Frozen seeds - Ask Extension
I have only been gardening for three years. I have learned to save seeds from store bought as well as garden grown produce to regrow the following yea...
Knowledgebase
Frozen seeds #490167
Asked October 13, 2018, 7:15 PM EDT
I have only been gardening for three years. I have learned to save seeds from store bought as well as garden grown produce to regrow the following year.
Over the time that I have gardened, I have a lot of seeds saved. I am sure there is a time limit before they will no longer germinate and need to be tossed. I asked my mother, who has gardened for many years, about how long they stay good for and she told me to freeze the seeds to trick them into thinking that it is winter. Is this really good advice?
Winnebago County Wisconsin
Expert Response
Seeds germinate in the presence of warmth and moisture, so the best conditions for storage are the opposite of that: constant cool, dry conditions. For longer-term storage (more than one year) the freezer is an ideal place as it does all of those things, but if you intend to plant them the following season it's not going to make that much of a difference in the germination rate. If you do store seeds in the freezer they must be dry; if there is any moisture that will cause the seed to expand and kill the embryo. Regardless of how or how long they are stored, viability does decline, but some seeds naturally last much longer than others.
Some good resources on saving seeds include:
