I saved my seeds but left them out in out building in freezing wheather

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Are these any good? They were left out there until today.. Thanks any info. would help.. thanks carrie

-- carrie (onemaur@olg.com), January 04, 2002

Answers

I would think they are fine. Remember that, in nature, seeds fall to the ground and get frozen and covered with snow. In the spring, they germinate.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), January 04, 2002.

Carrie,

I agree, your seeds should be fine. It is even recommended to freeze seeds before planting them, to stress them and get a better germination rate. I do this, since I am where we get very few freezing days. BC

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 04, 2002.


I wouldn't be worried about them--I always freeze any seeds I don't plant and most of them germinate year after year. If you want to check them, you can put two or three in a damp paper towel in a loose baggie in a warm spot (keep moist, but not wet) and see if they sprout in a few days--that's how I check ones that I don't feel sure about.

-- Sharon (spangenberg@hovac.com), January 04, 2002.

Freezing will reduce germination % and vigor of most of our common vegies. they did originate in more southern latitudes after all!

The building prob. mitigated the damage. but check cold sensitive crops with the paper towel sprouting test mentioned above. Cukes,melons,gourds,eggplts. etc.

Good luck! my box of seeds last year was shuffled to the porch one day, everthing but my shiso/perilla & cucuzzi gourds made it thru the frezing.

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), January 05, 2002.


Well, I threw a couple of pumpkins out on the compost pile once, and the next spring, I had volunteer pumpkins that came up and did wonderfully. They survived the winter.

-- Diana (rock_hunter83@hotmail.com), January 07, 2002.


In general seeds like it cool & dry & stable, no big swings, over winter. Freezing is probably better for most of them than keeping them too warm.... A bigger problem is letting them lay where they get sunlight. This heats & cools the bag _every_ day, and just messes them up.

Most should do fine with the freezing, but garden seeds can be a little different, so maybe test them as suggested.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), January 07, 2002.


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