Careful attention to seed collection/extraction, drying, cleaning, and storage will ensure your seeds have the longest life span and highest vigor possible.

• Harvest seeds at or ever slightly before PEAK maturation. This will be a compromise for some crops like Echinacea and Sunflower, where the head has a range of seed maturities due to prolonged flowering.

• Extract seeds from the fruits immediately. For wet fruit, wash off mucous or use fermentation (e.g. tomato) as necessary. Towel dry to remove most of the surface water. For dry fruit, break capsules to release seed, or allow seed to fall out naturally.

• Dry fully mature seeds quickly, to reduce seed moisture content (place seeds in a single layer on screen material, position over a box fan)

• Clean or “condition” seeds to remove seeds with poor fill. A strong fan can do this, or toss in the air with a good breeze.

• Store seeds under “good” conditions (dry and cool; 25%RH / 5C if possible). You can purchase an inexpensive RH meter to place in your tightly sealing container. Use silica gel or other drying beads to maintain good conditions. Once seeds have equilibrated to the 25%RH condition, you can transfer them to tightly sealed container for easier storage.

• Minimize environmental fluctuations during storage, especially moisture (relative humidity)