Old seed

[Elfeda]

I see failures with old seed this year, where in the seeds I sowed from bought this year ones came up quick.

but I regard all my old seed as my old jewellary..which I really can't throw as they are precious metals and I might find them matching to one or other occation probably

in that way I let them all fail in one or two years trials as spares..instead of throwing them..

[bario1]

In a new packet of seeds sometimes some will be stronger seedlings. Give the old seeds a try,I saw a good video on YouTube,test the old seeds to see if they're viable,then when you know the seeds are ok,sow some like normal & keep the strongest seedlings.

Ok I'm stretching this idea to it's limits here (i'm bored at work) - the best seedlings from last year's seed might be fine, but if they are even 5% weaker than the best seedlings from fresh seed, then I might end up with a failed crop, or at best, a 5% smaller/more disease susceptible crop... in theory

[vixylix]

Taken direct from a 'gardening know how' website:

Can You Use Out-of-Date Seeds?

The simple answer is planting old seeds is possible and okay. No harm will come from using old seeds. The flowers or fruit that come from out-of-date seeds will be of the same quality as if they were grown from fresh seeds. Using seeds from old vegetable seed packets will produce vegetables that are just as nutritious as those from current season seeds.

The question is not so much about using old seeds, but rather your chances of germinating old seeds.

[bario1]

Thanks Vixylix, I don't mind patchy germination, I can make up for that by sowing more - I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't then be raising inherently weaker plants.

[lottie dolly]

Old seed that are edibles,scatter in a place/bucket/tough ext,use as salad greens,or chit a few on tissue,1 st of this month i put some parsnip seed to chit,this morning they coming up,pkt says ok till 2017,got them last year,they were only 40p last year,from the functional range in W.................,

[Jungle Jane]

That link just goes to my youtube homepage Jane.

Sorry I don't know why that happens the videos called "How to do a past their sow by date vegetable seeds germination trial" by home grown veg. He gets a tub & puts damp kitchen towel on the base & lays out 5 seeds in a line of each packet,then covers them with more damp towel,after some time you see some are healthy but some are not germinating very well. So he knows what ones to throw away.
It seems the best way to check? I wouldn't like to throw any away but this would help.

[Scoot]

Taken direct from a 'gardening know how' website:

Can You Use Out-of-Date Seeds?

The simple answer is planting old seeds is possible and okay. No harm will come from using old seeds. The flowers or fruit that come from out-of-date seeds will be of the same quality as if they were grown from fresh seeds. Using seeds from old vegetable seed packets will produce vegetables that are just as nutritious as those from current season seeds.

The question is not so much about using old seeds, but rather your chances of germinating old seeds.

So in other words if you sow a load of old seed, it'll make up for the ones that don't germinate.

I have some Parsnip seeds left off last year (about 150 seeds) and i have some new Parsnip seeds just n case. I'll put the old ones onto some damp kitchen roll and see how many germinate, if there is plenty, i'll not need my new seeds and keep them until next year, if i do need some more then i'll sow as needed.

[Jungle Jane]

I would still use some of the new seeds too (incase next year when you go to see if they're viable they might not germinate well?) it's probably the smaller the seed the less likely it will be viable but I don't know but I imagine they dry out faster?

[Thelma Sanders]

Interesting Thelma - so you have noticed a drop off in seedling 'quality' as seeds get older

To clarify - As the seeds get older the amount that appear in that first flush of germination, gets less, and I would only bother growing on the seedlings from that first flush.
Any later germination from the same sowing, seems to be the result of lessening viability of the seed. IYSWIM.
As I said, I got 5 year's worth of lettuce from one of Seeds of Italy's huge packets - by the last year, from the remaining seeds only about 50% were germinating within a few days.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I'm lead to believe that germination rates decrease the older the seeds are but I don't know about weaker plants. If they have the strength to germinate then they have a fighting chance.

When Mel Ednie from Fife broke the world record for the heaviest onion with a specimen over 15½lbs a few years back, that was from a packet of seeds that had been languishing in the pocket of an old gardening jacket that had been hanging in his potting shed for several years . From that, I think you can take it that at least some seeds will thrive after germination even if they are past their normal sell by date

[Bren In Pots]

Today I've mixed all my lettuce seeds that's more than 4 year old into a jar and I intend to sprinkle them on any spare bit of my garden once the weather gets warmer.

[Penellype]

Different types of seeds have different storage lives - things like parsnip, melon and cucumber have short lives (upto 50% germination after 4 years according to the book* I am looking at), tomatoes can be viable for 6-10 years. I have grown seeds from packets well past their sow by dates and had perfectly reasonable plants, but I have also found that the plants can be inferior - this was particularly true of carrot Autumn King, which produced very poor carrots last year from a packet which said sow by 2014. I think the conditions the seeds are stored in have a huge effect though, probably more so than the actual date of harvest, and unopened packets will last longer than open ones of the same age.

*Peter Seabrook's Complete Vegetable Gardener, which has a useful table of seed germination percentages after upto 10 years storage (along with other useful basic information).

[cptncrackoff]

What an interesting question!

I certainly think that some seeds ( I have particularly noticed this with tomatoes and chilli peppers) germinate more slowly than others, and in my opinion these straggling plants never seem to ever catch up, and equal their better, stronger, faster germinating brothers and sisters.
This seems to be the case for a lot of my crops, beans, sweetcorn etc etc there always seems to be stronger and weaker plants even using 'fresh' seed.

My own experiences of 'old' seed are quite good, I'm using seed that is best before 2011.. they still germinate, the germination does of course vary but I dont think old seed should be chucked purely because it has the wrong number on the pack.
I can remember helping my dad in the garden when I was at primary school, early 90's and nearly all of dad's seed was best before 1980 odd.
The one exception to this rule for me, is parsnips.. I struggle normally with 'fresh' seed germinating, and always buy new parsnip seed every year.

[Aberdeenplotter]

The one exception to this rule for me, is parsnips.. I struggle normally with 'fresh' seed germinating, and always buy new parsnip seed every year.

Good point

[Bigmallly]

That link just goes to my youtube homepage Jane.