Why do some seeds fail to germinate?

[mrs baggins]

just a general question really! I planted 6 seeds out of the same packet, same conditions, water light etc and only one came through. Just wondering why? have had a few others here and there as well. I know that seeds cant be guaranteed but just wondered what the failure to even germinate rate is

[veg4681]

just a general question really! I planted 6 seeds out of the same packet, same conditions, water light etc and only one came through. Just wondering why? have had a few others here and there as well. I know that seeds cant be guaranteed but just wondered what the failure to even germinate rate is

If they all had same condition, then the seeds from that particular packet are probably rubbish quality. There was a Which report published last year that named & shamed some of the worst seeds companies selling dead seeds as revealed from their test although it wasn't possible to test every single seeds type, let alone vegetable ones so it may have been harsh to some of these well known firms.

Is it possible that one seed out of 6 has germinated in record time so that there's nothing wrong with the others, this can sometimes happen. But if you think you've given enough time for the others, then. I've had similar problems, 1-2 shoots up so early and then you're waiting forever for the others to sprout and the gap between the earliest and latest germination can be very wide.

Germination characteristics depend on which veg seeds, how old and the condition they were sown in. So what veg seeds were yours, how old the seeds are and how long did the first seed take to germinate and how long have you been still waiting for others to germinate.

[jacob marley]

I sowed Onion's leek's Sprout's Cabbage Cauliflower and Garlic Chive's all on the same day put them all in propagator at same time and day all have germinated except Garlic Chive's all new seed jacob

[momol]

Jacob,
I sowed some garlic chives along with other herbs. It took from couple days to a week for other herbs to germinate (Italian basil, Thai basil, lettuce basils & mitsuba),a week to10 days for the spring onions (ishikura) and almost 2 weeks for the garlic chives to germinate. They were all sowed in door (without propagator).
How long have you sowed your garlic chives ? they do need time to germinate.

[jacob marley]

HI Momol Three weeks ago tomorow all the other plants and seedling's have been in cold green house for 12 days now .
So i will wait for a bit longer and hopefully they get into growing mode one day many thanks jacob

[momol]

Oh sorry to hear that Jacob. I heard Garlic chives has short storage tendency but not sure for how long. My Garlic chives seeds were saved from last year (November 2007). If you think your seeds is not viable, give me a shout, I still got some small amount to spare .