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WANTED: How long do seeds last

17 years ago

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me how long seeds will last. I received some last year from sase and had planned on starting them in my greenhouse. Mother Nature had different plans and huffed and puffed and blew my greenhouse down. Now I have a lot of seeds and was wondering if they will last until I get my greenhouse running again. Probably won't get a chance to plant them till next year. Any help would be appreciated. Thanx

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Comments (2)

rosco_p
17 years ago
Lisanfld: Not that I am an expert on seeds but since no one else has responded I will put my two cents worth in. Don't worry about the seeds still being good this time next year as they will be fine. The germination rate could possibly be lessened depending on the storage conditions that the seeds have encountered but if stored cool and dry they will be fine. I personally have used many seeds that I have stored even 10 years and have had satiasfactory results with good germination rates. Of course we have all heard stories of scientists finding seeds hundreds of years old that have also germinated,... so save and keep planting.
bonniepunch
17 years ago
It really depends on what they are. Some seeds are only viable for a few weeks, while others can last for tens or even hundreds of years.

If they are for perennials, they will probably be good until next year. Annuals tend not to last as long, but if you keep them in the fridge, you should still get enough germinating to make it worth keeping them. Herbs and veggies can be all over the map when it comes to longevity. Onion and allium relatives don't keep that well, lettuce and many other greens are also short lived, but tomatoes, eggplants and peppers can last for many years.

In any event, keep them and give them a try. I found some lettuce seeds once that were at least six years old, and I had a germination rate of at least 50%. I've also had one year old tomato seeds fail. You never know :-)

Next year I would start at least some of the seeds in a wet coffee filter (placed in a ziplock baggie). Check daily, and transfer any germinating seeds to your seed trays. This way you can see what the germination rate is like, and if it is a complete failure, you will know early on and have time to buy some new seeds.

BP
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Nope, Carolyn didn't keep her tomato seeds in film cannisters under her bed for 6 Years. LOL Rather, she initially kept her saved seeds in plastic screw cap vials in 100 place boxes with no special storage at all, just ambient temps. When she'd filled 5 of those boxes in the mid-90's she started saving her seeds just in regular so called invitation envelopes and still does. Switching to first person now. I find that with the ambient temps and humidity where I grow my tomatoes does not require special storage conditions. With seeds 5 yo I expect at least 50% germination and often much more. For seeds about 5-10 yo I'd double sow. For over about 10 yo there are a few tricks to use to try to wake them up. My best effort to date has been waking up 22 yo seed but the documented record is waking up 50 yo seed. Being an SSE member I never bought much seed and have built up a huge seed collection without doing that. But the question is about purchased seed in packets. Just seal them tightly when you're through sowing your seed, put the sealed packets in a sealed container in the fridge and that will be fine. For longer term storage you can freeze the seeds but before you do that you need to get the moisture level of the seeds down to about 5-8 % and you can do that with silica gel. Carolyn, who has never thrown out ONE saved seed since 1989 and darn good thing b'c some varieties disappear and some varieties due to improper seed saving morph into something that doesn't represent the variety as the original one. To date I've grown about 2500 different varieties but didn't save seed from all of them, but still, I've got one heck of a lot of saved seed out there in the back room. LOL
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