Hi everyone, did a quick (but not very thorough search) and I couldn't find any information regarding techniques which help reduce humidity during seed storage. Currently i'm storing some bubblegum and blueberry seeds inside a small cardboard box in a dark spot in my house, and they're in the original, small ziplock bags. My first thought was to throw a bunch of dry instant rice inside to help suck up moisture. Any better ideas or tried and tested techniques?
I store mine in the bottom of the fridge. The original plastic bags they came in thrown into a pasta sauce jar. I use one of those silica gel packages in the jar to help w/moisture. Then I put the jar in a brown paper bag to keep the light out.
You can get hermetically sealed jars from any good kitchen store. Put a sachet or pack of silica gel at the bottom of the jar and then put your seeds in the jar in a zip lock bag. Leave on the top shelf of your fridge - the bottom can get below 4 degrees c which will kill the seeds - and they should be good for at least 6-8 months.
Anyone know where to get silica packs? Maybe they are common, I've just never looked for them. I guess I can raid my otc medicine bottles. Or eat some jerky.
I was thinking in store. I do see ten packs of color changing silica for 1.99. I have at least that invested in seeds. might be worth it.
be careful with some of the coloured ones as if they absorb a lot of moisture some of the colour can leach out and stain anything it touches - not good especially if it accidently comes into contact with your beans.
I've stored seeds for 3 years in a little zip lock bag with a little bit of rice in the fridge and had a 100% (4/4) germination rate. Not sure how long you want to store your seeds, but this method seems to have worked well.
In my own personal experience, I kept seeds in an empty medicine bottle in my nightstand drawer for 3+ yrs and still got 100% germination of over 50 seeds. I still have a few left.