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Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

How do most folks dry their seeds? I tried saving some from a split pumpkin and they all went moldy. I placed them on a paper blotter. Should I put them on a screen outside in the sun? Your thoughts please!

9/25/2004 9:25:11 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Squirrels get mine if I leave them outside to dry.

It sounds like the mold started in your pumpkin. Did the inside smell bad? If so, that's probably where it began.

In the case of seeds coming out of a mouldy fruit, I wash them in a 10% Bleach or 20% Hydrogen Peroxide & water solution for several minutes.

Then rinse with clear water. I then dump them out on an old bath or beach towel that has been delegated to patch duty (Calcium baths, sweat rags, etc).

After a quick sloppy run down with a drier towell, I scatter the seeds on quarter inch hardware cloth that's stapled to a wooden frame.

These are stacked in my insisde workshop next to a low speed fan & a stout dehumidifier. I seperate each seed so it's not touching it's neighbor & leave them there for 2-3 weeks.

It's easy enough to cull through the really light or bad ones while checking out chat on BP at night. These I never even test germ, though some could be good. My thoughts are if 30 out of 600 seeds look bad, no one wil plant it anyway regardless of the cross.

Then I do a few test germinations. Pending the results, I record all pertinant data on a large plastic screw top jar, add a silica gel pack & toss them in the freezer.

Start to finish takes a good 4-5 weeks I guess, but it can take longer if doing many fruit.

When they're all done, I make labels on the computer & start filling No. 1 (2.25" X 3.5") Coin Envelopes & mail them on there merry ways.

9/25/2004 11:30:17 AM