Old seed advise??

[Incognegro]

Hey everyone...

I've got some old... and some i do mean OLLLDDDD beans that i finally found in my stash box.

I've heard about folks using different methods of germing old seed stock... any suggestions?

I've tried using the standard wet paper towel methods with no luck..

They were in a wooden box, and have come in contact with some of the elements...well at least heat and cold. All are in either ziplock bags or the packs beans are mailed in... any help would be excellent...



I've got stock from the 70's and 80's i'd LOVE to grow..

 

[igrowone]

i'm a sucker for these threads, comes up pretty regular
still waiting for one of these old seed threads to come through with weed from days gone by
i have seen a couple of tricks, diluted kelp in the water, very dilute bleach water(to kill bacteria on the seed coat i think)

 

[mort goldman]

I was having an issue wth some older seed stock that i had and someone recommended using hydrogen peroxide. I did and i had much better luck

Here is a link to explain it
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html

 

[waveguide]

you can snag some gibberellic acid online for $10 or so. i didn't have any luck it (those seeds don't germ for anyone though..) make sure its washed off before the taproot shows..

tricks..

said the food stored in the cotyledons breaks down, so soaking the seeds in a light N solution can help. also heard aspirin.. though afaik aspirin is more for helping plants ward off disease. i always use h2o2 on my seeds.. prevents molds.

if you want to get wild, you could try germing them above some water running in a metal pipe.. but that's fringe theory.

i'd be inclined to try different procedures on different batches of seeds.

 

[smog]

i like to soak in warm water ontop the fridge they usually sprout when old but after a inch tall they stall out

 

[WelderDan]

rub the edges with fine grit sandpaper or an emery board. The shell dries and gets really hard after they get old. Soak over night in water with a few drops of H2O2 and then into a paper towel or directly into your medium

I read in a thread about germing old Soma beans that the member tried the paper towel method, let it dry out and re-wet it and got lucky. Never heard of that before, but stranger things have happened.

Good luck

 

[idiit]

i am in the same predicament and several members have posted "cracking" the seeds after a few days soak works. the problem for me was the method used to crack the seeds. i used some fiskar trimming scissors yesterday on 10 old seeds and it went rather well. i held the seed between my thumb and forefinger and lightly pressed horizontally down with the fiskar blades on the seed seam. you can just crack or actually remove the seed casing easily with this method. the prior seeds i tried to pop from this seed batch did not germinate without cracking them so this is a last resort for me. i earlier tried dmso to no avail as well as h202 (hydrogen peroxide). the embryos look white, plump and viable. i left most nesting in the bottom shell casing with the top shell removed in a paper towel damp with distilled water in a 70 degree f dim lit area. somewhat sterile conditions including changing the paper towel every couple of days. tweezers work well to handle the delicate embryos after cracking. too early to tell if they'll sprout.

 

[Incognegro]

Thanks everyone...

I will try the H2O2 method...i've tried the crack shell method before too, got the tap root to show...but nothing afterward...

Will see...

I've got some beans about 10 years old i wanna get going...

We'll see!

 

[TGT]

I have some DJ Short Blueberry X G13 seeds that I placed in water with paper towel just three days ago, but still nothing. They are 6 years old, but have been stored in the back of my fridge in a film container with rice and cotton. I really don't expect these seeds to work as I have had problems in the past sprouting seeds made with my old and long gone DJ Blueberry mother. I am anxious they sprout because I would love to have the genetics back in my room. I don't think I'll have problems with other seeds I have in storage as I did everything proper to the best of my knowledge. I have some ten year old California Orange that I will next try to sprout after these fail lol.

Any suggestions on leaving them in water? Should I change the water after three days, or should I take them out and mix in a little Hydrogen Peroxide and try again with the same seeds? Thanks for the thread!

TGT

 

[waveguide]

i wouldn't soak for that long. if you scarify (scratch) em they ought to do as well as they can with the water.

seeds germ or don't germ as a chemical process of stratification. wish i had a better answer for you.. never seen an old seed that could make it more than a few days, but people are posting saying their 10, 20 year old seeds pop now and then.. so good luck