OLD Seeds & NEW Seeds

Very good question! Vermiculite is weird..I have had seeds in moist vermiculite waiting on germination for months. And it still doesn't rot. So I figured if it's in the fridge does it last longer? Time will tell...I just don't know yet. I will check on them from time to time.

Hi Everybody,
As of Yesterday I decided to Blog everything that has to do with What, When, and Where I'm growing. At this time I am propagating many seed types and species. And I'm about to list ALL the seeds which have been prepared for germinating in April. What comes up..which ones I'll donate to my garden friends at Dave's....Love this place! Hope you check out the Blog on this!
http://uniqueseeds.blogspot.com/

Soooo I started with this post...

Love it, Kim! I have it bookmarked :-)

Thanks Neal, I keep changing the page who knows how you saw it! LOL. Thanks for the seeds I got in my box from the piggy swap.

Hi guys. Just for your info, I had some delphinium grandiflorum seeds left from what Jonna sent me last year, and they sprouted with heat under lights in about a week - same as last year, I think, and in the same amount of time as some other delph grandiflorum that I harvested this year. I also had close to 100% germination.

That's really good to know! I have some that I am holding on to...lol

Couple of pointers, if you put moist packed seeds in the fridge, watch them closely, they may start to sprout. I do this with ones that require a moist cold period and then plant them in pots when they are beginning to germinate (though I have been too late a couple of times). Works well with monkshoods (Aconitum) as an example.
If seed is refrigerated, not frozen, even short lived seed like Agapanthus will live for years. I germinated A. coddii seed that was more than five years old, but it was refrigerated upon reciept.
Short lived seeds, at room temp, are pretty common in the following families (there are exceptions) Asteraceae, Poaceae (grasses), Ranunculaceae (monkshoods, buttercups, delphiniums, etc), and Amaryllaceae (fleshy seeds need planting even with refrigeration within a few weeks, black flattened seeds like Zephyanthes last longer but should be refrigerated if you plan on keeping more than 6 months).
Particularly long lived seeds often have hard impermeable seed coats, some examples would be Hibiscus and some scented leaved pelargoniums.
Of course, if you have old seeds, there's no harm in trying them out, pleasant surprises are one of the fun things about gardening!

Wow! That is very good and informative. Thanks for posting this. It is my first time doing this and I was told that the Tropaeolum Azureum I have in the fridge might do this..I was like..no way! Now I know it's the truth!

OHHH MY Goodness! I just ran to the fridge after this post. Wouldn't you know..I'm in trouble now. I have seeds I have had for 10 years and every last one is germinated in the bag. What to do now??? And the Aconitum seeds I paid big money are germinated. I wasn't ready for that..Now what?? I din't know seeds germinate in the cold. Ohhhh phooey.

That's great to know about the aconitums. Thanks!

Yeah but I would have not looked in that bag if congminglaoshi didn't post that. Now I have to try to save them. Looks like they germinated some time ago.

So, what do they look like now?? Do they look fresh, dried up, or??

Well some look fresh (aconitum). One looks like it went without air and light too long. I'm about to pot them up. So excited. The other ones (different species) are fresh and green.

I wrote a Blog about the baggy thing..Now just updated it.. Seeds will germinate in the bag...LOL And posted the Great information from congminglaoshi (Thanks so much!)
http://uniqueseeds.blogspot.com/2010/02/vermiculite-germination-bag-some-seeds.html

Ok..got all the Aconitums potted up and out the fridge. Stuck the ones that didn't germinate back in with more vermiculite. Well if you want to call this potted up. It was the best I could do for now and stuck them in a windowsill..until I get set up.

Hope the aconitums are okay. When mine germinate in the fridge I take them out, put them into seed starting mix with added perlite, and place them under flourescent lights. They grow pretty well, though it takes a couple of days for them to straighten out if they have more than roots showing from the seed (better to get them before the cotyledons appear, but not always possible,and they will grow okay anyway if they aren't too stretched out. I have a couple of small pots now, one of one from seeds from a plant of mine I orginally got from the old Heronswood in Washington, the other is sp Rya from Gardens North. GN has an amazing selection of aconitum seeds.

Wow- thanks, congming. I had to go look at GN and I love those reddish ones they have. Maybe next year. I have too much going on now.... unless someone has a few seeds of those they want to trade.

You saved a whole bunch of babies! Thanks so much for posting here. I would have never opened that box up. Every last one is perfectly fine :-) And much much more had germinated. I've taken them out too.

Great to know that they are fine!

my dad gave me a bunch of seeds he found in the basement last year... they were packed in 1999.. marigolds, aster, and zinnia were all still viable

Now that's a very good one to know! Thanks for Posting. Because I haven't had any tell me about the marigold seeds. I have always assume they might not be viable over time. So I know for SURE I'm going to plant mine in a few weeks. I have some marigolds that I kept (very well packaged) for a few years and want to start them.
Thanks!

they were in commercial packages... I was shocked when I saw something green poking up.. I did the paper towel in a zip bag.. because I didn't think they would germinate

That's always a good method! LOL. Someone told me to stick the brown part of the marigold seeds (straight down) into the medium just above the fan-like tan part. And they will always germinate...hmmmm Will try that too.

always willing to try something new... thanks!

Anthyllis vulneraria
(had these seeds for 10 years, all have germinated in the fridge)

Lunaria annua 'Variegata Alba'
(all have germinated in the fridge, wasn't expecting that)

nice

This is an exciting thread everyone, and thanks all for sharing your findings. I have just germinated some alyssum seeds from 1997, at least that was the date stamp, as I have discovered, not always accurate from commercial seed companies. I even received some seeds this year, with a new tag over the old one, with this years date. I have not yet had a chance to peek, but probably not important. Now, onto the details of my experiment. On Feb 1st, I sowed a packet of purple alyssum seeds onto Jiffy Mix seed starting formula, with a bit of additional perlite and vermiculite. This were started in formerly small fruit containers, like blueberries, from the market, since they had holes on the sides both top and bottom, as well as more on the bottom for drainage. These could not be recycled, so I thought I would try to reuse them, after washing them all in a bleach/water mix. After 2 wks, about 7 seedlings, then I thought to use bottom heat. The next night there were about 12 more. I took them off the heat, a regular heating pad, wrapped in 3 layers of small towels. Well, after taking them off the heat, only 2 remained, so I thought to put them back on to see what would happened next. The next morning, I have 5 seedlings now up, not a whole lot, so I have concluded, that if you put them on heat, at least wait until they get there true leaves out. I will be doing tomatoes doing a new experiment, only because I have so many old seeds, and it is still early enough to even start them a month from now. I will start some with heat, and some without, on a windowsill, which is considerably much cooler this time of year. If there is a freeze imminent, I will take them from the windowsill those nights. Do you usually start your tomato seeds with bottom heat? Dr. Carolyn says it will speed up germination. I have in the past, with fresh seed started tomato seeds without heat as I had so many and did not have the facility for heat for all of them, in fact it had not occured to me. I just wanted to get a head start so they were all started in February, a bit early for we generally had late frost and snow here.

You have all encouraged me for I have many ornamental seeds as well as the chaste tree and laburnum seeds which are more than 10 years old. I will report back my findings on these and others when I have some results. Thanks all for sharing!


Evelyn

Evelyn, are you making notes? Actually you could just copy what you have written to us. But, keep a record of some kind. Especially since you say you have a lot of them.

Thanks for sharing Evelyn. Very exciting! I think my theory proves right! LOL

Yes, this year I will make notes as well as share my findings in the propagation forum. Also, I will have some seeds to share, but wait until I post as I have not yet received them all, much less started them.

OK, KIm and Jnette!

I have begun the experiment in earnest. And yes, I am making notes. I have a special small notebook I got at Big Lots for a dollar, just for germinating seeds, and I leave room for notes when they are planted, as well as the year, the source, if known, as some were gifts to me or in seed trades, and some of my mom's old seeds, as she is no longer with us. (She never could throw away her old seeds, either!)

2-27-2010

Tomato 'Sub-Artic Plenty' 1990 Gurney Seeds (This was left over from my first huge experiment, where I grew 100 tomato plants, but more about that later...)

Tomato 'Homestead' 1987 Ferry Morse (Mom's)

Tomato 'Supersteak' 1991 Burpee

Tomato 'Aunt Ruby's German' 2003 Pinetree

Foxglove 'Foxy' 1992 Pinetree

I have some other flower seeds that did not have dates, but I knew they were there for a long time, Abutilon and Diascia. I still logged them as well.
I am growing fresh tomato seed along with the other tomatoes to compare germination side by side.

I do have a question about petunia seeds. They are so small. Do you first germinate them in a ziplock with either vermiculite or a paper towel, or do you just sow them and prick them out into cell packs? I have not yet sowed my petunias, and I have never grown them from seed. I used to buy them, but I love petunias and want lots of them. If I am successful this year I probably will buy more varieties, as I got only two from Swallowtail Seeds. A beautiful blue and a yellow. I won't be expecting a lot from the yellow one, but who knows, as they are not usually vigorous....we'll see.

I have a lot more seeds to go and I will probably W/S many of them as I have limited space by the windowsill on heating pads with CFL's instead of shoplites. So some will be early and some late.

Thanks everyone! You make it more fun as the starting of seeds can be tedious work at times. The joy is in sharing the experiences.

Evelyn

This is great Evelyn,
As far as the petunias. Just Sprinkle them on top of the vermiculite and you can transplant them when they get big enough. They always seem a little slow to get big to me..But eventually they will get big enough in the vermiculite to transfer somewhere else.

I guess it depends on how much time I have when I am planting them. If not much time then I plant the way Kim said. If I have time I will plant one seed in each hole. 6 packs. Yes, they are tiny but if you can see them you can still do it that way. Take a piece of paper about 6 inches square. Crease it in the middle and then on one end fold it in about 1 or 2 inches. Pour your seeds in the crease and holding it with the one hand just let the seeds roll out, one at a time. Use a sharp pencil or pen to control how they come out. Tip the paper up or down to control them. Once you do it a couple of times it will be very easy. Even with petunia seeds that are not pelleted.

I guess it depends on when you have the time to work with them. Either way it will take time. If you do it Kim's way then you will take more time re-potting them. Or, my way takes longer on the initial planting. Then when they have 4 leaves I use tweezers to take the 2 middle leaves out. That makes them bushy.

Thanks both of you! I appreciate your kind assistance with me, as I am already over my head with so many seeds! I will try and seed some into the cell packs, and maybe some others onto the vermiculite. That is right, it would save time to sow them individually, but is there generally 100 percent germination rates for fresh petunia seeds? If so, I will surely have a ton of petunias!

You might be suprised. I normally get close to that. And I know the feeling well.

WOW! I am going to have petunias everywhere!! Hip, hip, hooray!! I will be rich in flowers...I hope I can grow my veggies as well. I don't think my hubby will like petunia salad! hehe. Well, lettuce is so easy, so i don't think it will be a problem. I won't plant every single lettuce seed, though. I can save some for a fall sowing and then next spring. Oh, but all those tomatoes! Well, if they go through the germination test, maybe I can trade some of them...do you mean you ever bought too many seeds??

I always buy too many seeds.

I planted some 3-year-old Echinacea seeds last week and the germination is better than my fresh seeds. I had them in the veggie drawer for 3 years. LOL.

Isn't this fun? I am sowing some lettuce today out in the raised beds, as it is a nice day, in between storms. I will probably sow a few in cell-packs as well so I can get a lot of variety. All those different and interesting leaf lettuces...Oh and the tomatoes! I did start some of the old ones last night, but I will do more, and not all of them will get bottom heat. I guess I will WS some of them too..."so many seeds and so little time"...well, I had better get out there!

(It used to be...when I was SO much younger..."so many men..." and now it is seeds!)