How do you store seeds for more than a year?
I've been gardening for several years now and I rediscovered my obcession with chilli peppers this year after discovering the Chinese 5 Colors dual purpose pepper.
Besides these, I have a few jalapeno plants and a non-descript variety I bought at the supermarket, already potted and well developed, as I was not getting any seeds starting. The newcomer must have generated a jealousy crisis because every seed I had commited to the ground decided to pop up.
I want to store seeds for next year but I don't intend to have more than one variety at a time growing, so I need to at least store and keep seeds healthy for two years.
In a drawer in an envelope. Seeds are pretty hearty. Just don’t get them wet and they’ll be fine.
Seed storage is a complicated topic. The ideal storage condition depends completely on the species.
Some seeds need to be stored frozen (lettuce and tons of flowers). Some need to be stored at 5C and 40% humidity. Others store near at 30C and 15% humidity. Then there is seeds like wild rice that buck all the tends (can not be stored more than 15 months, has to be in water at 1-2C).
So for Peppers, tomatoes, and cucurbits - the ideal storage condition is 5C and 40% humidity. A wine fridge set to 8C is better than a refrigerator. Do not freeze them. Most seedbanks use manilla coin envelopes but hermetically sealed containers are fine. Do NOT use a dessicant (shortens the storage by years). Pepper seeds will germ for more than a decade under these conditions.
Put seeds in envelopes. Write variety of seed and date on envelopes. Put envelopes and a drying agent (like silica gel packs) into an airtight container. Put container in cool dark place. Envelopes should handle up to thousands of seeds, for larger quantities it would probably be more efficient to use seed bags.
I put them out of the way and then forget all about them, this way they are still around decades later.
Any cool, dark, dry place.
I keep them in plastic bags in the fridge. Seeds last longer if kept cool and dry.
I would imagine that the simple way is to emulate the paper envelopes of commercial seed packages. I believe the key to seed storage is to keep the seeds dry. A paper envelope will allow excess moisture to escape and also allow some moisture from the ambient air to enter.
You can buy paper envelopes or you can make your own with copy/printer paper and a bit of tape or glue.
I have some Vacuum sealed in a Mason jar, in the freezer.