Seed Viability

My mom collected seeds from grandmas garden in 1981 right before they sold sunnybrook and moved to town.
I was going through old trunks and boxes not too long ago and found a container of grandmas seeds. Included were Poppies, pink daisy, balsam, sweet dame, gas plant, sunflowers, blackberry lily, money plant, hot peppers, and gomphrena and 2 other unknowns.
I know that i can take my chances and see what i get, but what are the changes of 20+ yo seeds germinating? i would love to add a part of grandma and sunnybrook to my garden.
tia
jen

MsJen

I'm sure some of the seeds will still have that bit of sparkle that makes them grow.

Carrots for example are reputed to have only 2 years before their viablilty is up but there are several stories and reports of 40+ year old seed germinating and growing into a good crop.

Similarly, previously cultivated land that has been turned into grassland for a number of years will sprout seeds of plants that have not been seen on that land for a very long time.

As long as you are prepared for the disappointment of a low germination rate, you may find yourself surprised by the results.

One things for certain, they ain't gong to grow in that packet. Take the chance, you never know!

This message was edited Sunday, Jun 30th 11:32 AM

You might try chitting the seed to see what happens.

Chitting is almost like growing sprouts. You keep the seed damp (between paper towels in a plastic bag often works well). Then you plant the sprouted seed.

Sprouted seed is very fragile, however, so you want to handle it gently. But the advantage is, you'll know that you are only working with viable seed.

Chitting doesn't work with everything. But what have you got to lose? As Baa points out, they'll never grow at all sitting in the packets. And this way, you might be able to save some of Grandma's plants.

A note on viability:

When you see seed vaibility charts they can be misleading. What the figures mean is that, at the end of the given timeframe, 50% of the seeds will germinate.

To put that in perspective, let's say a particular plant is given a 5-year viability rate. At the end of 5 years, 50% of the seed will still be good. Viability rate drops off rapidly after that, but doesn't necessarily mean the seed all dies. Let's say that at the end of ten years only 10% is still viable. And let's further say that you have 100 seeds. That means ten of them will grow. No, not a very good germination rate. But if it means saving your grandma's plants, it's well worth the effort of finding out.

Remember, in several cases, certain bean seed remained viable for _centuries_!

What I'm saying, MSJen, is don't worry about viability figures. Give the seed a try and see what happens. That's the only meaningful procedure.

Thanks for the info Baa and Brook.
i'm getting pots ready now to sow. Hopefully i get something out of them!!
Jen

Brook

Good point on viablilty.

You could always site the case of the Lotus seeds found in an Japanese boat on the bottom of a lake reputed to be several thousand years old and a couple of the seeds germinated. I recall a lecturer who claimed many seeds lived several hundred years waiting for the right conditions, he always cited the poppy fields on the Somme.

MsJen

I'd love to know how you get on :)

Some plants have grown better when the seed was just "tossed out", that is direct seeded. I once tried some flowers that would start to grow, then all of them just croaked! I threw the rest out where I wanted them and now I keep on pulling them out! Go figure! :-)