Do this before starting seeds. If you have old seed, or seed you saved yourself, this couldn’t be more important!
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23 Comments
Very helpful! Thank you!
This also helps keep the gardening bug at bay. Sometimes I start things too early.
But what if the old seed has only say, five seeds? Me, I just treat it as a crapshoot and count it as all bonus if anything sprouts!
A corn grower I knew in the past would test 100 seeds. He would adjust his planter based on the germination rate. Great info and Thanks Luke.
Tfs😊
Luke, can help with talking about what kind of tempetures things need to grow? I am struggling with several things not matureing fully, I get beautiful plants and fruit grows but it doesn't get very big. Things tomaoes, peppers and eggplants. I am fertalizing weekly, I make beautiful compost. I am at a loss.
I was just going to find a spot in my garden to show them all. And let nature do what she wants. I have new seeds I want to use my resources on!
Awesome content! A few years back I decided I would try to grow leeks again and from seed that I had saved from my garden in NW Indiana. The leeks I got seed from accidentally overwintered and without protection and through the hardest winter in years. We had at least 2 weeks of -25F with windchills of -80F and lots of snow.. I know because I started plowing that winter (2013 -2014). The leeks surprisingly grew and i saved the seed; it was 7 years old by the time I thought oh why not try it. I got an 85 % germination from it. It was incredible to me as allium seed is considered generally viable for one year! You just never know. 👍
I have been trying to germinate Wild Rice from organic store food supplies. It may be a good project for MIgardener sales but apparently they need stratification and to stay damp not dried down from harvest to planting.
Experiments you can do with seed germination: Expose seeds to a Strong South-Pole magnet (large neodymium) and see Priming (wet then let nearly dry again).
Hi just seen ur vid love what u do great information u got my sub
Would you do it this way if seeds need it to be dark to germinate?
My sunflowers 🌻 🌻🌻 and cauliflower germinated nicely. They seem to be adjusting well to garden transplanting. Temps are still in the 80°Fs on Oahu. 🏝🌋🌊 How long do my garlic bulbs need to be in my freezer to simulate the winter state before planting?🧄🧄🧄🤔
I wouldn't waste the seeds. I always plant a few per pot, cell, or hole, select the best, and snip out the rest. Percentage of germination is unnecessary.
If you’re unsure about the viability, you can also use this method just before you plan on planting seeds to see which ones germinate. As soon as the viable seeds germinate, transfer them to your seedling trays and you have 100% usage of your growing materials (assuming all the seeds/seedlings survive the transfer, which they should if you gently transfer them right away). I did this with my cucumber, melon, pumpkins and squash seeds last spring and just transferred the ones that sprouted into my trays. The ones that didn’t sprout went into the compost along with the paper towels they were on.
I have a much simpler way of testing: plant them, and see what grows.
This has been very helpful, thank you.
I've kept a collection of hundreds of squash varieties since 1993 in airtight containers in my freezer . Germination is excellently preserved, but if the original l germination was not great it was still not great even years later. I should have Germination tested my samples before I stored them away.
Just ordered a bunch of flower and veggie seeds from MIGardener 🌸
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV
i remember using some old bean seeds and they where like 15 years old they where my best ones i grew that year but i decided to try doller store seeds lol and they did not do well at all so after that i went back to good seeds lol
If the seeds sprout due the test can you plant them? Or should you throw them out?
Cool, learned some more good stuff because I do have some old seeds. Ive been wondering if they were still good. Now I can find out. Tks.