I'm a neophite so I can't help, but I do have a question - why do you want to save seeds for so long?

Personally I prefer to avoid storing in plastic. Seeds don't fully dry prior to storage, even if processed perfectly, so sealed in plastic that moisture is prime breeding ground for mold.

I will ship some trades in small plastic bags but prefer to use paper for long term storage and keep them in a cool, dry location. JMO

Dave

Some people people put seed in the freezer in order to extend the seeds fertility, even though some people, like Dr. Carolyn, have excellent results not freezing their seeds. The concern I acutally have is if there is a problem with thawing and refreezing and so on. For example, after an earthquake my power could be out for several days. In that case my seed will eventually thaw and did not know if refreezing them is problematic.

Tom

Hiker, one of the things that must be considered when freezing is the moisture content of the seeds at the time freezing is done. Most of what I've seen on this so far is to get the moisture content down to about 6%. Too much and the seeds will be destroyed by the crystallization.

Digdirt has it right. Store in paper and keep in a cool, dry place. This past spring, I successfully germinated some older seeds that I had thought I had lost, but found in a box of pictures. Those seeds were originally harvested in 1989. So, freezing (IMHO) is risky. I also germinated seeds from 2000, 2001, and 2003 this year and hardly noticed that they were from those years.

Go to Office Depot or Staples and get you box of "Coin Envelopes". They make great storage containers for seeds. They stack nicely. And you can write on them.

Ted

I'd be concerned about condensation at thaw out time so I don't freeze or refrigerate seeds.

Seems like you'd have to plant the whole bunch or risk mold.

Cool, dry, dark storage works well enough.

Storing seeds in the freezer is something done by seedbanks but I don't see the use for the home gardener at all. If you want to store seeds in the freezer to help prolong seed viability for up to 20 years or so, then fine, go to it after you've used silica gel to lower the moisture content to about 6-8% which was mentioed above.

I send seeds in coin envelopes but don't store them in coin envelopes b'c I have too much seed to store. Some I store in plastic screw cap vials and others I store in regular envelopes and both are kept at ambient room temp and my 5 yo seed germinates at 50-60 % and often higher and after about 6-7 years I just double sow and after about 12 years I may do some magic to wake up those seeds. LOL

my personal record for waking up old seeds is 22yo seed but the documented record is 50 yo seed just stored in a filing cabinet.

These days I only save seeds ( most of my seed production is done by someone else bc of my being in a walker now) of varieties that are very very rare and hard to get and in some cases I'm the only one growing them and then list them in the SSE YEarbook and the best of them I send for trial to Sandhill Preservation, TGS and Victory Seeds, but not each place necessarily gets the same seeds . (smile)

Carolyn