Seed life expectancy

[Travis]

In the preparedness forum there was some talk of seed life and I didn't get that topic off track so I'll ask here

1) How long do seeds last on average??

2) Heard that certain seeds can be used to grow food but the seeds in those foods where sterile, thus why heirloom are best.

3) Lastly something I have never done nor seen done if you are taking seeds from the food you are growing how is it done, I get how to get them out but from there on do you wash them, dry them. What about storage?

Thank you I need to get a stock pile going this summer and if I cannot use a certain brand/type I would rather avoid those and spend my money where it will do the most good.

[Anon001]

Seed storage can be as complicated or as easy as you make it.

Some hybrids will provide good seed and some won't. The seeds won't necessarily be sterile, but they can sometimes produce a fruit from the parent plants that produced the hybrid. In other words, the fruit or vegetable you get may not be the same variety as what you got the seeds from. This doesn't apply to ALL hybrids, only some.

I normally don't wash seeds. I have but, I just make certain they are completely dry before I store them.

I have a friend that buys Kool-Aid in those plastic containers... I think some lemonade drink mix comes in them as well. They make perfect seed storage containers. I never put mine in the freezer, or refrigerator.

As to length of viability... Most seed is fine the next year. It isn't as if the seed is viable one day and not the next. Basically, if you have 1000 seeds and store them, the germination rates begin to drop off. With some seeds, a 90% to 95% germination the next year is great and for some it may only be about 85% and continues to drop the longer you have the seed.

Some seed can be viable for a very long time.

I'm sure Martin or someone else will be able to give you some good links on germination rates vs. time.

I just save all I can and I know that to expect 100% germination is not realistic. So, I plant what I can save and don't really worry about it.

Paul

[AlchemyAcres]

The best answer to how long seeds will remain viable, is, "it depends".
Depends on the species, care in harvesting and storing the seed, etc.

Here's a VERY general table of seed life expectancies.

Approximate life expectancy of vegetable seeds stored under favorable conditions.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/veghandbook/appendix/table13.html

For an EXCELLENT crash course in seed saving...here's a 20 page booklet that sums it up like no other!

http://www.seedambassadors.org/pdfs/seed%20saving%20zine%202%20for%20reading.pdf

(3.56 MB PDF File!)


~Martin

[Travis]

Thanks Martin.

[pubwvj]

I've used seeds that were ten years old and over 80% sprouted just fine.

Pumpkins is one seed I save in a big way. They do really well, planting from one year to the next from last year's crop. Separate any groups of course. Unfortunately, this year was a massive failure for our pumpkin crop.

Cheers,

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in Vermont

[AlchemyAcres]

Tomato, Eggplant, Squash/Pumpkin, Cucumber, Watermelon, Turnip and Radish seeds and some others, often remain viable well past what's conservatively expected.


~Martin

[cubcadet]

We got some fresh seed like minonette strawberry and di Ciccio brocolli from Seed Savers and they were either infertile or sprouted and were visibly weak after sprouting. By contrast, we got a big order of storable food from the Mormons in 1996 or 7, I think, and it had a nice big can of non hybrid seed all sealed in aluminum foil packs. The Jubilee corn sprouted during the last test I ran last winter, about 99%. A few seeds, like cucumber, parsnip, and melon were all infertile. Most of the other seeds had a mixed result. So, there are lots of variables in this seed saving thing. I tend to think that the foil packaging is really the way to go.

Personally, I freeze all our seed packs in the big ziplock baggies, even the ones we harvest ror saving.

cub