seed storage

so you would like to get ready for farming,
but you know that seeds don't last forever,
this means that you should not get any...

there are ways to store seeds so they will last your entire life,
this is the best info about seed storage that you will likely ever find,
it is written by someone that spent his entire life studying it
http://www.seedcontainers.net/a_guide_to_long-term_seed_preservation.html

after reading this I really wondered what the best approach would be for me to save my seeds,
ultra drying seems like a bad idea due to how hard it is to plant the seeds later.

and I don't have any CO2 or N2 to play with,
but I did have a vacuum pump,
so I decided to go with storing them in no air at all.

later I found this on the web
http://www.savingourseeds.org/pdf/vacuum_packing_seed.pdf (it is a pdf download, and the rest of the site is also good http://www.savingourseeds.org )
and found out form others that this works well,
carrot seeds lasts about 3 years just in an envelope
and they have been tested to last at least 20 years when stored at room temp under a vacuum
and they had perfect germination rates,
so that works,
but a tad hard to build...
never fear, there is an easy solution you can just buy,
and it is the food savers vacuum packing system for canning jars,
for wide mouth jars
for narrow mouth jars
and you will need a vacuum pump that gets a fairly good vacuum, something that removes 99% or more of the air is good.,
there are a few options, but the one easiest to use is likely made by the food savers people,
here it is

I used a pump from meant to dry out air conditioning systems in cars for when they are being repaired,
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html
you will need to make up the vacuum line and connect off the fitting to connect to the pump if you go that route, so it is a bit harder, but like I said, I already had the pump.

you can try to use a pump like this
http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html
and it will work, and is easy ish to connect,
but very hard to pump it fast enough to get enough of the air out.

 I liked the idea of using the Aspirator Vacuum Pump for it as it is low price and should do a good enough job, I have not got around to testing it, so you are in uncharted areas if you do, but it should be easy, just make sure to get one that has a relatively high vacuum (like the one I linked to)


now that the seeds are in a vacuum just toss the jar in the freezer to help out more,
 and in case the seal breaks and air gets in (I have had this happen)

my freezer at -20F

just remember to let the jars thaw out for quite a while before opening them or you will get moisture condensing on the seeds, and that will hurt them.

jar removed from freezer with ice condensing on them

so now you know how to store your corn and squash seeds for a few hundred years,

and make sure to label things,
nothing more annoying that looking for some seeds when they are all at -20F and stored with no air,
hard to get in there and read the seed packet names.

and if you are just looking for seed storage from one year to the next,
paper envelopes and a relatively dry and temperature stable place (like inside a home) works just great,
for more data like that read this great overview for regular seed storage,
or at least someone else's point of view
http://johnosbloggo.blogspot.com/2008/01/personal-seed-bank.html

now it is time to get a glass of ice water.