Grow Your Own Magazine

does anyone know what kind of seeds last longer that the recomended sow-by-date? i have 100's of packets of pretty much every veg and herb seeds some is in date and some out of date. i know onoins are ok cos there growing well and they should have been sown before year ending 2005 also some tomato's are up and should have been planted year endind 2005.
its seems to me like somewhere like wilko's has put all the seeds they didnt sell in a hugh box for the past three seasons, and know i have them... yay
any help appreciated cheers wayne

Try a germination test on damp kitchen paper, Wayne, that way you will get an idea of their viability. It depends on how they are stored, dry and damp free, they should be ok but the gernination rate may be reduced.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

The only seed I buy fresh every year is parsnip. The rest I use up from the previous year(s).
Some 5 yr (!) old beetroot seed had about 50% germination- but I always overcrowd anyway.

Be prepared to be let down though once you are a couple of years past the use by date. Old seeds are brill for filling in gaps!

As Nicos says the only ones I know which should be bought fresh each season are parsnips & I've often used flower & veg. seeds which are 2 or 3 years out of date, you just might not get as good a germination rate. I think it was Kew or somewhere who recently grew some plants from 200 year old seed they found in some journals so I guess anything is worth a try!

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Mr F and his dad sowed some 20-odd year old seeds when they got an allotment together when our kids were small. They had been his dad's dad's. They got pretty good germination - especially from the brassica family. It's always worth a go. I use fairly old stuff quite regularly. Can't see the point in chucking out what might turn out to be viable. As mentioned before, a germination test will tell you

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I'm an expert on out of date seeds. the only ones I have real problems with are Busy Lizzies.
As I buy almost all my seeds on ebay, some are up to 2 years ood. They will germinate.
I have some 8 year old tomato seeds that were opened in 2002 and still germinate - nearly 100%

BUT - I keep them indoors, well packed in a dry wooden desk.


I am still sowing 6 year old lettuce seed and getting 90% + germination...

i am same as most of the above. most of mine are a couple of years out of date and they always grow. i am going to try growing out of date parsip seeds this year though havent realy got nothing to loose

I work on the 'nothing to lose' theory - you have them anyway so why not give them a go. You can always replace them with new if they dont germinate, you'll just be a week or two later but then at this time of year that isnt a problem.

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

nothing to loose i know and i will give them all a try! just come back from lottie and i got some cauliflower (snowball a) up and they were 2003 seeds, very quick too only a few days. just been reading about people germinating seeds from the anciant pyramids dating back as much as 4500 years, now thats amazing!... stubbled upone this bit of info check it out see what you make of it My Science Fair Project, "Basic Aether Engineering" the log book has some intersting stuff well for me anyway...
thanks again

Parsnips are fresh for me too. Everything else takes their chance, grow or not. The not's are replaced with new packets.

I have a few packets that are gone past their use by date, but am using them anyway. I have also been somewhat helpful (and only a little naughty) by using some of these in the collection of seeds I gave a friend starting out - some were older and some new this year and she wants to try a lot of things so slightly lower germination rates won't bother her too much. On the plus side, using up old seeds this year does mean that I should have a few gaps in the box next spring - seed buying chances next winter with the catalogues!!

If you put a little more seed than normal into your rows or seed trays, you should still get a fairly good result on most things. And if you use up that seed early, it would still give you a chance to get fresh from the new stocks in GC's in a couple of weeks without unduly putting yourself behind.

Haven't 'THEY' ( ie scientists) germinated some rare seeds found in a pyramid or somewhere????

Now THAT'S what I call out of date seed!!

I had a similar thread last year when I bought several packets of seeds from car boot sales (imagine all that exposure to the sunlight). They were Suttons brand at £1 for 4 packets with July 2007 as expiry date. Since then I've managed to germinate strawberries, cucumber, broccoli, tomato, aubergine. I have some more that I have yet to sow but I'm feeling confident....

From my last thread, I did learn that shorted lived seeds tend to be Carrot, Parsnip, Leek, Onion, Spinach, Beet and some herbs may remain viable between 6 months and 2 years so it sounds like mostly Root and Onion/Allium family vegetables. However it's so good to hear that your onion seeds germinated despite of what I've heard about them as bad keepers. It's a relief for me actually.

Brassica (cauli, cabbage, broccoli, sprouts) tends to be good keeper, easily beyond 3 years and upto 5 years would probably be still okay. However I've been told that Oriental Brassica (leafy veg like Pak Choy, Mustard etc) may only keep for upto 3 years.

Your fruiting vegetables (tomato, pepper, aubergine, beans and squash) are one of the best keepers possibly beyond the 5 years even.

As others have advised, it's best to do a germination test (however way you want it, even test sowing) just before the sowing is due so that you don't lose time if they fail to germinate. In the old days, I used to sow my very outdated seeds till they germinate no more, so you've got nothing to lose.


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Food for Free

Someone helpfully posted a poem on here about a year ago that incorporated germination times, I've kept it but can't find it at the moment, might have been Snadger who listed it?
Sue