Seed Storage Blunder | Learn From Me, Avoid this Mistake

Well, here I am. Sharing a tip that I didn’t want to learn. Sometimes in life you can take short cuts, but as it turns out. This isn’t one of them. I made a crucial error in seed storage and I’m sharing so you won’t make the same one.

Seeds will last almost forever if they’re stored properly. Fact: there’s a heirloom tomato named after Abe Lincoln because he grew them in his garden. So yeah, seeds can last a long time.

It’s important that seeds are totally FREE of moisture and water before you put them away for storage. It’s like the number one rule of seed storage. Many people will tell you that seeds need to dry out in a cool, dark place for at least 30 days. Those people would be correct.

I just went into my seed catalog to check on a variety of carrot I’m planning for and I saw this mess.

Over a year ago I started planning for the life I wanted to live -a more self sufficient life away from depending so heavily on the centralized food system. I began to save seeds from every vegetable we ate in our house so I could grow them the following spring. In order to save them for long term storage I followed every direction I read online explicitly, which was LET THEM DRY COMPLETELY. This year I cut a corner saving my new seeds and only let them sit out for about 2 weeks. They felt dry. It was warm. When I picked them up and let them fall onto the plate they made a familiar hollow sound. So I told myself they were ready to be put away. I was wrong.

I’m not going to be able to salvage these. They also smelled terrible. I thought I’d open the bag check to see if any of them germinated. No such luck. I still have plenty of seeds from 2021 that I’ll use again next year.

If you’re saving seeds for your own garden or homestead, make sure you let them dry completely.

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