Stock Up Seeds?

[chickencoop789]

Whenever I go to a local store or nursery for seeds, they never have the seeds that I want. Or when they do have them they dont have the amount that I want. I found this website that sells seeds and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to stock up seeds over the winter. I would buy them now an use them in the spring. Should I do that or will the seeds no longer be alive?

 

[kcjones]

i would avoid lettuce, onions, carrots,parsnips,,, they wont keep very long . beans,cole crops, corn,okra ,squash , can keep for years if stored right

 

[chickencoop789]

what about cukes?

 

[kcjones]

cukes should last a few years , keep in low humidity and room temp or cooler.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

I heard one gardener say that each additional year you keep a seed, chance of germination goes down 50% of the previous year. I had a package of purple podded pole beans that was leftover from last year, and I planted them this year with a very low germination rate. But I also stored them in a box on top of my refrigerator, not in a cool dry environment like I was really supposed to. I ended up buying some commercial bean seeds to reseed them, and all of those came up.

 

[erinszoo]

If you buy the seeds now, they should be fine to plant in the spring. Just keep them in a cool dry location. Some people store their seeds in the freezer but I just keep mine in old tin flour and sugar containers. I grew seed that was packed for 2007 this year and didn't have any germination problems at all. Lettuce keeps longer than most other things. Beans are the worst to keep for long periods but usually a couple of years is fine. The problem with them is that they break easily. With beans and peas soaking them overnight before you plant helps with germination. They found seeds in the Anasazi ruins in Colorado that were 700 years old that still were viable and grew just fine so it all depends on conditions of storage.

 

[cmcanallen]

I have always kept my extra seeds in Ziploc baggies in a small soft side cooler in my refrigerator door. I just add seeds as the year goes on since I harvest my one seeds as much as possible. Never really had any issues with propagation but then again I'm not sure that all the seeds I use are old.