Paul M. Cook wrote:
There must be some trick to preparing seeds for storage. I wanted to
preserve some seeds from my Red Hmong cucumbers so I let one get
really ripe on the vine to the point it was starting to decompose a
little. Then I extracted the seeds, washed thoroughly and cleaned up
as much of the slippery pulp as I could. Then I set them on a tea
towel to dry. They dried up into little shriveled bits that bore
almost no resemblance to a seed at all. They sure do not look like
they will be viable. Is there something I am missing here?

I don't suppose you could post a close up picture?

Cucumber seeds sometimes do look rather shrunken although they should still
look like a seed. If they are thin this doesn't necessarily mean they are
no good. As others have said you need to test them and find out. A fat
cucumber should have several dozen (if not hundred) seeds. Even though this
is towards the end of your growing season you can afford to waste a dozen to
satisfy your curiosity. If they are no good start worrying then about what
went wrong.

David