Newbie here ... trying to germinate ten year old seeds LOL

[1sttimegrower]

Hi! Really looking forward to hanging around on this site. I’ve already done a lot of helpful reading.

I’m up here in the PNW. My hobbies are watching wildlife (salmon, deer, raccoons, squirrels, etc.), gardening (veggies, shrubs, flowers - both annuals & perennials), reading, and more. My career is library based, but I lost my job due to Covid. So, now, I garden. A lot. I have over 90 tomato plants alone - really, tomato plants …

Because of my newfound time, I’ve really gotten into it and have started a small grow room, with shelving, lights and heating mats. I remembered that I had a whole bunch of old beans and am on my second round of trying to germinate them. The first batch (white paper towel pics) didn’t take, but I threw them into medium anyway, just to see. The second batch seems to be taking (brown paper pics). I started both in a shot glass of water. I added a few drops of hydrogen peroxide the second time. Then I moved them to the paper towel era. Some have sorta germinated but don’t seem to be more than a tiny white blob on the end.

Tomorrow I plan to get some good soil and move the germinated seeds into seedling trays with the soil, all on a heating pad. I’ll add lights when I see green.

Anyway, that’s me … there’s more, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

Warmly, Samantha

[KevGrows]

Welcome to GN! Hope you enjoy your time here!

Give this a shot. Soak in 3% hydrogen peroxide with no additional water for an hour, rinse and then do as you will, paper towel, soil, coco or whatever.

Some people here like to use fulvic acid or seaweed on their seeds. If you do use it, wait until after hydrogen peroxide.

[1sttimegrower]

Hi KevGrows, thanks so much for the welcome and the suggestion. I added pics of my two tries after I posted it. Update on second try is that I put them into some growing medium, on a heating mat and nothing is happening after 3 days. Those are still there. As for my first try, had them in coir with no results after two weeks, so I poured them out and found the seeds and put them back into water with peroxide. I’m going to go add the 3% only that you suggest. I doubt anything will happen with these since they’ve proved to be duds. Old, old, old. I have a few left in a jar where they’ve been for years, untouched. I will give those a shot soon and if no success, go to the seed banks online. Thanks!!

[KevGrows]

Sometimes old seeds are just bunk. I tried with a lot of about 60 a while back and not one germinated.

[1sttimegrower]

Worth a try, though, eh?

[KevGrows]

Always. You never know unless you try

[dunbar]

Welcome! Nothing better than a 1st grow.

[Homey]

@preybird1 is our resident expert on ancient seeds. He’s grown stuff 30 years old.

[Jimhigh66]

Peroxide is my go to every time.
@MrBlue got 30yr old seeds to go I believe, and @sssportsmfg just popped 20 year old seeds.
Maybe they can also jump in to assist.
@1sttimegrower, Hope your grow is extra bountiful!

[preybird1]

Here is the best thread i have EVER SEEN on old seeds and trying to germ them. Read on friends and others who didn’t know this was here.

16 Year Old Swazi Seeds

Hi @kapouic It was from post nr #42 Happy Growing

@docdre is the man.

[1sttimegrower]

Thank you! Sure hope this turns out to be a first grow. LOL.

[1sttimegrower]

Thank you. I see he has chimed in, so looking forward to reading his words of wisdom.

[1sttimegrower]

Thank you! I’m going to try stronger peroxide and more than a few drops with my last few oldsters. Well, first, I’m going to read what some of the successful folks say. Wow, 30 year and 20 year old seeds … I guess mine are 12-15 years old. Not sure. I can’t even remember where I got them. Old ragweed from a friend maybe. I still have some of that old ragweed in shrinkwrap, I should investigate if there are more seeds to try.

[1sttimegrower]

Thank you so much! I will find this thread later this evening when I have the quality time to give it. For now, it’s time to go outside and mix up some soil and manure and compost for my tomato and flower beds before the rains begin again tomorrow. Short growing season up here. Leave it to me to become a gardener after moving to the PNW from warmer locations! Ha.

[pptrsha1]

i went thru 75 old seeds this year and couldnt get crap out of them. i gave up and moved on. dont take it as a reflection on your growing skills. some seeds are not meant to be.

[KevGrows]

This for sure. It can be a real hit to a growers ego when you go through a pile of seeds and get zero out of it but It’s something that you have to be prepared for. Mother nature gets the final say whether you want a plant or not lol

[wrosenk]

If anyone wants some 40 year old seeds(50+) I have some. Maui Wowi and some Columbian mix. Yours for the transportation.

[sssportsmfg]

Just saw this. I have posted this before, and I just popped three 20 YO seeds susessfully a couple of days ago. I have never tried the peroxide so I can’t speak to that. But there are some very smart folks on here that use it so I have to believe it works.

Here is what I do. TALL glass that you can see into. 12" or higher my theory is and it’s just a theory that the water pressure at the bottom of the glass forces the seed to hydrate. Anyway, I put the seeds in the top of that glass, then take a piece of paper towel large enough to hold them under the surface of the water until they sink to the bottom. I do not leave them in the water until they are showing a root, I leave them in for a couple of hours max after they sink, the older the seed the longer it takes them to hydrate and sink, (these 20 yo seeds spent about 10 hours before they sank), then pull them out and place in the paper towels in a covered dish and put in a dark place. Now, there are two things I put in the water, the first is 1/4 teaspoon of organic FULVIC acid, not humic acid Fulvic. And the second is 5ml of seaweed extract I put this into a gallon of RO water Ph’ed to 6.5. Both of these things are fantastic for roots and root development. It is simple and it works for me.

Everyone should do what works best for them and what their experience tells them. Lots of good methods out there.

[1sttimegrower]

Thank you! I went to a couple of local stores and they only had the humic acid Fulvic. I may wait until I have seeds worth spending money on. My seeds are probably from some old ragweed a friend grew in the late 90s. Of course, the main seeds for it came from Canada at the time, so maybe they are worthwhile … Anyway, so far, no success but I still have some to play around with and then I’ll probably order 3 feminized seeds and get more serious. I’m sure I’ll get around to trying the Fulvic and more one of these days! Thanks again!

[Homey]

I’ll take the Maui Wowie.