# Long Term Seed Storage



## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Who all here got super long term seed storage? 

I wanna buy heirloom seeds an store em fer a very long time.

What I've found be ta store em in a mylar bag an then inta the freezer. Is this what yall do? Got a better way?


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## Jewel (Sep 6, 2014)

excellent topic!

I'm a long time seed saver, pretty close to 30 years. I've done a lot of testing for age/storage/viability, I'm a bit of a mad scientist that way. What I've found is that if the seeds you have are very viable and have a good strong germination rate from the beginning they will stay very viable for many years stored in nothing but paper and kept cool and dry. 

One of my first tests was on corn my grandfather saved and passed down to me. It was an heirloom corn but neither of us wrote the name down and I've since forgotten but I'm pretty sure it was a dent or flour corn. This was Way before GMOs. 

Anyway, my first test was when the seeds were 21 years old. they had been stored the whole time in a paper envelope and in a cool dark place. The first test was 10 seeds and all 10 germinated. I grew the corn and saved all for seed. The second test was the next year and 9 out of 10 germinated. Our geese got into the corn when it was young and destroyed all of it. 

Other things happened and i didn't try again for another 5 years. At around 27 years old 9 out of 10 seeds germinated. I grew them and saved all for seed. I only have about 100 to 150 of the fresher seeds left because I dispersed them with other growers over the years to keep such a hardy wonderful corn alive. I also still have some of the original seed given by my grandfather. Because I don't know the name of it I call it Emmett Corn, after my grandfather and it's now around 30 years old. 

So that was the oldest seed I've ever tested for viability and against that and my own saved seed compared with purchased seed I can say that the purchased seed, no matter where it has come from, has a much weaker germination and viability weakens much quicker. 

In short, it seems that saved seed generally has close to 100 percent viability even after 10 years while purchased seed seems to degrade after just 3 or 4 years. They're still viable but germination rates goes down more quickly. Expensive, organic seed had about a 2/3 germination rate at 4 years. these were all stored the same way, paper, dark, cool and dry.

I have two storage methods, the above and in paper then in glass jars. 

Although freezing probably prolongs life to a certain degree, I am against it. If there is power loss and the seed go from freezing to normal temperatures it will degrade them at a faster rate. In my opinion it's best to keep them at a consistent cool temperature like that of a pantry or other cool room. 

I would also never store them in plastic of any kind. But we do what we can and any stored seed is better than no seed. 

I keep seed and garden journals and they help a lot.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

I saved a bunch of different seed 10 years ago in vacuum food saver bags. I should break some of them open this spring and see how they do. Some are heirloom, some are not.

Every year since then, I have vacuum packed all of my left over seed after planting the garden. Plus I buy extra heirloom packets and save them too. 

None of these are seeds that I saved from harvesting. I really need to get started on saving my own seeds.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

From the article, "The seeds are stored in four-ply sealed envelopes, then placed into plastic tote containers on metal shelving racks. The storage rooms are kept at −18 °C (−0.4 °F). The low temperature and limited access to oxygen will ensure low metabolic activity and delay seed aging. The permafrost surrounding the facility will help maintain the low temperature of the seeds should the electricity supply fail."

"Seeds are packaged in special four-ply packets and heat sealed to exclude moisture."

While it's unlikely any of us could afford to keep seeds refrigerated in anything other than a regular freezer, I would think that seeds in an envelop stored in a 5 gallon sealed Mylar bag with oxygen absorbers would suffice. I can see using a canning jar too with perhaps an inert gas since it appears moisture and oxygen are what you want to avoid.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

I sill have some Tomato seeds that my FIL gave use over 20yrs ago. Last spring I planted some of them and had 100% germination. They have been stored all that time in a plastic medicine bottle in the kitchen cupboard. I do have a tin of a variety of heirloom seeds in a cool place, but I also have Tomato, Squash and pepper seeds saved in small Tupperware containers that seem to do just as well.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

We have some commercially canned seeds we keep in a kitchen cabinet for SHTF & the seeds we plant out of in the packages they came in & plastic shoe boxes. We just got our canned seeds so we don't have any long term data on them.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

I have stored a variety of seeds for going on 20 years now. Most of mine are in paper or old medicine bottles stored in the dark and cool of our basement. Things like melons, squash, tomatos, peppers, beans, corn, pumpkins and such seem to hold up well. I've never counted a germination rate, but never had a failed crop either from seed not being viable. Varmits on the other hand....

To me the key is to keep them cool and dark. I have no doubt there are ways to keep them for many years. But to me 5 years is plenty, cause I'll be growing them again to get more seed by that time.


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## ronpeck (Dec 26, 2014)

You can use that seeds for plantation .


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