Planting 'old' - out of date seeds

jap200

I have set myself a challenge - I sorted out my big store of seeds and was shocked at the number that I had never ever planted - many are years out of date, many are free from magazines, shredded wheat, seed catalogues etc.

There is no point in my keeping them if I don't try and grow them as each year they get older, they are less likely to germinate. So I have decided to try and grow some from every single packet and/or throw them out. I have now sorted them into plastic folders by earliest planting month and planted the Jan and Feb ones last week - a total of 15 different seeds - both veg. and flowers/ornamental. It would be a bit dull to list them here, but they range from the mundane leeks and tomatoes, to the exotic - Watsonia ardernei (no I'm not sure what this is either - no photo on the Chiltern Seeds packet) and venus fly trap (in one of the kids gift-type packs).

I don't have a greenhouse, so to minimise the space they take up I am using small pots with plastic bags over.

So far these have germinated:

Tomato Moneymaker seeds - dated sow by 1999
Tomato Ildi - dated sow by 2004
Leek porvite - dated sow by 2001
Mixed salad leaves - dated sow by 1998
Hollyhock (chocolate) - dated sow by 2000 - sadly only one seedling so far

GreenNotM

jap200 wrote:

I , to the exotic - Watsonia ardernei (no I'm not sure what this is either - no photo on the Chiltern Seeds packet)

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Watsonia%20ardernei%20&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

nodwah

I've found so far that the smaller the seed the greater the chance of germination when they're old. I've a big collection of ancient squash and cucumber seeds coz I keep buying interesting looking varieties and I've found that they just won't germinate after about 2 years. (I'm only storing them in an old coffee tin in a cupboard not properly). Whereas tiny seeds like strawberries seem to go on and on, poss because they have less moisture in them to start with andtherefore are more resistant to drying out.

jap200

Well- time for an update I think. Mixed results really - mostly not so good

So far - out of the 'old' seeds that I planted in Mid February:

A total of 4 out of about 100 hollyhock seeds (sow by 2000 date) have germinated.
Only a single lupin from a mixed pack (sow by 1999)
4 nicotiana 'fragrant cloud' out of 100s of tiny seeds (sow by 1999)
A single echinacea out of about 40 seeds (sow by 2000)
Really good results with all tomato varieties (sow by 1999 onwards)
Very good germination from 'fox tail grass'- HA (sow by 2005)

No success at all with;
Rudbeckia 'Green Wizzard' (sow by 2002) - despite good results 2 years ago
Knautia macedonica (sow by 2003)
Verbena bonariensis (sow by 2003)
Iris setosa (sow by 1999)
Brachycome blue star (sow by 2000)
Limonium latifolium (sow by 1999)
Penstemon - mixed - from shredded wheat packet in 2004

Despite these disappointing results, I am thinking of the ones that have actually germinated as a bonus as I was thinking of throwing the packets of seeds away anyway. I won't give up on them quite yet though as some seeds do take up to 2 months (or more) to germinate. I will keep them in the heated propagator on my window until I need the space for the next batch of sowings later this month.

I will be trying some 'old' pea and bean seeds next.

In total contrast, I scraped the seeds out of a 'Tesco Finest' small pointed orange-coloured pepper and every single one has germinated (around 30 in a small pot). I don't know whether the pepper was an F1 hybrid or not and therefore what the results will be like - but it will be exciting to try anyway. At least it has also proved to me that my germination methods are not at fault.

Lord_Gardener

Here's one for you !

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/international/middleeast/12palm.html?ex=1276228800&en=3bf3f98288a1b1d3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

That's what I call an out of 'date' seed!!!

jap200

Lord_Gardener wrote: »

Here's one for you !

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/international/middleeast/12palm.html?ex=1276228800&en=3bf3f98288a1b1d3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

That's what I call an out of 'date' seed!!!

Wow - impressive.

It makes me feel a bit inadequate though that they can get a 2000 year old seed to grow and some of my total failures are less than 5 years old!