Anyone else on here storing seeds for edible plants? I've got dozens of packages of heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds stored in mason jars, and I'm adding more every week.
FYI, from what I've read on several different sites, oxygen absorbers should NEVER be used when storing seeds.
Me again !! I've always heard even with heirloom seeds,they only last about 2 yrs or so.Is this correct and if so how will that help? Also I've read that the gov't is taking steps to try and get rid of all heirlooms seeds.A farmer confirmed that o me as well
Buying CU cents!!!! Paying 1.2 unlimited amounts wanted. Can pick up if near Ohio area.
I don't see why the government would be trying to get rid of heirloom seeds, since they are the backbone of crop reproduction and since the government has no business dictating what kind of seeds farmers use. Mega-agriculture companies like Monsanto, on the other hand, are trying to push heirloom seeds out of the marketplace because farmers who use heirloom seeds have no use for big corporation's seeds.
To keep seeds frozen you need a very low temp laboratory freezer that does not have a defrost cycle. Most modern home freezers are of the 'frost-free' type and all that cycling will eventually trash anything organic you put in them (i.e. your meats will eventually get 'freezer burn', other things get stale etc.
My very well informed (30+ years and two degrees in agriculture and horticulture) friend suggests -- to some extent -- hybrid seeds.
Hybrid, as it applies to crop seeds, is not necessarily a bad thing. The hybrids are specifically bred to resist disease. What you want to watch out for are terminator varieties, which produce seeds in the crop that will not produce the next generation of plants.
I'm no expert on this, but the next time I go out for beer and chicken wings with the expert, I'll pick her brain for a more conclusive dissertation between hybrid and heirloom seed virtues.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
Seed storage
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Posted - 01/04/2009 : 16:22:42
