I do basically the same thing based on researching how they store seeds in the seed vault in Iceland only I use silica gel dessicant crystals the type that turn from orange to blue when they get too moist. You can get them dirt cheap off ebay from Thailand or Indonesia or somewhere. Very handy to have around.
Only difference is I put my seeds in little coin collector envelopes (tiny brown paper ones) and the put them in very short wide mouth mason jars with desiccant crystals in the bottom, then I use my vacuum sealer jar attachment to suck the air out of the mason jar then into the fridge. Every grower should have one of those mason jar vacuum sealer attachments and foodsaver devices, super useful for all sorts of stuff.
Note that the issue with freezing seeds is damage from expansion if they are too moist, putting them in dessicant (rice or silica gel) for a while in the fridge first then transitioning to the freezer avoids the problem because the moisture of the seeds goes down so greatly.
In a seed bank they do basically what you do only they use dessicant crystals in the bottom of a test tube followed by cotton stuffing followed by seeds then the top of the tube is sealed off by melting the glass and sealing it shut. You have to break the glass to get the seeds out.
I think there is probably an issue around how much dessicant to use versus quantity of seeds because you want to shoot for a specific moisture content level in the seeds but I haven't bothered with that and have no issues and I store a lot of different seeds because I'm also into growing and preserving heirloom veggies as well.
Only difference is I put my seeds in little coin collector envelopes (tiny brown paper ones) and the put them in very short wide mouth mason jars with desiccant crystals in the bottom, then I use my vacuum sealer jar attachment to suck the air out of the mason jar then into the fridge. Every grower should have one of those mason jar vacuum sealer attachments and foodsaver devices, super useful for all sorts of stuff.
Note that the issue with freezing seeds is damage from expansion if they are too moist, putting them in dessicant (rice or silica gel) for a while in the fridge first then transitioning to the freezer avoids the problem because the moisture of the seeds goes down so greatly.
In a seed bank they do basically what you do only they use dessicant crystals in the bottom of a test tube followed by cotton stuffing followed by seeds then the top of the tube is sealed off by melting the glass and sealing it shut. You have to break the glass to get the seeds out.
I think there is probably an issue around how much dessicant to use versus quantity of seeds because you want to shoot for a specific moisture content level in the seeds but I haven't bothered with that and have no issues and I store a lot of different seeds because I'm also into growing and preserving heirloom veggies as well.
...Yet!!
