Bugs in Hibiscus seeds

I have been givin a bag of Lady Baltimore seeds. It has tiny bugs in it.
Can I put the bag in the freezer to kill the bugs with out it making the seeds not plyable?

Lavina

Well Lavina, I have no idea and neither does anyone else.

You have posted no blooms shame on you.

I'm not really a seed expert which is why I didn't jump in right away...my thought is that freezing would be bad for the seeds, there's undoubtedly a little bit of water inside them, and when water freezes it expands so I think it'll damage the seeds if you freeze them. My guess is the bugs won't eat the seeds, so you could choose to do nothing, or if you want to get rid of them, maybe spread the seeds & bugs out on a paper towel and spray with insecticidal soap, then make sure you dry the seeds thoroughly before putting them away again.

Lavina, you don't have to post blooms to get questions answered!

I honestly do not know the answer to your question, but Liz sounds like she has provided a good solution.

karen

LOL
Its just that everyone else post so fast but the Hibiscus bunch had most of the time not answered me at all. So I tried a different approach. I got answers but hope I didn't make anyone mad.
This is a great bunch I just seem to have a brown thumb with Hibiscus as I planted 50 seeds and 1 came up last year. Got lady baltimore at lowe's and hoped to save seeds.

Lavina

Lady Baltimore is a Hardy Hibiscus, right? A freeze shouldn't hurt the seeds.

But remember, I am not an expert.

Andy

A freeze might not hurt the plants, but I'm not sure about the seeds. Cold won't hurt them but freezing might.

If you have a powdered insecticide, why not just sprinkle a little in the bag with the seeds. That should kill the little critters. I've done this before with some other types of seed and had good luck. I don't think I would chance freezing the seed. There has to be another way that would work and not have to worry about whether a freeze would ruin the seeds or not.

Lady Baltimore is a Hibiscus moscheutos. There are two beetles that lay it's eggs inside the seeds.

Please google these words for a listing of several articles on the subject Hibiscus moscheutos seed larvae

If you are asking yourself how I know this.... I just experienced the same thing. (I tossed mine in the freezer. Don't know if it will kill the seeds or not, but these are hardy hibiscus so I took the chance.)

Judy

Thanks Judy I will check that out.

Lavina