Long term sead storage, any ideas.

[sylvie]

I belong to Seed Savers Exchange
http://www.seedsavers.org/

The membership catalog has a wealth of seeds(thousands)and information. Members will go to great effort and detail when sending you seeds which are the cost of postage only.

"The New Seed Starter's Handbook" by Nancy Bubel is my bible!
http://books.google.com/books?id=uX...resnum=2&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
"Seed to Seed" by Ashworth is quite good, too:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/seed_to_seed/

I got both from the library, but ended up buying Bubel's book.

These are all for open pollinated non hybrid seeds.

Norway's Doomsday long term seed storage vault for long term storage on an arctic island:
http://environmental-activism.suite101.com/article.cfm/norway_doomsday_vault_project_open

 

[old fashioned]

I'm still in the experimental stage of seed saving. I've done annual vegetables for years with good results, but still working on those darn biennials like carrots. This past season/next season I'm trying cabbage if the freezes/chickens don't kill em off. My carrot experiments haven't done so well. I've gotten them to produce seed, but the seed didn't produce like expected. Most likely from my own failings, as I wasn't diligent in keeping the seeds seperate from new purchased seed. I've only bought Danvers as being OP variety. If any carrots survive this winter, I'll keep better track of them. Every year I try something new whether it's a different vegetable, growing or saving practice, etc. so I'm constantly learning. Including what not to do.
I'm already on the seed catalog request mission for next season and hitting every site I can find, including already posted sites. Alot of seed companies aren't printing paper catalogs anymore and only selling directly from the site. This is frustrating for me because I don't have a credit card to buy online and don't know anyone who does to buddy up with.
Anyway, back to the original post.......I would think if you bought the seeds, planted them, saved those seeds for next season-you really wouldn't need long term storage since you're constantly rotating your stock, even if you had several years worth of seed. If it were me, I'd still save the seed from each years harvest, label the seed with variety/date saved and keep it seperate from last year/older seeds in order to always have a fresher/newer supply. And I'd keep plenty more seed than I'd need for bartering purposes. Ya never know if seeds will be the next "gold" commodity. JMHO

I would like to know more about how the Seed Savers Exchange membership thingy works. Can you just buy the seeds outright? or do you need to exchange some of your own seed for other seed? or what? (yes I'm a natural blonde, and the older I get the more it shows )

 

[Sunny]

I was reading a book and in it they listed how long seeds usually last. I will list book title later. Its not downstairs.

Beans, Lima 3 years
Beans, Snap 3 years
Beets 4 years
Broccoli 3 years
Cabbage 4 years
Cabbage, Chinese 3 years
Cantaloupe 5 years
Carrots 3 years
Cauliflower 4 years
Chicory 4 years
Chives 2 years
Corn, Sweet 3 years
Cucumbers 5 years
Lettuce 6 years
Onions 1 year
Parsley 1 year
Parsnip 1 year
Peas 3 years
Peppers 2 years
Pumpkins 4 years
Radish 4 years
Rutabaga 4 years
Spinach 3 years
Squash 4 years
Tomatoes 4 years
Turnip 4 years
Watermelon 2 years

Thought this might be helpful to others.