Out of date seeds

[gazza1960]

Sat in the plot shed going through our seeds yesterday and having brought quite a few pkts from Squires last season at reduced prices I think due to them going out of date at end 2011.

Question,.......in your experience am I better off dumping them or chancing using them next season.
A lot of the seeds are still vac packed as we brought duplicates of each ones here and there.

We,ll go and buy new ones if you suggest the older pkts wouldnt germinate.

cheers

GazNjude

[gazza1960]

[goodlife]

Oh don't throw you seeds away..particularly if they are unopened they will germinate almost well as 'new' ones.
Many seeds will do perfectly well..even if they are couple of years out of date.
I sowed packet of tomato seed last spring..they were out date by good 10 yrs..and I still got 1 seed out of it germinate and the resulting plant did well.. ;D
Waist not..want not.. ;)

[Mr Smith]

I have loads left from last year which will be going in next year, :)

[manicscousers]

The only ones we replace are parsnips and I still pre germinate the older ones, and still get a good few work and grow well ;D

[pansy potter]

Carrots and parsnips are the ones we dump. Everything else takes its chance.

[galina]

Absolutely, don't junk them.  Very old tomato seeds can take 3 weeks to germinate and older bean seeds also take a bit longer, I guess because the seed coat gets really hard and dry and needs a little more time softening up before germination.  Anything foil packed should be a lot more protected from environmental influences than not.

However, please don't store them in the shed.  The fluctuating temperatures and moisture levels will shorten the life of seeds.  Mine are in a filing cabinet that never gets sun shining on it.  

You can test seed viability.  Place ten seeds on a damp kitchen towel, fold and place inside a plastic freezer bag to keep the moisture in.  Let them germinate in a warm place.  After three days check every day and count.  Ten is a useful number because it gives you an easy way to guestimate the germination percentage.  Just sow a bit denser, if germination is low and vice versa.

[small]

I was watching DA's 'Private Life of Plants' last night. He was talking about a magnolia that grew from a seed found in Japan during an archeological dig, reckoned that was 2000 years old....no, don't bin them!
Actually, I've found brassica seeds lose viability after about 8 years.....well when you only need 10 cabbages a year, a packet can last a long time.

[elvis2003]

as above,why not give them a try,what have you got to lose  ;)

[boydzfish]

Don't throw old seeds away. this is quite a handy web link!! http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/general/seed-storage-life.php  :)

[Chrispy]

I read about storing seed on a website of one of the seed banks, sorry can't remember which.

They say as a rule of thumb, that if the germination rate is above 50% then the plants will just as strong and healthy as if the seeds were fresh, but if the germiantion rate is below 50% then you start to run the risk of producing sick plants.

[gazza1960]

Ok,thanks all....phew thats saved us a few squid.

and yes,Ill be bringing em home Galina,one of our Tupperware jobbies will suffice.

I like the seed life expectancy chart too thats well handy.

I did something similar with the seeds from a Piccolo Cherry Tomato I brought from Tesco Galina,I just followed a webpage suggestion of cleaning the mucus off the seeds over 5 days in a dish of water then put them in a clean bowl of water and was well pleased when the seeds germinated.
I then picked out the bigger ones carefully and dropped them in a shallow growing medium and watched them grow.
It was only the blight later in the season that killed them all unfortunately,but we did get some tasty little cherry toms.

I dont see any reason not to grow other seeds in a clear water solution and then you can see which ones have germinated rather than put them in earth.....I hope that makes sense.

[plainleaf]

the date on packet is about saleability not viability.

[flattyre]

Sweetcorn loses viabilty quickly.

[Digeroo]

I had a box of Franchi sweet corn lasted 4 years.  Though their seeds are a year younger then some in the first place.  I have a packet of Moles Early bird that is three years old.   Germination not a high as year one, but still plenty of good cobs.  I sowed two to a station instead of one.   

[davejg]

Dont throw them, this year i planted som tomatoes (they were Frachi seed that were dated 2006 germinated to well, wish i'd not put in extra in case only one or two came up. I also planted tomato seed that was given to me TEN years ago that germinated ok as well.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I once 'planted' some parsnip seed in a jar on damp tissue, and sealed it up. A fair few sprouted, slowly. Next spring another bunch sprouted. The third spring, one or two grew. That's notoriously short lived stuff.

[Morris]

I sowed a whole load of annual flowers and lettuces this year that were gathering dust in the bottom of my seed box. Some over ten years old. All germinated really well.

I do keep my seeds in the fridge. And the other thing is I throw in those silica dessicant sachets every time I buy something that has them included.

So I agree, disregard the sell-by dates in most cases, so long as you store your seed carefully most last a long time.

PS I haven't tried with parsnips, but I have had good germination with carrot seed that is 3 years old.

PPS I do sow almost everything in modules/trays, and plant out, which I think tends (for me) to give more even and reliable germination anyway?

[Poolcue]

I recently found an old batch of RHS seeds in one of my gardening books.They have been there for well over 15 years and next year I am going to see if any germinate.

[plainleaf]

i germinated several seed from a packet radishes i found in the back of a closet two years
the seeds where packed in 1979

[galina]

I did something similar with the seeds from a Piccolo Cherry Tomato I brought from Tesco Galina,I just followed a webpage suggestion of cleaning the mucus off the seeds over 5 days in a dish of water then put them in a clean bowl of water and was well pleased when the seeds germinated.
I then picked out the bigger ones carefully and dropped them in a shallow growing medium and watched them grow.
It was only the blight later in the season that killed them all unfortunately,but we did get some tasty little cherry toms.

I dont see any reason not to grow other seeds in a clear water solution and then you can see which ones have germinated rather than put them in earth.....I hope that makes sense.

This method may work for tomatoes, but if you put other seeds (white bean seeds in particular)  into a jar of water they will first swell and then rot.  They even rot if they are sown into soil which is too damp and cool!  Robert B's method of damp tissue paper inside a sealed jar works much better, or the method I suggested with tissue in a freezer bag.

Yes fermenting the gel off around tomato seeds is an easy and convenient way to clean the seeds, but in this country we don't have the tomato diseases that make this method strictly necessary.  We can equally well 'squidge and stick' tomato seeds onto kitchen paper, label and store.  Or squidge into a small sieve and whilst the tap is running, squeeze the gel through the sieve with fingers and then take the cleaned seeds out and dry.

The list above on seed life is probably for commercial packets which contain seeds that are still viable at point of sale, but not always fresh.  For fresh seeds (ie home saved seeds) much longer dates apply for beans, peas, tomatoes and squashes.  6 years minimum, but I expect reasonable germination from 8 year old beans and 10 year old tomatoes.  What goes in a commercial packet is not always fresh seed, just seed that was still germinating well at the time of packing.