I don't think you can freeze seeds long enough or low enough with standard household equipment to kill them. If anything the cold helps to preserve the seeds. I keep my saved seeds in the fridge year to year and have kept them for long periods in a freezer just fine. I also fight volunteer tomatoes each year in my garden and containers that over winter in zone 4.

Heat will kill seeds. I have been thinking about either microwaving my seedy scraps or starting to make veg stock using them before feeding to the worms. I just started a thread like this under the subject "stupid human..."

mr_yan: thanks for your comment. I will nuke them from now on.

I've never had sprouts from seeds, actually never thought about them much, but now that I'm reading this thread, I'm thinking the way I handle the food may be why. I eat a LOT of veggies and fruit, and all of the usable scraps go into a bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, I nuke it to thaw it out. I invariably end up leaving it in too long, so it goes in a strainer to cool and so the excess liquid can drain. It sits there for a couple of hours while I go run errands on Saturday mornings. When I get home it's reasonably dry and ready to go in the bin.

It has seeds from tomatoes, squash, peppers, apple and pear cores, all kinds of seeds. I've never found even one sprout.

I can identify with tomato volunteers, here in zone 6. We aren't as cold as zone 4, but the yard (most years) is covered in a couple of feet of snow for some time. It's funny to see where they can pop up!

Lynn

Lynn: I think your nuking did it. Thanks for your comment.