Storing Lettuce Seeds?

[cjenkins08]

I bought a 1 pound bag of Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce seed and would like to store away about 3/4 of it for the next couple years. I plan to plant some in the fall and then again next year in the spring.
What is the best way to store this to be sure it is good for future plantings.

Thanks in advance

[gumbo2176]

I bought a 1 pound bag of Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce seed and would like to store away about 3/4 of it for the next couple years. I plan to plant some in the fall and then again next year in the spring.
What is the best way to store this to be sure it is good for future plantings.

Thanks in advance

Do you have some type commercial operation going? I can't imagine the hundreds of thousands of lettuce seeds you must have. I only buy a few packs of various lettuce seeds from the local nursery a year and that is still way more than I need for my garden.

I've had lettuce seeds last a year or more and still come up but I've not had them last much more than 2 years and make them worth using. This past fall I had some Black Seeded Simpson seeds from 09 that just a few came up and I had to buy new seed to make a decent crop.

I keep my seeds stored in my workshop in the foil packets they come in and placed in a plastic sealed container. Some folks store their seeds in a freezer and claim that is the way to go.

[nes]

I have also found lettuce seeds don't store very well, I've been storing mine in the freezer.

I did just plant some that are 3 years old and got a fairly decent yield from them (I'm guessing 50%?).

You may want to try selling some of the bag, lettuce is very easy to seed yourself if you need smaller quantities.

[cjenkins08]

I bought a 1 pound bag of Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce seed and would like to store away about 3/4 of it for the next couple years. I plan to plant some in the fall and then again next year in the spring.
What is the best way to store this to be sure it is good for future plantings.

Thanks in advance

Do you have some type commercial operation going? I can't imagine the hundreds of thousands of lettuce seeds you must have. I only buy a few packs of various lettuce seeds from the local nursery a year and that is still way more than I need for my garden.

I've had lettuce seeds last a year or more and still come up but I've not had them last much more than 2 years and make them worth using. This past fall I had some Black Seeded Simpson seeds from 09 that just a few came up and I had to buy new seed to make a decent crop.

I keep my seeds stored in my workshop in the foil packets they come in and placed in a plastic sealed container. Some folks store their seeds in a freezer and claim that is the way to go.

Nothing commercial here, although we do eat a ton of the lettuce as a family. I figured $14 for 1lb purchased online vs $6 for about 1 oz at the local nursery as long as I can get 3 seasons out of the seed then I would come out ahead.

I will try the freezer on some and research some other techniques to compare the life of the seed.

[Dillbert]

this may help a bit:

https://growingtaste.com/storage.shtml

[applestar]

I let some of my lettuce bolt and go to seed, then scatter them in the garden where I want them to grow next. (I don't "save" the seeds) I buy a new packet if I want to try a new variety or I suppose if the quality of the new generation seem to have deteriorated, but so far, it's more that I get interesting crosses.

[GardenRN]

It's funny, I've always heard that lettuce seeds don't store well. And this is what I told my mother who dug out a 15 year old bag of lettuce seeds that were still in the pack they came in, opened and half used, sitting on a basement shelf near the washing machine. She snubbed my advice that they probably wouldn't grow and got at least 50% germination. Go figure.