Popping "older" seeds

So our first seed purchase was autos two summers ago. Then we ordered some photos from Greenpoint Seeds during the Hallowern 66.66% sale (bonkers dealn $600 worth of work for $200... god bless Gu). I work in kitchens and always follow FIFO (first in, first out), so now that we're able to grow again, we're running autos first.


Since I dont know how old the seeds were when they were purchased should we do any special propagation at this point? We normally do 36hrs water soak in darkness, then plant the seed in soil and watch the moisture level until they break surface then just nurture till seedlings. We Used to cover them domes and start in starters but found direct sowe after soak to give damn near 100% prop rates. I try to shoot for 72-75F and 65%-80%+ humidity in the tent while prop is going on once it drops to 60sRH its water time more or less.


I just popped some Mephisto Genetics and Dutch Passion autos Tuesday, sowed directly into soil, no soak!!! (Lol, first time not soaking, dun dun dun). i been waiting 2 years to grow meds again... patience has wore thiiiiiiin. wife and I have PTSD and are using AVB atm... need meds asap. We just moved to VT last monday, I ended up setting up the tent at 3am after we finally settled in. Side note, I was perplexed as to how I ever set up the 4'x4' Gorilla Grow tent plus extension in A 6'x6'x9' water heater closet at our old place.. literally fuckin baffled me as to how it was physically possible, because its not and it wasn't, but it happened and I did in fact do it (it was after our step dad passed from cancer, we legit swear his spirit helped... that's what my wife and bro said because I needed help setting it up in VT and its in a giant bedroom this time... but I digress.

Propagation started technically Tuesday morning the 16th. Since then a few have broken surface. Yaaaay! Worried whether the thumbs had any green left in em... They were super vigorous first go around but it's been close to 2 years since purchase, plus God knows how old they were prior. SHould we do anything different, they still seem pretty vigorous. My mom was shocked they started popping so quick, was saying how some veggies take 2 weeks. My wife is soaking some in water for 36hrs + darkness, then we're gonna try rapid rooters, heard good things.. good idea? Just trying to secure the investment... fuckin $10.00 a seed is alot.

Thanks

Forgot to add this: seeds have been stored in our refrigerator since purchase then transferred in a cold storage bag to VT and kept refrigerated.

2 years - no problem at all...

Most of my seed stock is from the 2005-6 era. They have not been stored properly all of their life, mostly sitting in a cardboard box with a few desiccant packets in the drawer of my end table until a few years ago where I moved them to my freezer.

Up until my last couple of runs, I was getting 80-90% germ rates. The last 2 runs I've gotten less than 50%.

It really seems to be based on the original breeder packs. If they came in a simple ziplock baggie, they suffer from poor germ rates. If they came in something else, like a bubble pack, they still seem to be pretty viable.

2 years is nothing even at room temperature. If they will not pop you can try cracking them. Carefully with pliers or whatever, some use their teeth!

GOT_BUD? said:

Most of my seed stock is from the 2005-6 era. They have not been stored properly all of their life, mostly sitting in a cardboard box with a few desiccant packets in the drawer of my end table until a few years ago where I moved them to my freezer.

Up until my last couple of runs, I was getting 80-90% germ rates. The last 2 runs I've gotten less than 50%.

It really seems to be based on the original breeder packs. If they came in a simple ziplock baggie, they suffer from poor germ rates. If they came in something else, like a bubble pack, they still seem to be pretty viable.

Click to expand...

Similar thing is happening to me I stocked up about a decade ago and all of a sudden germ rates are dying on all seeds

2 years is no Problem. For me germination between moist zewa papers Works best . I do it with chilli Seeds that are hard to germ too. Sometimes takes 4 weeks but Works ..

If you're going to store seeds loooong term, I strongly advise drying them thoroughly first. I use rice as a dessicant, because it works at lower RH than gel packs and such.

170F in the oven for 10hrs to drive off moisture (overkill? I don't know. lol), then cooled in a sealed container. Put your beans in a small container, then seal it up with the dried and cooled off rice. Leave it for a week.

Once they're dry, you'll want to seal them up and freeze them, along with some of the rice.

I've germed 10 year old immature seeds which were stored this way.

After I harvest fresh seeds I allow them to dry at room temp for a week in a dark area.
Then I store them in my refrigerator in sealed containers.

A couple years? No problem. I’m cracking seeds atm that I’ve had since 2009.

Reading the thread title I thought it was about 15-20yo seeds, hehe, but 36hours sounds like an awful lot of soaking if I may!

Irie!