it happened < 5 times in a year. i'll get a new fridge, i promise, but not now... no money ;-)