That's good to know Donna, I always figured they wouldn't like a freeze, being tropical, and had even avoided sending seeds thru the mail in winter. This is helpful info for someone who lives in Minnesota, thanks!
Sally

Very interesting!

That's great Donna. I never would have believed it if I didn't see it! Not a trace of red indicating damage. Maybe this is a new hybrid that is more hearty! Keep us posted on the development of the seedlings. You'll need to name them something with "ice" or "frozen" in the name!!
K

If the seeds are completely dry, they can not freeze.
I wonder what effect the freeze on duration of their life, how long can they be stored?

Well, these were frozen between 2 and 3 months. They were totally dry having been stored in a plastic cup in the open air for a few weeks before I decided to put them in the fridge where they were then forgotten and then on to the freezer!

So now it's up to the rest of you to do a little experimenting.!!

I have some extra seeds that I could try freezing for maybe 4 or 5 months in the freezer but I don't really want them if they should germinate and once they germinate I'd feel obligated to see it through! I've got so many seedlings I don't know where they will all go!! I just thought that Exotica x Rio Negro might produce some interesting shapes and the original 10 or so that I first germinated are doing nicely too although they are smaller than my other seedlings done at the same time.
Donnaâºâºâº

Hi Everyone,

Well. this is just an update on how my frozen seed embryos are doing. Some of them are ready to plant and I would say a good 3/4 of them germinated! Some are doing better than others but none went mushy. some just didn't germinate.

Now I already have 7 seedlings growing along nicely from this cross and they already have 4 leaves and the leaves are very slim and shorter than other seedling their age.. I really didn't need more of this cross but now that they are here and begging for a chance at life I guess I will have to give them their chance!

Donnaâºâºâº

That's so great Donna!! You stored them in a paper bag, but in a plastic or glass container, right? Will be interesting to see how they grow for you.
K

Hi,

Well, a few weeks ago I was rooting around my frozen pollen for something interesting to put on Mylan and this time I got to the bottom of the plastic container containing my frozen pollens and believe it or not I found another packet of frozen seeds that I missed the first time!!

This time they were aulicum (Telos) x papilio ( gifted pollen) and there were 9 seeds. So, once again I just put them all in water and today, about 2 weeks later 8 of 9 seeds are germinating with clean white roots. Who knew this was something we all could be doing!! This particular cross was the first cross I made from last year's season as my aulicum bloomed for Halloween last year. These seeds are even older than my Exotica x Rio Negro (which are growing on nicely by the way) by probably 4 to 6 months!

So, for those of you who might like to try this, don't hesitate.. Both of these packets of seeds hung around on my fireplace mantel for a month or more before finally being stashed with my pollen in the refrigerator for several months and then finally into the freezer. There aren't any more. So if you have a glut of special seeds, freeze some incase you run into a disaster with fungus gnats or the like!

Donnaâºâºâº

That's great news Donna! They look good!
Kristi

Chiming in about my own success with storing seeds in the freezer. These are from a Papilio x Papilio cross back in 2019. Prior to freezing, stored them in a TicTac container then vacuum sealed with a Foodsaver appliance. Put them in water on April 1, 2021 and looks like there are some signs of life. I do have other Hippe seeds in the freezer from 2019, so I may try germinating those a few years from now.

Empty Container, ready to re-use.

Hi Brian,

I had totally forgotten about this thread!

As luck will have it, I lost all of my seedlings (the frozen ones as well as normally germinated ones) several years ago so I'll never know how well they would have grown on. All through my hybridizing years, I lost probably 90 % of what I was lucky enough to germinate and attempt to grow on. I've been clearly doing something wrong.

Now it's up to you to further this experiment. Good luck and thanks for resurrecting this thread!!

Donna☺☺

I am curious, after they germinate in water how long will you keep them in water? Or moist paper towel? I see from prior pics that the seeds have a first leaf too: did it come out in water or in paper towel?

and at what stage will you plant them and in what mix?

They were only laying on the paper towel for picture taking, they had come straight from the water and then were planted. I personally have never used the damp paper towel method. I always try to keep them in water until they have at least one, preferably two leaves. I would plant them in a loose seedling mix that had more perlite and no bark fines.