oldest seed to sprout this year is.............
 

yellow brandywine.


the date i had written on the small baggie was 2005.
there were only five seeds in the bag. well, what the heck, i'll plant them,
and see what happens. i now have three seedlings standing up straight, and
two more have just sprouted, i can see the stems poking up. 100% germination
on 16 year old seeds surprised me.


while digging through the bag o seeds, i came across anna marias heart. those
seeds are 7 or 8 years old. better plant them, heart seeds don't last as long.
so far, one seedling up, and another one has just poked through. i had planted
7 or 8 seeds. its been about two weeks since i planted some of my older seeds.
i also seeded, armenian, milkas red bulgarian, and todd county amish. each one was

12-13 years old. double sow, like carolyn would say. germination has been excellent.
i can't say 100% because i didn't write down how many seeds of each i planted, but
its pretty darn close to 100%. i don't get those results sometimes with fresh seeds.
i did nothing special with the seeds, no pre soak, no fertilizer boost, i just planted
them.




keith

Hi Keith I've sprouted some saved seed as old as 2005, germination rate was 50 percent, near 100 percent from some 2011-2012 seed. Everything has been stored in the freezer for freshness.

Russian Black Pear from 2006 - two out of three seeds sown
update - now 3 for 3 - started on March 2nd

Rozovaya Bella tomato from 2007.

From the Carolyn collection sent by Shawn this year Ukranian Heart from 1994 germinated four seeds from 20 planted. Looking forward to outdoor planting in about a month.

You guys are doing so well with your old seeds! I was just happy that my 2013 seeds for Medovaya Kaplya all sprouted :).

Linda

[QUOTE=PaulF;763075]From the Carolyn collection sent by Shawn this year Ukranian Heart from 1994 germinated four seeds from 20 planted. Looking forward to outdoor planting in about a month.[/QUOTE]

Did you use any special technique or did you just plant them in the substrate?
Vladimír

[QUOTE=MrBig46;763080]Did you use any special technique or did you just plant them in the substrate?
Vladimír[/QUOTE]
Just planted in Miracle-Gro potting mix premoistened with water; wet but not too wet. They germinated in about a week and are now 10 inches (25 centimeters) and could be put outside except it is not warm enough here.

Lithuanian and Mr. Potato Leaf, both from 2006. Had 100% percent germination on Mr. Potato Leaf (9 seeds/9 plants), quite a sturdy little plant. For Lithuanian, 3 plants out of 9 seeds sown.

must of been six seeds i planted.
six plants are now up of yellow brandywine.




keith

[QUOTE=PaulF;763084]Just planted in Miracle-Gro potting mix premoistened with water; wet but not too wet. They germinated in about a week and are now 10 inches (25 centimeters) and could be put outside except it is not warm enough here.[/QUOTE]

Thank you!
Vladimír

I had a 2009 pack of Bloody Butcher seeds from Burpee. This was a retail package purchased at Menards. Expecting germination issues, I soaked half the seeds in a weak fertilizer solution overnight. Surprisingly, the dry seeds (not soaked) germinated better, and most had sprouted in 5-7 days. These were the oldest seeds I've ever attempted, but I wanted to compare BB to Fourth of July, and had these seeds available.

[QUOTE=Greatgardens;763112]I had a 2009 pack of Bloody Butcher seeds from Burpee. This was a retail package purchased at Menards. Expecting germination issues, I soaked half the seeds in a weak fertilizer solution overnight. Surprisingly, the dry seeds (not soaked) germinated better, and most had sprouted in 5-7 days. These were the oldest seeds I've ever attempted, but I wanted to compare BB to Fourth of July, and had these seeds available.[/QUOTE]

I would compare Start S F1 to Fourth of July F1. In Zone 3a I find Start is about a week later, but is a far superior tomato. I think you were part of the North American Start S F1 seed trial that Vladimir offered.

I tried to wake up some old seeds this year and was mostly unsuccessful.

The oldest I was able to do was one lonely Golden Bison from 2008. Most of the rest I'm now growing on are 5 years old or less.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

I've got one from 1992, and two from 1994. One is Regina, the other is, I don't recall exactly, something like Violceum Kryp. Strange name, anyway. And I have several more going from before 2013. All from Carolyn's collection. And I have lots and lots of no-shows from seeds older than 2000. Oh, well. I am just this week starting lots and lots from the collection dating from before 2000. I'll see what emerges!