Need Advice Germinating Old Seeds

[danny karey]

I stated "captain Obvious" cause any one thats been here for 6 months would know that seed storage is the most important thing when storing seeds man.

Jesus man, your going on trying to explain it to me? Thats hilarious!!

danny

 

[maryjohn]

Danny,

May I suggest you drop the taunting and stick to the topic at hand, and don't sweat the obvious. People search and read these threads, not just you.

Your experiences are best explained by my posts above. Scarification does work, although 90% germ rate is not unusual at all. Old or young, a seed with an especially thick shell will do better when scarified. But with an old seed that does not have a thick shell, it makes no difference.

So it may be a good thing to try, why not? But it has nothing to do with old seeds, despite the coincidence you had.

 

[maryjohn]

I stated "captain Obvious" cause any one thats been here for 6 months would know that seed storage is the most important thing when storing seeds man.

I can agree with you 100% that seed storage is the most important thing when storing seeds.

 

[sito007]

**** POPPING OLD BEANS ****

**** POPPING OLD BEANS ****

What up,

I found old seeds that I had bought about 7 years ago and at the time I was going through shit anyway long story short I couldn't run a grow cycle . I had put them in a Rubbermaid in storage for a coulpe of months then got on my feet and a place.
I was cleaning out the attack and found them, I put them to gem on sunday night today is Thursday and none have popped . Anyone know what I can do to try to get them to pop?

I also germ lemon skunk , its out the soil but the shell is on the head part, should i try to take it off or see if it falls off?

 

[FreezerBoy]

I'd try scarification. Scrape the sides of the shells (where they split open) with a blade or sand them with emery boards. Some actually pre crack them by squeezing with tweezers but, I've never tried it. Some seeds, especially old ones, can take as long as a month to pop.

 

[smoke1sun]

I'd say take the shell off for sure. But be VERY VERY VERY careful. Its real easy to snap that delicate seedling. BE CAREFUL my friend

 

[sito007]

I was thinking of trying to crack open the shell with my nails very slowly or misting it alot?

 

[headfortrinity]

it's almost open just give it a day

 

[bobcat1963]

I recently germed some 3+ year old seeds.Soaked them for 24 hours,put them in soil no more than 1/4 inch deep and misted them every 6 hours.9 of 12 popped.Hope this helps.B.

 

[SOTF420]

Soak your old seeds in a full cup or so of warm water with a capfull or two of hydrogen peroxide overnight, mix them around a few times to break the water surface tension and make sure they all get wet. Do not let the water get cold, warm places like on top of the water heater work great or on a electric seedling mat.

After soaking overnight, then put the same warm water in a plain white napkin folded over a few times so it's nice and soft. Make sure the napkin it totally wet and put in a sealed zip lock bag. Blow air in the bag so it puffs up before sealing it. Keep this warm, like 80f - 85f and check on it frequently and carefully (usually about 8 - 12 hours later or so) make sure you plant the seeds in your medium that is also warm AS SOON AS THE TAP ROOT SHOWS, do not let the root get long and twisted up in the napkin, this can stunt your seedling and even kill it. I have germed 7 year old seeds this way (that were kept in the fridge cold) and got 90%+ germ rates. So you know, people successfully germinate seeds that are up to 20 years old. Stored properly in the dark, protected from moisture, and kept cold in the fridge your healthy viable seeds can easily last 10 years with minimal loss of viability. I prefer to not ever freeze seeds but if you do make sure you only do it once. They can last much longer this way, knew a guy that got live plants going from 25 year old seeds. Amazing.

Remember, warm & wet baby - make sure to use some hydrogen peroxide to prevent damping off & fungal issues.

 

[muddywaters]

i'd try to just keep the head of the seed wet till it opens up some more, i find if you open the seed to soon theres still a skin around the first leafs that still needs to dissolve, and if you just rip it off it slows the growth and the new grow is a lil more sensitive if you have them under lots of light or heat.

 

[messn'n'gommin']

Vernalization (sp?). Imbibe the seeds and give lots of red light, until they pop. And/or:

http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/HRN-13.pdf
Ethephon Forces Plumeria for Winter Flowering, U. of Hawaii

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1054221/
Uptake and Fate of Ethephon in Dormant Weed Seeds

http://www.gaiaherbs.com/journals/Ethephon_Promotes_Germination.pdf
Ethephon Promotes Germination of Echinacea augustifolia and E. pallida in Darkness (note: an automatic download)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4060/is_200806/ai_n28083242?tag=rbxcra.2.a.11
Effects of Smoke on Seed Germination of 20 Species of Fire Prone Habitat in Florida

http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/5
Vernalization

http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/128/4/1167
Smoke Induced Germination

Namaste, mess

 

[hoosierdaddy]

That seedling shown will need not help. You risk killing it far more by messing with it than by leaving it alone. It is cracked open well and should germ if you leave it alone.
Patience is a virtue.

 

[sito007]

one T44 popped J put it in a cup but it has not come out the soil its been two days since , anyone know why?

update on the lemon skunk shell,, it came off by itself the next day. the blueberry is doing ok.

 

[grow2bfree]

Need Advice Germinating Old Seeds

I have a questions for anyone experienced in germinating older seeds.

How old were the oldest seeds you have tried to germinate?
How did you germinate?
What was the success rate?

If you are wondering why I would ask such questions, I have several strains that I would like to revive. Some are replaceable, some are not. Bottom line is they are about 5-6 yr old, limited supply, so I need some good advice. It has been awhile since I have started from seed. I never really had a problem before, but it seems I am having a hard time getting seeds to pop. I normally soak for 24 hrs, then use the paper towel method. Always worked before, but at this new location I am getting very poor results. I am not sure if it the seeds (have tried some of mine, tried some from DP that I just got). I figured that surely the ones that I just got would have done better, but only 1 popped (hope its female, will be sexing it soon).

So, If anyone has some good advice...I sure could use it.

Thanks for sharing the knowledge and experience.

Peace.

 

[jimbo99]

i use the same method as you. I just germinated some really old seeds. ranging between 3-4 years old. I got about 1 out of every 3 to germintate. What sucks though is the plants ended up being really runty in the beginning and a lot of them were mutants. I'm about 6 weeks in veg with them right now and some of them look like they're only 3 weeks old. Not many of them are showing normal growth patterns. Some weird mutations going on.

 

[TexasToker]

With really old seeds 5+ years IMO, all you need to do if it is viable is scuff the surface of the seeds a little with a brillo pad or a piece of sand paper. Just scuff it a little to dull the surface a bit. Soak for 12-24 hours in pH'd water in order to rehydrate the seed (i put a drop of superthrive in). Then germ the way you usually do. Older seeds - paper towel, newer seeds - straight in medium. New seeds are already hydrated and soaking or the paper towel method can decrease viability by getting them too 'wet' in essence drowning them.

The oldest seed I have ever sprouted was a NL #2 from back in the early 90's. I had about 25 seeds left from before I went into the military. Only 1 sprouted...BUT They were not kept in optimal conditions. They were in a cigar tube in a box in storage. Now my seeds are always in the fridge, pollen and hash in the freezer.

 

[slackx]

Yea get a peice of fine grit sand paper put it in a film canister and gently scuff it. Let them soak in a cup of distilled till they sink, then put them in the papertowel.

8 Years old from fridge -
50% success rate

 

[yesum]

i took a scissor edge and peeled the shell off the flat end of my seeds that would not germ. i got 2 out of 5 to germ that way. soaking did not work.

 

[weezybleezy]

I ran across this guide on the mr nice forums and it worked well for me on those hard to germ seeds.

http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/showthread.php?t=1562

Old seeds or seeds with a very thick outer shell can sometimes fail to germinate because the seed coat is so hard or thick that the moisture never gets inside the seed in order to trigger germination, or even if the seed germinates, the taproot lacks the strength to crack the coat.

Here are two really easy tricks how to get high germination rates with basically any seed.

Method 1:

Take a really sharp knife, a scalpel or maybe a carpet knife will do. Something really sharp anyway, the smaller the blade the better as this is precision work. Hold the seed between your fingers and chip the outer shell / seed coat at the bottom (sharp end) or in the middle. This will expose the "seed embryo" to the moisture of the paper towel. If you chip the seed coat at the top, the taproot might try to work it's way to the other side inside the shell and usually the seed dies before it succeeds. The trick here is not to hurt the innards of the seed in any way. If you chip too deep you end up slicing the embryonic seed and then it's goodbye for that one.



Using this method I have managed to get high germination rates with really old seeds. People said that they got 0% germination rates with the Skunkman's oldschool Durban Poison x Skunk #1 freebies that were handed out with orders. Using this method I got about 75% of the seeds to germinate within a day or two.

It's a gamble but if done carefully it will work almost every time.

Method 2:

This is the safer option with less change of ruining the seed. It might take a little bit longer for the seed to germinate than with method 1 but still pretty fast compared to regular germination.

Use fine grain sand paper and carefully thin out the seed coat until it looks like there is only a very fine layer of the outer shell left. That's it.


Both methods increase germination rates considerably.


Keep it Green

-Kodiak-