Seed Life

[Dorothy rouse]

Please can you advise, I've been sorting through seed packets, and have several that have been opened, and some of the contents used, their 'use by date' is 2013, is it worth bothering with them next year? Is germination likely to be much reduced?

[Bren In Pots]

It's only parsnip seeds that I buy fresh each year anything else i just keep on using until the packets empty like some lettuce that says 2009 on the packet and I'll be sowing it again next year.

[Martin H]

I'm with Bren on this. Generally stuff will stay viable for years and years after the "Use By" date, just watch out (and tell us!) if you find something that goes off quickly. I've heard that parsnips and carrots don't keep long, for instance, although personally I just sow stuff and if it doesn't grow I buy fresh.

[Dorothy rouse]

Thank you, apart from Sweet peas, I really don't think I will need to buy any seeds next year, seem to have acquired loads.

[ancee]

I've got some sweet peas Dorothy - I just mixed my varieties up as I'm not bothered with names, just scent and colours! let me know if you'd like some

[Dorothy rouse]

I've got some sweet peas Dorothy - I just mixed my varieties up as I'm not bothered with names, just scent and colours! let me know if you'd like some

Oh that is kind Ancee,thank you.

[cptncrackoff]

Hi, I can remember my father almost exclusively using out of date seed when I was little, his friend working for one of the seed companies, and them throwing them out, some 6 7 8 years past the date on the packet.

As bren in pots said - old parsnip seeds can misbehave..

This year I sowed an entire packet of 2010 parsnip seed, 5 germinated (all got canker but that's probably due more to the surroundings than the seed)

[ancee]

Dorothy, please send me your address via pm and I'll send some to you

[Two_Sheds]

I keep sowing the seeds until the packet's empty: I don't even look at use-by dates

[ancee]

^^ I'm a bit like that with sell by dates on food haha!

[Dorothy rouse]

^^ I'm a bit like that with sell by dates on food haha!

Agree, within reason! You can usually tell by smell if it's off, so many people just bin stuff, such a dreadful waste.

I will PM you Ancee, thank you

[Bill HH]

We ploughed a field that had been pasture for at least 60 years, the field became covered with a yellow flowered weed (carlock) an old timer who lived next door told us he remembered seeing them as a child. So they had been sat there for 60 years just waiting for their big moment. We also cultivated a poultry run and re-seeded it, that grew some huge thistle like plants with massive spiked fruits, these were thorn apples (very toxic seeds) they did their thing and dissapeared apparently for another 50 years or so.

[Bill HH]

^^ I'm a bit like that with sell by dates on food haha!

The sell by date is just about the biggest marketing boost the food industry has. I have been known to fetch stuff out of the bin that my wife has thrown away, particularly fruit with just a small piece gone mouldy, I just cut it off and eat the rest and cheese! hell the stuff is supposed to improve with maturity, a few green hairs soon scrape off. The only thing I am careful about is meat products, having said that i remember before we had a fridge, when I was a child we had a meat safe (who remembers those?), i remember my dad sniffing the meat (That put me off straight away) and telling my mum it was on the turn and to soak it in vinegar before cooking. Its a wonder we survived.

[Mikey]

We used to hang meat until it was green in the safe, never did me much harm.

[darcyvuqua]

Can't really comment I've been on a few food hygiene courses not really thought the same since !


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