Stocking Seed for Next year, NOW

[berkeley]

I was thinking of buying some of these to give to family/friends at "the right time".

The price is $149.00 plus 15.00 shipping and handling (total $164.00)

So far, I've not found a better option for complete, long-life survival garden starter kits - what do you guys think of this in terms of value & effectiveness as a sufficient food survival kit you can just hand to people?


http://www.survivalseedbank.com/

Total Seeds – Enough To Plant One Full Acre!

New “Survival Seed Bank” Produces Thousands Of Pounds Of Nutrient-Dense Food For Pennies Per Pound… Enough To Feed Friends And Family Forever!

Each seed pack is individually packaged for maximum shelf life. Here’s what we mean by that: We carefully dry each seed to the precise level of allowable moisture which “locks in” hardiness and maintains extremely long shelf life. Then, each seed package is sealed in a special foil packet with a very expensive desiccant designed to keep seeds fresh for 20 years at 70 degrees. However, if you freeze your “seed bank” you could increase the shelf life by five times or more beyond that.

Each Survival Seed Bank has a total of 22 varieties of OPEN POLLINATED “super seeds.” Also included are detailed growing instructions for each variety which includes helpful information on harvesting of seed stock for the following year in a survival situation. This is obviously very important because failing to collect seeds properly at harvest time could mean starvation.

We’ve included a special 81-page manual called *Survival Gardening With Heirlooms*. It’s designed to help anyone (beginner or expert), cultivate a highly productive crisis garden. Written by a survivalist and a master gardener, it describes in detail, each step of the way, taking you by the hand from planting your seeds to cultivating to gathering and storing your seeds for the next growing season.

[spacecase0]

I think that seed set is over priced.
it also misses popular grain crops
if you just order regular seeds
you can get a way better variety
with more seeds
for less money
this is my favorite place
http://www.johnnyseeds.com

but if storage is an issue
and they may store seeds wrong,
then get them the kit you posted,

[Grower]

One ACRE? Well, okay, but I'd need to go look at the varieties. I mean, an acre is a lot more than people often think it is. 200x200 square feet. That's 80 rows of something planted 30" apart, 200 feet long. TWO HUNDRED FOOT LONG ROWS. Unless some of it is planted to grains, it's way more than most would need for vegetables, even growing spacey stuff like winter squash. Now, add in some potatoes and a lot of dry beans, and yes, now you're taking up some space.

And yes, $149 is way high. You could do well at Johnny's or FedCo and seal them in a jar with your pump-n-seal (newbs -- search LATOC). Then store in a cool, dark place near the floor where temps don't fluctuate as much.

Still, it's a good set, now that you have it. Won't hurt.

[justanouveaufarmer]

Those are way overpriced for what they are.  Go to www.fedco.com and buy the same stuff a whole lot cheaper.

[akaskip]

This is some great info Pam! Great because I can grow many things but admittedly haven't done much to learn about the seed storage and harvesting techniques for some plants. I know enough to rotate maybe 20 plants well but that isn't very diverse. On your question of the fridge and radiation, remember that one of the best defenses against any radioisotope is simple distance. As long as the freezer is in a basement with a roof over it or you put a tent over it that stands off the particles it will help a great deal. The "tent" need be nothing special, just a tent, tall as possible or even a tarp that can be removed and discarded later. Damage to human beings begins to occur at 10 times normal background radiation, that's quite a bit really. I am not sure about seeds but I will find out for you. -James

 Jim, how about the soil, i know seeds are important but could contaminated soil destroy the seeds?

[Aussie]

Great idea pamela!

I will come back to this later but just as another quick thought, if people have the room/inclination, it's always possible to let things SELF seed, that is go through their natural cycle.  I did that this year with my silver beet (maybe that's called spinach or a type of spinach in the US).  I just let some grow tall, self seed and voila, next thing I had hundreds of little silver beet plants growing everywhere. Too easy!

Actually maybe others have thoughts on what vegetables are best for self seeding?  

I think it's called chard in American

[TheDoctor]

I'm wondering about F1 hybrids and whether it would be worth the effort to grow the parent plants and cross pollinate for seed.
We have a bad problem with Tomato black spot disease here and I'm wondering about growing Big Beef? I think that's a variety that Grower recommended, but it's F1 hybrid and I don't know the parentage although I could grow out some seed from it and select to regrowing and cross pollinating, then I'd have my own! LOL

Pamela, by all means try saving seeds from your F1 hybrid.  Some "hybrids" turn out not to be hybrids, but are actually open pollinated and sold as hybrid to discourage seed saving and justify higher price.  That said, I think most hybrids are legitimate, but you can still save seed and have a good chance at preserving the characteristics you want.  Seed from hybrid plants will be sterile sometimes (so the experts say), but I haven't run into that problem yet.

You don't need to cross pollinate your saved seed - second generation (F2) seed from a true F1 hybrid will have plenty of genetic diversity.  And as F1 hybrids are identical genetically, you only need to save seed from ONE F1 hybrid plant the first year to start your dehybridizing project.  What you need to then do is grow out a LOT of F2 plants the next year (I'd try at least a dozen if you have space) and save seeds from the plants that show the best results for the characteristics you're after.  For disease resistance, that can be tricky as you won't know which of your F2 plants have resistance unless disease strikes that year.  Next you just spend several years purifying your variety and reducing the genetic diversity until you have a new open pollinated variety of your very own "tuned in" to your local microclimate.

Tomatoes are easy to seed save as the flowers self pollinate before opening (except potato leaf varieties) and hence are low risk for cross pollinating with other varieties, unless flowers come in direct physical contact with each other, and they are natural inbreeders and not prone to "inbreeding depression" - so you can keep a variety vigorous and going strong year after year by saving seed from only a few plants (or even only one plant).  Other good inbreeders: peas, lettuce, endive, beans (except runner beans), cukes, peppers, squash, melons and basil.

I've been 'dehybridizing' F1 tomato, eggplant, pepper, summer squash and cukes for years now with some great results.  Example - Lilac bell pepper - I saved seed on a whim never expecting the offspring to have the same lilac color, but surprise suprise - EVERY F2 plant gave me beautiful large lilac bells just like the original F1 hybrid plants.   Even if you do get a lot of variety in your F2 plants, it's still a lot of fun to witness all the variety in the offspring.  Summer squash hybrids are particularly fun as you can end up with all types of shapes and sometimes even different colors.

[Grower]

Great post! A question: I thought that melons, cucumbers, curcurbits, and such all cross pollinated freely and resulted in inedible fruits from the next generation of seed. They don't?

[pamela]

yes and no Grower.
they'll cross but sometimes they produce interesting things. LOL
however, if anyone wants to save melon or cucumber or squash seed, you'll need to hand pollinate so that you have good seed for the following year.
I'll find some good simple instructions to post and then we can print those off as well and add to our seed bug out boxes/bags/storage containers.
 

[Chickengirl]

I cannot recommend highly enough saving seed from your own veges - after a few generations you have plants that are uniquely suited to YOUR soil and YOUR conditions, they are hardier and more pest resistant.

I also second letting plants self seed - I think the problems people have mentioned have to do with letting just *anything* self seed, when like seed saving, you should only be letting the very best plants self seed. Let your most luscious, hardy, slowbolting lettuce run to seed, and don't collect it all, let some roam free. Ditto with other things like silverbeet (chard), radish, etc. Parsnips are very good for this, as the seed is tricky to keep longer than about 12 months.

Also, you know those little absorbent sachets you get in shoe boxes etc? They are quite handy for absorbing moisture when you are storing seed too! In areas of high humidity moisture and mould will be your main problems with seed storage.

[kathyprepper]

I am totally confused about storage. I had read that storing seed in a air free environment would alter their viability. It didn't make sense to me as the storage seed I bought is in sealed cans. Has anybody actually stored seeds in a glass jar, sealed with a food saver and had them germinate? If so, that is the way to go for me, with an added dessicant and oxygen absorber. It is so damp here that the cellar is out of the question.

[residualheat]

I store beans in glass jars and they're fine, kathy. Did a germination test on some five year old broad beans and got about 80% germination.

[Grower]

yes and no Grower.
they'll cross but sometimes they produce interesting things. LOL
however, if anyone wants to save melon or cucumber or squash seed, you'll need to hand pollinate so that you have good seed for the following year.
I'll find some good simple instructions to post and then we can print those off as well and add to our seed bug out boxes/bags/storage containers.
 

That's what I thought, though I'd be happy to be wrong.

Over the years, I've stopped letting seeds crop up on their own. I used to have a soft spot for them. But the tomatoes always end up being little round mediocre-tasting things. The potatoes just attract more potato bugs which then migrate to your big patch. The brassicas get very small and bolt to seed too fast. I think selecting the best is really important, as has been said.

[pamela]

yes, if you are saving your own seed you want to save for traits that you want.
I'm looking for anything resistant to black spot on the tomatoes.
I've had one or two show promise.

[madison]

I'd suggest stocking 3 years worth of seed (that which can be saved that long).  One, it will help with the learning curve on gardening and seed saving.  Two, you can grow out different varieties in alternate years.  Three, you'll have enough to share with those just starting out.  It's insurance.