Seed sow by dates

[gardening-gal]

I just wondered how long you all keep your seeds for.  How viable are the seeds after there sow by date?

[gardening-gal]

[Plot69]

I just wondered how long you all keep your seeds for.  How viable are the seeds after there sow by date?

I save all my seed in a plastic box. If it doesn't germinate too well the following year I buy fresh. I sowed some sprouts a few weeks ago and only a single seed germinated so I went and bought a new packet this morning...

Trouble is I don't want 500 Brussels sprout plants so most of that seed will get saved for next year as well.

Of course, it may not necessarily be the seed, it might be me that's doing it wrong  ???

[GrannieAnnie]

the seeds with hard coats last longest. read somewhere mung bean seeds under perfect conditions could be viable after thousands of years. A few days ago I tried planting (in moist paper towel, a plastic bag and bottom heat) some melon seeds bought in 1989 and 1999. The latter sprouted, the former haven't yet so if you only plan on planting a few of something and can risk it you might just check their germination potential that way.

[cornykev]

If the seeds are unopened I would use them, the only exception being parsnips.  ;D ;D ;D

[star]

And carrots ;D ;D ;D

[kt.]

This is my first year using some F1 varieties.   As I have not used all these seeds, I will be using them next year.   I have heard F1 seeds are only good for the one year.   Do not know how true this is though.   Guess I will find out in 2009.

[sheddie]

I heard (or maybe read) the same about F1 varieties - and also had heard that they are no good for collecting your own seed from to use in future years?

[tonybloke]

they are worth collecting, most (up to 75%) will come true, the rest will be variable.
If you keep your seed in a box in the fridge they last longer, ( the world seed bank is underground in permafrost)
rgds, tony

[ThomsonAS]

I'm intrigued by the  F1 comments - and the parsnip comment.  Does anyone have the science take for why it may be so?

I agree that the germination of my F1 sweetcorn was lower last year than the year before that - but it was, on balance, good enough maybe 60% rather than90%. Didn't seem to make a blind bit of difference with spinach tho'!

As someone with a box full of 2005 dated seeds I'll watch this conversation with interest

A.

[GrannieAnnie]

The hybrid melon seed from 1999 germinated just fine this week and it wasn't stored in a refrigerator either so I wonder about the statement being true about hybrid seed not lasting.

[wiltshire lass]

i use this as  guide

SEED STORAGE LIFE

Note: Seeds all contain a little embryo that will germinate into seedlings, we want to keep this embryo alive and undamaged. Store in airtight containers in the refrigerator. You want to keep moisture away from them to keep the seeds viable. Putting in a packet of silica gel will give you more insurance to keep your seeds alive.

Following is a general guide for the life of stored seeds- with proper conditions they often last much longer!

ONE YEAR
Veggies: parsley, parsnips, salsify
Flowers: aster, delphinium, geranium, larkspur, pansy, salvia, verbena, violas

TWO YEARS
Veggies: leek, okra, onion, pepper, sweet corn
Flowers: aquilegia (columbine), California poppy, calliopsis, candytuft, centaurea, clarkia, coleus, dahlia, gypsophila (baby's breath), hollyhock, impatiens, marigold, morning glory, petunia, scabiosa

THREE YEARS
Veggies: asparagus, beans, carrot, celery, celeriac, chicory, corn, peas, spinach
Flowers: cosmos, lobelia, nicotiana, poppy, portulaca

FOUR YEARS
Veggies: beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, melons, okra, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, squash, tomato, turnips, watermelon
Flowers: ageratum, carnation, celosia, dianthus, gaillardia, snapdragon, sweet alyssum, sweet pea, zinnia

FIVE YEARS
Veggies: beet, endive, chard, lettuce, cucumber, muskmelon

SIX YEARS
Flowers: Nasturtium

[Robert_Brenchley]

I can't see that F1 seeds are going to have a different shelf life to the open pollinated varieties.

[springbok]

I heard (or maybe read) the same about F1 varieties - and also had heard that they are no good for collecting your own seed from to use in future years?

Monty Don mentioned this on Gardeners World.  As they are experimenting with F1 Tomatoes.  The seeds from the goods can not be planted the following year.

His exact words were:  "F1 Hybrids, Im not really a great fan of F1's, for one simple reason, coz you cannot collect the seeds coz they dont come true from seeds"

[GrannieAnnie]

I just read in the USA the seed packet must say expires in one year.
Actually I'm not sure that is even true since my seed packets don't say that ::)

[Plot69]

I heard (or maybe read) the same about F1 varieties - and also had heard that they are no good for collecting your own seed from to use in future years?

It's not that F1 seeds won't store longer or shorter than any other seeds. It's that they don't breed true so collecting them for next year will give nothing like the original plant.

F1 stands for "First Cross". A cross pollination between two pedigree plants. If you cross a Poodle with a Labrador you'll get F1 Poodle/Labrador crosses. If you cross a Poodle/Labrador cross with a Poodle/Labrador cross you get Mungrels very few of which will look the same as the original cross.

At least that's how I understand the genetics of it.

[Robert_Brenchley]

That's about the size of it, except that the two parental varieties will be very inbred for genetic uniformity. Sometimes you get more complicated systems; a bee breeder in the US used to produce a line of bees which involved keeping four inbred strains, producing two lots of F1's, and then crossing those to get the queens he sold. The system eventually collapsed through sheer complexity.

[Jeannine]

Corn is good for 2 years and rapidly drops after that,I but nmne in bulk and it lasts me for 4/5 years but I double sow in the lats years, however it still works out far cheaper. Onions I find are iffy after 2.

Tomaoes seem to go on forever and squash and melons do too , I grew some 1988 melons last year.

I do store in very cool conditions though

XX Jeannine

[chilli queen]

Thanks Plot 69, I was wondering what F1 meant.  So does that mean that you should not collect seeds from F1 plants to use the folowing year.

[Plot69]

Thanks Plot 69, I was wondering what F1 meant.  So does that mean that you should not collect seeds from F1 plants to use the folowing year.

You can collect it but it's hit and miss wether it'll grow and if it does you won't get the same fruit as you did the year before.

I saved some F1 Broad beans one year and the following year they grew into sweet corn :)