Out of date seeds

[gazza1960]

yes,I found out to my dismay when I tried it with the runners and white beans(learning curve) so I ended up using the newspaper rolled up around an under arm spray tin method,where you then slide the paper of the tin and staple it together down the seam ...fill it with fine compost and slide the bean in a 1 inch hole in the top.

It was fun watching the beans growing from the tube top and bottom but not so much fun as watching seeds germinate in a dish in front of you.

Point taken about the washing of the gel off the tommy seeds,I just followed instructions that id read elsewhere.

yes,at this stage we only have commercial seeds Galina as weve not saved any as yet.

Id just like to add that I had some Tommy seeds sent me from Ellen k (free gratis) the blight resistant varieties
so a big thanks to Ellen for that..... ;D ;D ;D

GazNjude

[gazza1960]

[saddad]

It's worth fermenting tomato seeds to prevent any chance of carrying over blight...  :-X

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's worth soaking beans, particularly the large ones, in water for 24 hours when planting, but I wouldn't leave them longer than that. Leave them too long and you get a lovely infusion of protozoa as they rot; great for microscopy, but not much use for anything else.

[galina]

It's worth fermenting tomato seeds to prevent any chance of carrying over blight...  :-X

Yes, afaik, this refers to 'early blight' (alternaria solani).  What we get here is 'late blight' (phytophtora infestans) and that is not transmitted by seed, but overwinters in live plant material and spores blow in on the wind.  However I am not an expert on plant diseases, just what I have read.

I don't want to give the impression that I am against fermenting seeds or that fermenting is not a good method.  It is what I do all the time - smelly kitchen window sill and little vinegar flies included  ;D  Just that it isn't strictly necessary to go to those lengths for small quantities of seed.