Old Seeds - Germination

16 years ago

I know many people just give away or throw away their seeds once they are a year old. I tend to keep mine and in many cases, that turns out to be many years. I planted several that were quite old this year and here are some winter sowing successes:

Dianthus barbatus - mixed (from 2006)

Salvia coccinea - white (from 2001)

Sweet William - tall double mixed colors (from 2005)

Amaryllis - mixed (from 2005)

So my attitude is give some of the older seeds a try!

Let me know if anyone else has had older seeds germinate well for them.

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Comments (7)

vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
I'm not one of them! I hold on to seeds forever LOL! Most seeds as long as they are stored properly will stay viable for quite a long while:D

Vera
carmen_grower_2007
16 years ago
I bought into the whole Y2K thing and that year, I bought lots of veggie varieties in bulk. I am still using them each year and haven't noticed any difference in germination since they were new.

I also am using saved perennial seeds that are as much as 5 years old and always have germination. I have them all in paper coin envelopes inside ziplock baggies and store them in the frig.
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I winter sowed a lot of really old seeds last year. Both perennial and annual seeds. I treated them the same as I would if they were newer seeds with the only difference being that I sowed the seeds pretty thick. I had great germination with most things and not so good with a few (mostly annuals). How viable older seeds are usually depends on the kind of seed, some being better than others. To me, I would not consider 2004 seeds to really be that old. Some of the seeds that did germinate for me this last year were 7-10 years old :) I think your seeds are good candidates for winter sowing. I'd just sow on the heavier side (that is, more seeds per container than you would if they were new) :)
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If I was only allowed to grow one herb for cooking, I'd be torn between basil and summer savory. You always hear savory called "the bean herb" (snap & dried) and it does go nicely with them. For a super-quick salad/side veggie, drain & rinse a can of white beans or chickpeas. Toss with minced or dried summer savory, olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons of minced onion and a couple cloves of minced garlic. Crazy-easy and so, so good. I toss on quite a bit when I make hummus, too, instead of parsley. Savory's also fantastic in split pea soup and great with tuna. I use it alot with pasta, cream soups, and in pretty much anything with cheese or eggs. One of my favorite breakfasts is creamed eggs on toast: Slice or chop hard-cooked eggs. Make a medium white sauce and season with minced summer savory, a bit of dry mustard, salt & pepper. Add eggs and serve over toast. To me, it has a fresh, sweet, green taste with a faint peppery bite. Actually, I don't think there's anything I wouldn't put it in. Once you develop a taste for it, you've gotta have it! Last year I grew some Red Wonder bell peppers from a commercial pack I bought in 1999, and several cukes (tiny picklers) from 2000.
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Chao, Soaking the seed most likely will help and it certainly won't hurt as long as you don't soak it too long. If this seed is from a sweet corn, it is not likely to germinate very well if it is over 3 years old, unless it was stored in a cool, dry and dark location. If sweet corn is properly stored, you should get 50% germination of 3-year-old corn seed. If this seed is from a popcorn, field corn or dent corn and it was stored properly, you ought to get decent germination as long as it is only 5-10 years old. If the seed is older than 10 years, you may or may not get good germination. Some of these varieties germinate surprisingly well if they have been stored properly, even if they are over 10 years old, but others do not. When your purchase seed corn commercially, it is supposed to meet the standard of 75% germination. To conduct your own germination test, soak 10 corn seeds in water for 6 hours or so and then wrap it up in a moist (but not soaking wet) coffee filter or paper towel and place that inside a zip-lock bag. Check every day for germination. You may see germination of that seed in as little as 3 to 4 days, and by day ten, you've probably got the maximum germination you're going to have. You can direct sow corn seed in the ground any time once the soil temperatures are in the 65-70 degree range at the planting depth of the corn (usually 1" to 2"). Corn should germinate just fine when the daily air temperatures are reaching a high of 65 to 85 degrees. Normally, non-viable seed does float to the top whereas good seed sinks to the bottom when soaked. However, if you soak your seed corn and a lot of it floats, I'd still wrap it in a paper towel or coffee filter and attempt to germinate it in a zip-lock bag because you have nothing to lose at that point, and the floating corn might surprise you and germinate anyway. Dawn
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paphiocon
16 years ago
This year I am sowing all the seeds I have from previous years. Some of them are dated as far back as 2002, but most are undated T&M freebies from 2003, 2004, & 2005.

So far, I've gotten germination from:
Dianthus caryophyllus 'King of the Blacks' (WS)
Petunia Celebrity Chiffon Morn (2005 and IS)

A friend gave me some mystery Salvia seeds collected in 2004, and I got 20% germination in a test batch on paper towels. They are strong seedlings and I'm eager to see them bloom some day.

I'm regarding any germination of the old seeds as a special gift and I hope to see more of them sprout in the weeks to come.
Constance in NJ
dirtbert
16 years ago
I'm not one of them either. I'm new to ws'ing and have all my perennial seeds I've been stashing sleeping peacefully in milk jugs outside now. Some of the seeds I had were from 1999!!! I've never taken the time to sow them because they were older and I didn't want to waste the space in my greenhouse since they were so old. But with ws'ing I don't feel I'm out anything much if they don't germinate. To be honest I'd be tickled if I get just one plant out of some of those seeds. So we'll see :)
PVick
16 years ago
I'm a compulsive seed buyer and have seed that I will probably NEVER get a chance to sow! There's just something about those packets of seeds that thrills me. I do try to store them properly.

This year, I'm sowing a lot of "old" seed, with quite a few from 2001 and 2002. So far, I have germination with:

Alyssum (2001 and 2004)
Red Scallop Poppy (2003)
Bachelor Buttons (2003 and 2005)
Dianthus 'Siberian Blues' (2006)

Some of the others look promising (seeds swelling up), but nothing that can be called germination yet. I've got a container of Burpee's Bush Big Boy tomatoes - seeds from 2000. Those, I think, are a real leap of faith.

PV
hostasformez4
16 years ago
Count me in on using old seeds that I had from past years. I thought what have I got to loose by planting them for my newest project, Winter Sowing!

I do have fears about them not sprouting but all I will have lost is my time.

This has kept me from getting the late winter blaws.

Connie
terrene
16 years ago
Last year, I direct sowed some 'Scarlet dahlia' Zinnias that were in my seed baggie. They were tall and red and I figured the hummingbirds would like them. Approx. 25-50% of the seeds germinated and about half dozen grew tall and red, and the hummingbirds did indeed like them.

This winter I happened to look on the packet - it said "Packed for 1991". Yes, that's right 1991! And some of the seeds still germinated! I'm winter-sowing the rest of them this year (along with other types of Zinnias). What the heck!

Old Seeds - Germination

Comments (7)

vera_eastern_wa

carmen_grower_2007

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dirtbert

PVick

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