Has anyone deliberately saved seed to be germinated one or two years later? If so what was your experience doing so?
After this year I plan to put on hold the raising any new seedlings until I move so I have less plants to move. But since the roses I do take with me will take a year or two to get established there is a good possibility that I’ll still do the crosses before the move and keep the seeds to germinate afterwards.
Thanks
I do it every year. It’s not a perfect solution but results seem pretty good when the seeds are dry as a bone and kept refrigerated. I have also tried storing moist seeds and seeds that were only partially dried but had poor results with those.
Theoretically you can freeze seeds that are fully dry and, in fact, I have two plants of omiensis from seeds that came out of a USDA repository after 25 years of storage. I have not personally tried freezing seeds, though.
The down side is, of course, that it’s a form of procrastination.
That’s right you dry your seeds before you extract the embryos. I was wondering if I might have better luck extracting the embryos than germinating the stored seeds. That would mean I would have to get better at extracting embryos though. I was also wondering if frozen seeds would keep better than ones kept at room temp or in the fridge. I didn’t think storing them moist would be a good idea.
Hi Paul,
Germinating seeds that were in long time storage was a question I struggled with last spring.
I’m happy to say that the results were great.
These seeds were in storage from the years 2006 and 2008.
I normally count ALL my seed. This may seen like a tedious job, but this is one time I wish I had gone to the trouble.
I would know what percentage germination I obtained in my seedlings.
What I found and wish others would comment on, the seeds didn’t seem to need the normal stratifying,
I sowed them a little before Xmas.When I returned three weeks later, some we’re already sprouting.
chuckp
Hi Chuck,
I usually count all my seeds also and you’re right it is a little tedious but I feel it’s worth the effort.
That’s a fairly long time to store the seeds. What kind of storage were they in. Were they stored at room temperature, in a fridge or in a freezer?
That you got such good results after so many years in storage is surprising. And without any stratification either is amazing. But it’s really encouraging to hear.
Thanks
Thanks Paul,
Sorry, I forgot to say how I story my seeds.
They were stored in the deep freezer, in Ziplock bags. I still have a few thousand in the freezer
and they will have to stay there for a few more years while I develop some more space in the yared to
lay them out.
chuckp
That confirms my suspicion that freezing the seeds will preserve them better.
Finding or making room for the seedlings so they get enough sunlight can be a challenge. It took a number of years to for me to decide on the best spot.