705: How do you store your seeds.
A chat with an expert on seeds.
At least ten times a year we have a live Seed Saving Class with Bill McDorman, the former Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.
Come join us for the next live class, or catch up on our previous classes through our podcast episodes. Either way you will expand your seed knowledge and gain new perspectives on your food system.
Register anytime for the next event.
Register Here for the Monthly Seed Saving Class with Live Q&A
In This Seed Chat:
This is the October 2022 class discussing how to store your seeds. The most asked question we get in all our educational programs is “How do you store your seeds?” Our quick answer is the mantra: keep your seeds cool, dark, and dry. But there are a few other tricks of the trade to make sure that your seeds will germinate year after year and not necessarily what is indicated on your seed packet. We’ll cover that as well so you can understand why seed packets have an expiration date of between 15 to 18 months.
CHAT HIGHLIGHTS:
— Do seeds expire?
— Common seed expiration dates and how they were determined
— Open call for information on who created the expiration list
— Heirloom California Onion seeds from the 1940’s
— Germ testing for seeds to determine average starting success
— Seed libraries are resources for seeds that are “expiring” and need a home
— Best temperatures for seed storage
— Impermeable containers are best
— Opening cold seeds at room temperature and why
— Dr. Bruce Bugby and his study on seeds in preparation for traveling to Mars
— Why 80 degrees Farenheit is an important temperature to watch for in seed storage
— Ancient seeds found in clay pots
— Corn seeds and how storing has kept this crop viable
— Standards on humidity and what we don’t understand
— Bill’s experience with 30 year old seeds stored in cardboard boxes
— The Grain Project and the goal to plant 10,000 varieties
— The 10 year question – do we have it?
— The Great American Seed Up is here to build seed sustainability
— Mini Seed Ups through Seed Up In a Box — Abundance – a lettuce head example — A tease on what Bill learned on his trip to Indiawww.urbanfarm.org/seed22oct
*Disclosure:
Some of the links in our podcast show notes and blog posts are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase, we will earn a nominal commission at no cost to you. We offer links to items recommended by our podcast guests and guest writers as a service to our audience and these items are not selected because of the commission we receive from your purchases. We know the decision is yours, and whether you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
