Photoperiod germinating old seed--

[littleT]

I have a large bottle of old seed from many years of collecting--no labels just a assortment of seed from good to great weed. from the 70s till 2000s.i tried several handfulls of these seed the old soak a day or 2 without 1 popping ,I then did a lot of reading and seem to have found a way to pop some or most of them.i did 5 test-- all 5 with store bought water---1 had nothing but water--1 had water and superthrive--1 had sugar water--1 had scaring outside of shell by sandpaper and water-- and last had sanded and put in sugar water--- I set in the sun between paper towels in a air tight container for each--after 12 hours I have 7 sprouts from the sugarwater with the scaring--1 from the scaring and plain water and none from the others. the sugar and warmth is the trick!!I think

 

[Smorf]

Have you ever tried using ga3 mixed in water for popping old seeds?

 

[littleT]

no --I read about it.where can one purchase it?

 

[icky45n]

@littleT any updates ? Of the 7 that did sprout were you able to get them above ground ? Were the sprouts nice and white, or somewhat dirty looking.
I just tried some that were 14 years old, about 5% cracked within a day, but the sprout was not nice and white, and they stalled at that point an 1/8th" or less long
I've not tried the GA3 acid as suggested, which I've read about too. At this point I have given up on them.
If the seeds are from a strain you like it is best to grow them out at no more than 4 years, germ rates (successful germ to above ground) drop off very fast after that.

 

[Smorf]

@littleT any updates ? Of the 7 that did sprout were you able to get them above ground ? Were the sprouts nice and white, or somewhat dirty looking.
I just tried some that were 14 years old, about 5% cracked within a day, but the sprout was not nice and white, and they stalled at that point an 1/8th" or less long
I've not tried the GA3 acid as suggested, which I've read about too. At this point I have given up on them.
If the seeds are from a strain you like it is best to grow them out at no more than 4 years, germ rates (successful germ to above ground) drop off very fast after that.

Never give up!
Lol if they are a good strain you want to grow ga3 might be worth a shot

 

[Alasgun]

I have no experience with old seeds however willards plant catylast has proven phenominal for germen my other beans. Wouldnt doubt it would work as well on any seed.

Pimento jar half full of water, 1/2 tsp willards, many pop in 12 hours!