Each year you’ll inevitably run out of garden space and have a certain amount of seeds left over after planting. Don’t throw them out just yet! Depending on the type of seed and its quality, you may be able to store them and use them next year or the year after. In fact, some seeds, if properly stored, can be viable even after ten years. Some varieties of tomato seeds have even been known to germinate after as long as 16 years!
Tips for Storing Seeds
Storing unused vegetable or flower seeds does require some care. To remain viable, seeds must not be exposed to any moisture or extreme temperature fluctuations. They should be kept in a cool dry place. Some people store them in sealed plastic bags, while others keep them in glass jars in the refrigerator. Whatever works best for you is fine, but the important thing is that they not be exposed to moisture. Wetness can quickly cause mold to grow, killing the seeds.
Testing Seeds
Let’s say you have some seeds that are a couple of years old. At this point, you really can’t be certain if they are going to germinate, even if they’ve been stored under optimum conditions in a dry, cool place.
In this situation, you can test the seeds a few weeks before planting time by taking several seeds, placing them on a moist paper towel, covering it with plastic and placing it in a warm spot. Check back in a week or so and if you have sprouts you’ll know the seeds are viable.
Seed Life Chart
To help you figure out if your seeds are still viable, refer to the following chart, which indicates the life expectancies of certain types of vegetable seeds stored under ideal conditions. The chart has been modified from D.N. Maynard and G.J. Hochmuth, Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers
Vegetable – Years
Asparagus – 3
Bean – 3
Beet – 4
Broccoli – 3
Brussels Sprouts – 4
Cabbage – 4
Carrot – 3
Celeriac – 3
Cauliflower – 4
Celery – 3
Chard, Swiss – 4
Chicory – 4
Chinese Cabbage – 3
Collards – 5
Corn, Sweet – 2
Cucumber – 5
Eggplant – 4
Endive – 5
Fennel – 4
Kale –Â 4
Kohlrabi – 3
Leek – 2
Lettuce – 6
Muskmelon – 5
Mustard – 4
Okra – 2
Onion – 1
Parsley – 1
Parsnip – 1
Pea – 3
Pepper – 2
Pumpkin – 4
Radish – 5
Rutabaga – 4
Salsify – 1
Spinach – 3
Squash – 4
Tomato – 4
Turnip – 4
Watermelon – 4
Want to learn more about storing seeds and how long seeds will last?
Check out these helpful websites:
Storing Leftover Garden Seed from Ohio State University Extension Service
Go Through leftover Garden seeds from Oregon State University Extension Service
Can anyone suggest a good beginners guide for backyard companion planting in a temperate climate of NSW…Please…..Cheers
You can’t go wrong with a Yates garden guide. It’s a good place to start & it’s available most places, even Big W.
Gardening Calendar (Australian Temperate) | Deep Green …
https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/gardening-calendar-australian-temperate
2013-04-28 · a comprehensive “sow what when” monthly seed planting guide ; Please note, these gardening calendars are for Australian temperate climates (climates with a warm summer with an average January maximum temperature of less than 30 degrees Celcius and a cool winter). This includes most of southern coastal Australia from Melbourne and Adelaide through to Perth, the coastal region south of Sydney, the New South Wales tablelands …
companion planting is the same everywhere. it is based on which plants help each other by trading nutrients, or repelling pest from neighbors. the best one I have seen is from mother earth news.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw
Quite interesting information.
Cool. I have seeds still attached to the plants, hung up for a couple of years in my garage. Sometimes they are knocked down – now I have lettuces growing on my lawn, from when I sweep, lol.
lmao ! :LD
I have heirloom tomato seeds that are over ten years old. They are still viable I grew two plants last year & saved seeds to boost the dwindling supply. I find popping them into an envelope & storing them in a sealed tin, in a cool dark place works.
When you say sealed tin, are you just closing tin then putting tape around it????
I’ve got Whippersnapper cherry tomatoes producing fruit that were started from 20-year-old seed that was stored in the house except for last year when I forgot about them being in the garage. They still survived the Texas heat and humidity!
My dad had a tomato farm in the 40s. The land was turned into a subdivision and for over 20 years people were complaining about tomatoes coming up in their yards. I would not complain, but city folks only want green grass.
The colorful, striped Fish peppers and the beautiful purple Buena Mulata peppers would have been lost forever if not for William Woys Weaver finding the seeds in his grandfather’s freezer in the 1990’s where they had been for 50 years. The seeds that you can buy today for these two wonderful peppers are descendants of the seeds found in that old freezer.
https://www.rareseeds.com/william-woys-weaver-/
That is amazing.
Thank you and keep safe.
Liz
I would like to know what brand of freezer it is that would operate for 50 years.
I’m sure it’s not difficult to move the contents in a freezer to another one in the event of it breaking down.
I wouls suspect that the freezer was in storage and not in operation. therefor undisturbed cool dry storage.
My mamma’s 1960’s large chest freezer was still working well when we sold the family home in 2017. In the past, the USA built appliances to last: the ‘good ole days’.
hahaha .can`t speak to the 50 years but hope my 40 year old Kenmore makes it.
They don’t make them to last that long any more. Not a money maker.
Back in the old days things were made to last. We got a hand me down freezer when we got married that was every bit of 50 years old. A washer and dryer set got passed around to each new couple in the family and finally got sold outside the family at 35 years of age and still running. Yeah- they dont build stuff like they used to. They would rather fill up the land fills.
My brother is using a fridge that is well over 50 years old. There wasn’t a lot of brands to choose from. It’s not his primary fridge, it is his second fridge at his
cottage. And my other brother has a 1956 oven that looks new and works perfectly.
New refrigerators might last 7 years. Repairman will tell you to not get a new fridge. It is better to put the money into the old broken fridge (if the parts are available).
Kelvinator’s will run forever especially the old ones that weighed as much as a car well not that much but compared to the junk made today it seems that way
can Red Salvia seeds that are in sealed packets be refrigerated & saved for next years planting?
seed sellers say, of course, that old seeds should be thrown out, that they won’t grow. i am not against seed growers (except corn geneticists), but many seeds can be regenerated and grown if thoughtfully stored, potentially centuries later. give old seeds a try just for fun!
I store the geranium wallichianum seeds I collect in photographic film reel ‘boxes’ – round black plastic with grey snap shut lids. These work really well!
If yeast can retain the fermentation process for 1000’s of years Can a Marijuana seed from 100 years ago be duplicated?
I suppose so, but nobody can remember or care what the point was!
If I store seeds for many years (about 3 to 4) and plant them after tha , and they some how manage to germinate can I except them to grow to their fullest and make good produce?(Especially green beans seeds)
I threw some very old long bean seed into the garden. Nearly 2 years later they germinated & I am now getting a crop from seeds I though we too old to grow.
With the way the government is getting I would like to have many seeds froze up in my freezer so if times get tough I can plant them each year. Is it better to freeze or is it better to keep in tins in the dark.
I totally agree, that’s why I’m checking out storage methods! Take care.
I used to work in the WJ Beal Botanical garden at Michigan State. Dr Beal sealed jars containing seeds in sand and buried them on campus, and that experiment is still ongoing today. While I was there (2000-2005) we planted seeds from the 1879 study, and had germination of some various plant species. (Im not a scientist btw)
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dr-beals-seed-viability-experiment
From a fossil perspective, palm trees go back at the least eighty million years ago to the Cretaceous Period during the
instances of the dinosaurs. If in case you have simply planted the Trachycarpus fortunei in your backyard it is sensible
to offer it additional safety against the frost in at least the primary year.
Planting this plant will be completed the entire year spherical.
Alchemically, folks need equal unity with polarity and being whole.
For a long time, some individuals have associated the
date palm with the god of sun, Ra and as resurrection figurehead.
Female date palms bear fruit if a male tree is nearby, but not all species bear fruit
that is good for human consumption. Like many
different plants, palms have been threatened by human intervention and exploitation. Human use of
palms is as previous or older than human civilization itself, beginning with the
cultivation of the date palm by Mesopotamians and different
Middle Eastern peoples 5000 years or extra in the past.
Within the top of Egyptian culture, palm trees had been worshiped by many; a sign of
the significance of palms in historical instances is that they’re talked about more than 30 occasions in the Bible.
To learn extra about frequent physical traits of different palm species, read on!
I bought a bunch of seeds from 2008 through 2011. They’ve been stored in a cool, dark place. I’ve recently tried germinated some.
These seeds sprouted:
13 year old watermelon (high %)
12 year old:
basil (high %)
beans (high %)
broccoli (med %)
cabbage (med %)
Chinese cabbage (high %)
cucumbers (med %)
onions (high %)
peas (high %)
poc choi (high %)
spaghetti squash (low %)
10 year old iceberg lettuce (high %)
These seeds didn’t:
carrots, most squash, some lettuce, peppers
I was surprised by the high onion germination. All the crucifers held their longevity. Big seeds, no surprise they last longer. Surprised that squash don’t hold their own.
Store your seeds well and hopefully they’ll last longer. Or plant them!
Does anyone FREEZE seeds? Would it kill them, or put them into a dormant state?
Make sure your seeds are 100% dry first. I store mine in zip-lock bags in the freezer and have done it for years.
Thanks for the advice on freezing seeds.
I’ve had good luck saving Johnnies veg seeds; cukes (Soyu long), pole beans (fortex) butternut squash, etc. Can’t say enough ‘bout their quality. Buy open pollinated seeds while you can cuz it ain’t gonna last.