Dehydrating seeds?

I am trying to dry several kinds of seeds in a "Galloping Gourmet Dehydrator". It's been in the garage for years, thought I'd put it to use. And of course the booklet is missing. Has anyone dried seeds successfully in a dehydrator?

This message was edited Monday, Nov 19th 5:12 PM

I don't think it's a good idea. Those dehydrators heat up too much & zap out all traces of moisture... it will probably kill the seeds. What are you drying? Most seeds will dry in few days to a week. It'd be a bummer to dehydrate them & only to find them useless when you planted. I just set my seeds out on paper plates - labeled with their names and ingnore them for a week or so - well... maybe a few weeks ;-) Them I clean 'em up the best I can and package them in envelopes.

The seeds are from: Golden Chain Tree, Purple Violet Vine, Pyrcanthis Vine, Citrus Jasmine Tree, Night Blooming Jasmine Bush. I had them on the window ledge of my back porch but it has been raining so much (11 inches this week) a few were starting to mildew. A friend recommended using the dehydrator.

Rhonda

Rhonda,

I have to side with Sue on this one. Seeds are easily killed, and it doesn't take a whole lot of heat to do it.

I know that 140 degrees will do 100% killing on your seeds, and as you lower the temperature the percentage of killed seeds also drops.

I sure feel your pain on the mildew problems, though. We went through the same thing late August, right when the sunflowers were ready to hang. We had 3-4 weeks of daily rain, and all the sunflower heads mildewed. Out of 300 heads, I only got a couple handfuls of seeds. :(

The choice between risking the death of your seeds by heat, or by allowing the mildew to kill them, is a tough call. If it were me, I might consider dehydrating them at NO MORE THAN 95 degrees. Immediately following the dehydration, I'd do some germination tests on the seeds and see how badly they were effected.

Either way, it's a crummy situation for those seeds.

Dave

wow!!! great seeds, I'd hate to see you lose them too. When you're ready to trade, I hope I see it fast:)

I use the trays of my dehydrator and leave the door of the dehydrator off, for air circulation. Heat will kill the seeds, even at the 80 degree setting. At least they would be out of the rain.

Thanks everyone for the info. Unfortunately I had already started the process. The good news is there are plenty more seeds.
Rhonda