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Step 4Preparing the Seeds for Planting or Storage
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To prepare your seeds for storage, they need to be dehydrated because they are going to be very moist, coming straight from the pepper, which isn't good for storing them, they could mold or pregerminate. So what i did, was set all my seeds out in the sun for about 1 hour. Since its Summer, and since its hot and dry here in California, this processes happened pretty quickly. But depending on your region and season, this may take forever, so do your best at getting your seeds DRY.
Another thing to note is that seeds are damaged once their temperature exceeds about 95 degrees, so setting them out in the sun for too long could increase their temperature past that level. So, some alternatives are: setting them outside in the shade, or setting them inside your house under a ceiling fan.
You may notice them shrink a bit too. You want the seeds to be so dry that they will crack when bent, if they bend they are too wet.
One last note, if your going to set up a drying system like the one i did on the plastic tray thing, be sure to use a rock or something heavy to keeping the wind from blowing over! I had a accident with the red bell seeds so now i have even fewer than before xD
To prepare your seeds for storage, they need to be dehydrated because they are going to be very moist, coming straight from the pepper, which isn't good for storing them, they could mold or pregerminate. So what i did, was set all my seeds out in the sun for about 1 hour. Since its Summer, and since its hot and dry here in California, this processes happened pretty quickly. But depending on your region and season, this may take forever, so do your best at getting your seeds DRY.
Another thing to note is that seeds are damaged once their temperature exceeds about 95 degrees, so setting them out in the sun for too long could increase their temperature past that level. So, some alternatives are: setting them outside in the shade, or setting them inside your house under a ceiling fan.
You may notice them shrink a bit too. You want the seeds to be so dry that they will crack when bent, if they bend they are too wet.
One last note, if your going to set up a drying system like the one i did on the plastic tray thing, be sure to use a rock or something heavy to keeping the wind from blowing over! I had a accident with the red bell seeds so now i have even fewer than before xD
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Jun 18, 2010. 8:54 AMSilence
says:
As a note. This step is crucial before storage. Make sure your seeds have dried completely before packing them away. I put mine with dry instant rice a little too soon and lost 2 batches of seeds due to mold. Fortunately I have a couple plants that have started to sprout so I should be able to recover my losses without spending more money.
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