Re: Drying seeds
- Subject: Re: Drying seeds
- From: &* A* W* <c*@gmail.com>
- Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:37:49 -0500
On the topic of seeds, at what point is a seed mature and worth harvesting?
Also, assuming the lack of large growth is a result of grower inexperience
rather than genetics, would seeds from a pumpkin that didn't reach full
potential still be likely to produce good results?
Chad Weaver
Hutsonville, IL
On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 8:56 AM, Pumpkin Lady <pumpkingal@clearwire.net>wrote:
> Jim wrote:
>
>> What is the best way to prepare seeds from the pumpkin for next years
>> use?
>>
>
> Indoor dry, on plate or wax paper. Outdoors, too many critters have access
> to them unless you build a special drying cage, which is more work than it's
> worth to me.
>
> Clean seeds fairly well, and if there is mildew, a VERY mild bleach
> solution may be desirable. If you must use a dehydrator, make sure it has a
> low setting that is under 100F and use that. I don't, but I live in a dry
> area. If I still lived with my house half in a hill in a place that got 40
> inches of rain a year I would use a dehydrator.
>
> When seeds are throughly dry, they may be stored in whatever manner you
> desire. How you store your seeds is a subject of much debate. ;-) I put
> mine in paper envelope and then in a plastic snack zip lock which is then
> put in a bigger freezer ziplock which holds all my winter squash seeds so I
> can find them in the freezer easily. Summer squash have their own big bag,
> as do all other categories (tomatoes, peppers, etc). If you only have one
> set of seeds, and you always keep it in one place, you won't need a "red
> flag" to find them the way I do.
>
> Seeds that are properly dried and stored in the freezer will be viable for
> more years than ones stored on the shelf - as a general rule. However, if
> you sell them all quickly, give most of them away, or whatever, they're
> quite viable on most shelves for 2-5 years.
>
> Morgan
>
>
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