Old seed germination, room temps and dormancy

Hi!

I tested some seeds from 2007. for germination, and maybe find something interesting. I germinated 2 seeds, they popped within 2-3 days. Then they were put in the soil. For 5 days they crack the soil and create little seedling, then it seemed like they have made it. From that point they remain the same for at least 5 days. Then I pull them to examine the root. I looks like root did not grow at all, just some upper part of seedling managed to grow.

3 days ago I put 2 more seeds in paper towel for germination. This time they only cracked, and did not want to move from that stage. Root tip doesn't seem to grow.

The room temperature where they are growing is 28-30 degrees celsius. Can this cause seed dormancy? Maybe they do not want to grow because of higher temperature. Maybe if I simulate early spring temperatures they will grow.

I keep my seeds in zip-lock bags, then I put them in little film containers. They are kept at room temperature(22d.c.) for years. I know some will say the seeds are not viable anymore but that is not true. Two weeks ago I successfully grew some Sweet Tooth #4 from year 2003. They cracked within 24 hours and sprouted in 4 days.

I noticed from some of my experimenting with germination that more seeds will crack and will be faster if put them in fridge for 24 hours before germinating them. So, after keeping them in the same temperature environment for a long time, maybe when they are put in the colder environment something is activated!?? The same thing happens in nature. When winter comes the seeds are dormant. The same is maybe in summer, they are dormant too. Naturally, only in the spring time they are active. Before they activate themselves they must feel summer/winter temps.

I believe, that seeds can be kept at room temperatures for 10 years and still stay viable, but it is really interesting to learn how to wake up them from dormant state.

If you have some experience with seed dormancy, please share.

hey mate . im no expert but from my own seed poping id say 24-26 is the best temps for poping seeds ............... 28 to 30 seems way to hot to me i like to keep it at 25 max if i can help it and have had good rates all the time 95 % and a pop about 30 to 40 seeds every 2 months !

chimera one the best breeders on the boards recommends those temps to , but maybe one the expert growers could give there opinion on this im a hydro grower so soil aint my thing ,

growhi, thanks for your input!

They popped and then no further progress. I tried to put them in the fridge for few hours at 8 degrees celsius to make experiment. Maybe they will activate themselves.

Hi cannanaut...in 2007, collected 26 seeds given as freebee at seedboutique ("oldschool thaï haze X skunk#1"). they went straight to the fridge all together in a little plastic bag full of rice...kept there untill 2010 then moved to the freezer in that same little bag...I've made them germinate beggining of june 2012 (almost forgot about them...very happy to find them because lost my mom plants & not a single seed, not even a bag seed...didnt happen to me since a long time...), 14 germinated in 3/4 days, then cracked the soil 2/3 daysafter...among these 14, one stayed at cotyledon stage and didnt grow anymore, while her sisters were doing it normal way...when I tossed it, the root was ridiculously tiny, exactly as the OP mentionned it in the 1st post...the 12 other seeds never showed their tail...I've put them in little cups of dirt & gave them 3 weeks, maintaining the medium moist, but no good surprise...anyway :13/26 on 2012 is not that bad when we know all the complaints that were made about these beans many years ago... oh & I think the freezer help to activate life mechanism on old seeds (the fridge just help maintaining thigs on satsis IMO)...

Hi, ayatayo! Thanks for sharing your experience. It will be interesting to experiment more with old seeds, keeping them in fridge first then put them in the freezer. Your method seems very logical as it mimics natural fall/winter temperatures.

Experiment with last two seeds ended because in last 15 hours after they were taken from the fridge I noticed growth of just cotyledon, root did not activate itself. But some growth occur. It is bad idea to put cracked seeds in the fridge. Maybe seed stratification method will work better, it means to put ungerminated seeds in moisture and cold conditions to activate them by imitating winter conditions.


With next 2 seeds I will try to put them into fridge first then try to germinate. I will definitely try fridge/freezer method too.

Maybe seed stratification method will work better, it means to put ungerminated seeds in moisture and cold conditions to activate them by imitating winter conditions.

Click to expand...

yeah I don't know the name but that's it: taking it fro freezer to room temps, that's imitating the period going from the end of winter to (hotter) spring days...

now concerning the germination of old seed there is an old technique called seed scarification , witch consist in gently scrap the seed right where the two parts of the shell join themselves, using sand paper or a sharp cutting tool...the shell seem to become harder to crack as getting older...

here you can see the difference between the group and the little runt:

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it has never passed that stage...no root development...