How Storage Conditions Affect Vegetable Seed Viability--And Steps to Take to Improve Your Conditions

I got to wondering about how much Americans spend on vegetable seeds each year, and then about what percentage of that seed is wasted.  How often is the entire seed packet planted each year?  How many of us saved partial packets to plant the next year, or even two years down the road, and how well did plants from those seeds grow?  Did they grow at all?  If they failed, did we blame the seeds or ourselves?

I spent more money than I should have this year, definitely more than I was planning, but Aaron and Lydia got more involved than usual.  Baker Creek sent out a beautiful catalog this year, and those two went gaga over some of the more unusual varieties.  Aaron really wanted to try some radishes that reportedly taste like fruit.  Color me skeptical.  But I bought the seeds.

With what we spend each year on seeds, and especially with an unreliable supply chain and recognizing the need to be able to grow as much of our own food as possible, we really need to make sure we can save our seeds from season to season for a time when we can’t buy seeds at all.  And there are a few things we can do to help our seeds be viable as long as possible.  One of them is improving the storage conditions.

Within each seed is the dormant embryo that will become a plant.  In addition, there is the food supply that will feed the embryo while it is dormant as well as until the point it has produced the true leaves that will make its food from the sun. 

How quickly that dormant embryo in the seed consumes its food supply, and the extent to which that food supply has become reduced over time is a function of the storage temperature and humidity.

Standard storage conditions are accepted as 70°F with humidity in the air so that the seed stabilizes at 13% moisture by weight.[1]   The rule of thumb is that for every 10°F increase in temperature and every 1% increase in the moisture content of the seed, the storage life of the seed is cut in half.  On the flip side, every 10°F decrease in temperature and 1% decrease in seed moisture content doubles the storage life of that seed.  Major seed companies store their seeds in climate controlled storerooms, keeping the seeds at 50°F and a relative humidity of 50%.  Their seeds last at least four times longer, when stored at these conditions.[2] 

Most of us don’t have the luxury of building climate controlled rooms.  But we can come pretty close, and it doesn’t cost much money, especially when compared with having to replenish the seed supply more frequently.

First off, get a pound of silica gel desiccant crystals from a craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.  (They’re used in drying flowers.)  They don’t cost much and can be re-used almost indefinitely as long as they aren’t overheated (beyond 225°F).  To activate the crystals if they aren’t already (they need to be dark blue), bake them in the oven between 215°F and 225°F for a few hours or until they turn blue.  Once they cool, put them into an airtight container.

Next, you’ll need a large airtight container to hold your seeds—canning jars or plastic totes—enough to hold the seeds and fit into the refrigerator.  (If the refrigerator isn’t an option, perhaps a root cellar or the coolest place in the house.)  You need to be able to check the color of the crystals every once in a while, as this is your humidity indicator.  If the crystals turn pink, remove the silica gel from the container and pop it back in the oven to recharge it.  Put it back in your seed container after it cools.[3] 

Links to related posts:

How to Test Vegetable Seeds for Germination

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[1] Steve Solomon, Gardening When It Counts, 2005, 132.

[2] Steve Solomon, Gardening When It Counts, 2005, 133.

[3] Steve Solomon, Gardening When It Counts, 2005, 133.

 

Emergency Molten Lava Cakes

Last Thursday we were having some friends over for dinner.  Because I knew I had a dinner to get on and a house to tidy before our company arrived, I went out extra early to do the weekly shopping.  Even though I got that early start and postponed a few of the stops until the next week, it still took a long time, longer than anticipated, and I was late getting back to the house.

There was no way I was going to pull off making a pie before dinner.

So as I tidied the house and got the rest of dinner ready, I was thinking about what I could quickly make for dessert, something that would look a little more special than cookies or brownies, but also be put together very quickly.  Molten Lava Cakes seemed to be the way to go.

Molten Lava Cakes

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter (I used coconut oil)

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon additional chocolate chips per cake

 

Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler.  When the chocolate chips are completely melted and the mixture is perfectly smooth, stir in the sugar and vanilla extract.  Let cool a couple of minutes and then quickly whisk in the eggs and flour.  Pour batter into 4-6 well-greased ramekins (those with flared sides work best).  Add 1 teaspoon additional chocolate chips per cake to the center of the batter and press them down a bit so that you will have melted chocolate in the center of the cake.  Bake at 425°F for 13-14 minutes.  Cool 3 minutes and invert each one on a dessert plate.  (If you do not invert immediately, the cakes will continue cooking in the ramekins and the centers won’t be runny as a molten cake should be.)  Serves 4-6.

Family and guest reviews:  One guest abstained because she’s 82 and doesn’t even normally eat dinner, so she was stuffed before dessert even came along.  Tom, our other guest, Lydia, Aaron, and I scarfed the little lava cakes down.  I wanted another one, but, you know, people were still there, watching. 

Then it was time to demonstrate the spinning wheel and making yarn, the original reason behind having guests over for dinner.  Tom and his mother Penny really wanted to see the spinning wheel in action.  (Yeah, I don’t think they get out much.)  We had a nice visit, and just as they were getting ready to leave, we had some missionaries stop by unannounced.  My husband works closely with them, so even though we live out in Timbuktu, this is a common occurrence. 

And just like that, the two remaining molten lava cakes were gone.  The missionaries also said they were good. 

 

Need V. Want

As I read and visit with like-minded folks, one the subjects that frequently arises is that of need versus want. 

Coffee.  Flowers.  Air conditioning.  Sugar.  Wool socks.  Antibiotics.  Refrigeration.

Are they needs or wants?  And who gets to decide?

We do.  We decide whether to fill our lives with needs or wants and how to distinguish between them. 

I see preppers judging other preppers based on what they perceive as needs or wants, and it’s a really bad idea.  What you view as a want, or even a luxury, may indeed be a crucial need for them.  And it may be crucial for you as well, even if you don’t recognize it.  Here are some examples:

Refrigeration.  Being able to keep fresh milk or leftovers cold is often perceived as an industrialized world want that preppers better learn to live without.  However, for insulin-dependent diabetics and others who need to keep medications cool, reliable refrigeration is a true need.  For my type-1 diabetic husband and me, refrigeration approaches prepping obsession.  I think we’ve got eight options for it now. 

Air conditioning.  Along the same lines, some people, particularly the elderly, immunocompromised, and those with some forms of heart disease, risk death if they become overheated.  They’ve got to have plans in place for keeping cool.  If moving to a cooler climate isn’t an option, they need to have generators and fuel for running the AC, maybe even just a small unit in a bathroom.  It seems like a tremendous problem to me, but it’s not my problem, so I haven’t spent a lot of time working through solutions.  I just think it’s important to recognize that for some people, keeping cool is a need, not a want.

Coffee is a real addiction for some.  I think coffee addicts are going to be in a world of hurt when they can no longer satisfy their need.  I don’t envy the headaches that will come with withdrawals.  But for some people, coffee can actually be a medicinal need.  It helps elevate low blood pressure that can occur in the elderly after a meal.  And it can help asthmatics as well.  I find it easier and cheaper to store caffeine pills, but sometimes you need the caffeine to get into the bloodstream ASAP, and that’s where the coffee comes in.  (A couple of years ago, my local Grocery Outlet store—I really miss that place!—had a grocery cart full of cans of coffee for something like 50 cents each.  It was such a screaming deal that I really struggled with whether I should buy some for barter.  Ultimately, I decided I didn’t want to waste the space with a product we didn’t use.  I still wonder whether I made the right decision.)  For what it’s worth, tobacco also has a limited medicinal application.  But I’m not going there today, or ever possibly.  And yes, the cigarette (unlit) does go there.  Better to prep in other ways. 

Sugar.  As a nation, we’re a bunch of sugar addicts.  We really don’t need all that we consume, and we’ll become a lot healthier when we can’t consume all we wish.  However, it’s also interesting to hear preppers say they won’t use the recommended 60 pounds of sugar per year and hear them mock others who store that or more.  Sugar is a preservative.  It makes canned foods and jams last longer.  Sugar (and honey) are also antibacterial wound dressings.  Sugar feeds yeast so that breads rise better and/or faster.  It helps hide the off taste of powdered milk.  I’d call a generous supply of sugar a need, not a luxury.  And yet, most of us will be better off with less of it. 

Oil is like sugar in many ways, especially from a preparedness viewpoint.  We don’t need all we consume, we’ll be healthier when we cut back, and most say they would never use that much oil (20 pounds or pints recommended per person for a year).  Like sugar, some cooking oils, especially coconut and olive, have medicinal uses.  Mostly oil is valued because it can make so many foods that are unpalatable raw into something quite delicious when cooked in oil.  And again, like sugar, we can grow our own here but it takes a whole lot of effort to grow the food and then process it into oil. 

Wool and other animal fibers.  Those who live in cold climates are familiar with the value of wool in keeping warm.  What many do not know is the value of alpaca and angora, which are even warmer, ounce for ounce.  Some people can’t tolerate wool (which may be related to the shearing, the breed of sheep, or the processing, so fiber from other breeds of sheep may be more acceptable), and so alpaca and angora will be more along the lines of a need rather than want for keeping warm.  Angora and alpaca are so much softer, warmer, and less irritating. 

Flowers versus vegetables in the garden.  Don’t think that the guy who’s growing flowers is wasting valuable space that could be dedicated to crops.  He may have a plan.  For all you know those could be opium poppies for pain or honeysuckle or forsythia for antiviral remedies.  They could be nasturtiums for bacterial infections or warding off cabbage butterflies.  Even if they are doing nothing else, they could be helping to camouflage the entire garden as a flower garden instead of a vegetable garden.

We’re all going to have our needs that others will perceive as wants.  Others will have their needs that we might otherwise perceive as luxuries.  It’s not our position to judge.  It all comes down to how you use it, whether it’s essential for you.  If it’s essential for you, you have to plan for it.  No one else will do it for you.  

27 april 2024