I keep mine in a painted black Mason Jar in the fridge, way at the back and down low. The seeds are in glass vials with cotton and the jar is half full of rice to absorb any moisture. I just popped a 22 year old C99 and last year a bunch of 20 year old seeds. I’ve never had any issues with this method. They seem to pop as fast as new arrivals, just my two cents 
10 Likes
Ah I love hearing stories like this! messaged a few members recently about some older seeds they were about to pop and love hearing success stories with different methods.
In that 22 years did you ever move the seeds to a new place or experience any long term power outages (causing them to “wobble” in temp)? Interested in the affect of the temp swing.
For instance, I bought a whole separate fridge off a local craigslist type site and works perfect for just the seeds so I don’t have to open the fridge too often, except to put more in. I also will try to keep the house real cool / turn the AC on when i’m doing that.
There have been many good posts in this thread
After spending years on this subject its been my observation that to each their own
By that I mean you may have different storage needs based on what your goals are…
For short term plastic is fine 1-2 years
microscopic structure of plastic more of a weave
(the reason this is not a long term storage option is because plastic is permeable )
If you ever smell dank in plastic even triple wrapped it dont stop odor
Same bud in non permeable glass and metal lids top notch for a few years
Go with ampoules sterile cotton and bentonite clay in the fridge for the win
This requires a torch to seal and break to open,
You can learn alot from this book
The pelican box and the glass vials with metal caps very good recommendations
Take note bottom left corner steel aluminum glass 
Ideal moisture content (MC) is 8% for hemp seed storage
Citation
Agricultural Science Procedia 5 ( 2015 ) 170 – 176
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
1st International Conference on Asian Highland Natural Resources Management, AsiaHiLand
2015
Influence of storage conditions on change of hemp seed quality
Sangtiwa Suriyong a ,Nattasak Krittigamasa
, Sarita Pinmaneeb, Adirek Punyalue
10 Likes
Fascinating. I just started transferring my collection to PE microcentrifuge vials with screw caps. I’ve got plenty of silica beads in there for several years at those rates.
I love the idea of the glass ampules.
2 Likes
Think someone posted a graph of dessicants and humidity levels here…
My greatest fear with seeds is too much dessicant
Once it hits a low threshold it can kill the seed at the right level it preserves it 
Fine line temp and humidity once stabilized should be easy to maintain.
Some people told me they left seeds in a cigarette cellophane for like 10 years in a basement
And believe it or not they said they had very good luck sprouting them
Others used simple mason jars with metal lids with good results
For me genetics is a huge investment and the good ones are a treasure to be held with the utmost care
A wet seed mashes and a properly dried seed shatters when pressure is applied in the case of hempseed
4 Likes
I found this paper which walks through some good analysis for “entry level” packaging enthusiasts.
I’ll run through this math this weekend.
Totally agree with you, I want to save them, not damage them.
3 Likes
Water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in a material, such as soil (called soil moisture), rock, ceramics, crops, or wood…
22 KB (2,923 words) - 11:12, 11 May 2023
The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of a hygroscopic material surrounded at least partially by air is the moisture content at which the material is…
18 KB (964 words) - 05:57, 28 November 2022
the old method of seed saving was that the seed was dry enough when it didnt fog the inside of the container, when looking at a dew point graph and a target of 8% without a moisture meter you can get close to what your trying to achieve
Best >>> 
4 Likes
This is fascinating on a different level as well - drying flower. I’ve dealt with humidity levels (RH, AH, Dew Point) for that. Tagging @LD50 who would appreciate the equilibrium moisture content info as well. I just don’t have the background to know what to look for (terminology anyway), here it’s shown to me in a whole other context about a different topic. Wonderful!
Appreciate the info dump. Wish I could process it all tonight I’ll have to come back to it.
4 Likes
Why bentonite as opposed to silica? I like the idea of the color changing qualities of silica, but I can get bentonite by the pound for free so… haha
1 Like
in some rare instances, manufacturers coat silica gel in cobalt chloride, a toxic compound. Eating cobalt chloride-coated silica gel will likely cause nausea and vomiting. Cobalt chloride is a moisture indicator that is dark blue when dry and pink when saturated with water. Cobalt chloride-coated silica gel isn’t usually used for consumer products.
When inhaled: Cobalt is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when inhaled. Cobalt might cause heart problems, lung disease, hearing loss, and vision loss in people who are exposed to cobalt dust in certain industries. Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There isn’t enough reliable information to know if cobalt is safe to use when pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.
Best >>>
6 Likes
Safe Storage Guidelines for Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa) Seeds
The University of Manitoba
Seed Storage.pdf (1.0 MB)
6 Likes
Good post. 
The Cobalt Chloride indicating silica gel was banned in the EU in 2000 as a health issue. (I used to be involved in packaging design…)
I was actually a little surprised to see that it is still available… 
Cheers
G
3 Likes
Peace All. I am seeking a direct answer to how can a person start to preserve their beans if they have never used any method other than keeping them in a dry mostly dark place?? I am trying to start using the fridge but I have no starting point of reference.
So my question is should I start fresh moving forward and leave whatever is out , out. Or should I work on the ones that I have and do the same moving forward?? And how should I do it? Would just putting breeder packs in the fridge in a Mason jar with some silica be sufficient or a more in depth method is needed?
Thanks for any and all responses. Thanks for reading. 
4 Likes
Fresh harvested beans need about 20+ days at 50% RH to acclimate. After that, the internal moisture content will be low enough to handle even freezing. Sorry I can’t post the paper (it’s on my old N/F computer).
I’m usually dealing with 10~20 beans per strain so for me a vacuum packed coin flip works well.
Breeding projects tend to involve larger quantities than coin flips can deal with, in those cases I use larger screw top containers.
Properly prepped seed should be fine stored at +4C (refrigerator temps) for upwards of 10 years. Longer than that you probably want to freeze them.
I’ve been told that it is best to immediately use seed that has been previously frozen. There is some small loss in germination after freezing as well.
Key to this is a database (I use a spreadsheet, nothing fancy) to track the pertinent info.
That’s important for me as I have CRAFT disease… (Can’t remember a F*k’n thing…) 
Cheers
G
10 Likes
Sounds like you’re on the right track and I echo what @Gpaw says, but I’ll also add…Make more seeds!
2 Likes
Ok so never put your seed storage container in the vegetable drawer. 75% humidity 
Fortunately it was only for 15 hours. Now ive got it in a 35% fridge.
What temperature are we shooting for? I’m reading 28-29F in this fridge atm.
4 Likes
36-40f seems like a reasonable range. Use more than one temp device to make sure you are not freezing them.
If your seeds are airtight with dessicant, silica, rice, etc…ambient humidity should not impact your beans.
.02
5 Likes
Thanks, they are in those cryo tubes, then inside tupperware, lined with rice. Good thing I asked, another 20mins they would have been frozen i guess. Put 2 temp monitors in fridge & turned it up, shooting for 38-40.
3 Likes
I always repackage all my seeds in Apple 175x175 baggies and then Seal-a-Meal them with a little dehydrated rice. These will go into lined airtight Mason jars in the fridge.
Besides preserving the seeds for many years another big benifit for me is reducing the space required. The breeder packs while I love them they are bulky for storage. Just to give you an idea there are (30) packs or 300 seeds in these two small packages.
They are all numbered and loaded into my seed spreadsheet so I can find them later.
8 Likes