Some of these subsequently sprouted, and on inspection it turned out that they had been collected in China in 1713 and brought back to England. When London was bombed during the war, a fire broke out in the Natural History Museum, and during the process of fighting the fire, some seeds from the herbarium were inundated. How long seeds can be preserved and still germinate when they are taken out of storage was not clear for much of history, but one anecdote from the Second World War highlights how chance has played a role in encouraging such long term preservation. Seeds have been stored by humans for as long as there have been crops, but long term preservation is a more recent phenomenon. This is essentially the same idea as the cryogenic freezing of humans, and can preserve some of the most delicate samples.
#The vault seed bank how to
Among other things, the scientists are testing the optimum conditions for seed germination after storage after all, what use is storing seeds if we don’t know how to get the plants to grow again? Scientists are experimenting with cryogenic freezing of seeds, using liquid nitrogen to flash freeze them, preventing any decay.
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#The vault seed bank windows
While the vault itself is less easily accessed, visitors can observe the scientists processing the plants and seeds through windows to all of the laboratories. In total, nearly 2 billion seeds are currently stored there, and while this comprises only around 10 percent of known species at the moment, there is sufficient storage for up to three-quarters of all plant species. There, seeds from more than 38,000 species are stored in an underground vault large enough to fit 38 double-decker buses. The Millennium Seed Bank forms part of Kew Gardens, and is set in a specially constructed facility in the elegant grounds of Wakehurst Place in Sussex. It may be surprising, then, that one of the largest seed repositories in the world is actually found on a quiet corner of southeast England, and can be visited by any interested member of the public.
![the vault seed bank the vault seed bank](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0543/2189/products/NN11475044_1024x.jpg)
The most famous facility, in Svalbard, high in the arctic latitudes, is like a secret base from a James Bond film, built so that crop varieties can be preserved for future generations through whatever catastrophes might occur. When we think of seed storage locations, we tend to think of giant doomsday vaults, meant to resist whatever disasters might threaten civilisation.