Old seed

[bario1]

Hi, I was just wondering - does old seed produce weaker plants? Or, once germination has happened successfully, are all seedlings 'equal'?

[cariann88]

I'd just plant and see if any germinate.

[bario1]

It's not a question related to any of my seeds (though i do have some old ones) - it's more of a general question...

[Small pumpkin]

I'm lead to believe that germination rates decrease the older the seeds are but I don't know about weaker plants. If they have the strength to germinate then they have a fighting chance.

[cariann88]

Probably once they get going then it's just like any other plant then when growing.

[bario1]

That's kind of what I thought, I just wondered if there was any middle ground between a germinator and a dud - a 'weak' germinator, a 'last gasp' seed?

[Elfeda]

yes, the plants germinated from new or old seeds has no difference.

[Ananke]

That's interesting, I've wondered about this before. I'm just about to bin loads of old and not so old seed, that have been kept in terrible conditions. I might have just changed my mind.

[bario1]

That's what I mean, is it worth sowing a ton of old seed and rearing the few that germinate, or will these 'few' be inferior to new seed anyway, and therefore not worth the time invested? Looks like it'd be worth it.

[Ananke]

I had assumed that if a seed was about to become a dud in say a weeks time, when it germinated, the resulting plant would be a weaker one compared to a fresh seed.

[Thelma Sanders]

With old seed the first crop of germinated plants are worth growing - I wouldn't bother with any later germinating ones, they will indeed be the weaker ones.

That's what I found with 5 year old lettuce, anyway

[noviceveggrower]

I give the older seeds a chance. Gives them a 50/50 chance that they can either germinate or not bother. Its too expensive to keep chucking seeds away all the time.

[bario1]

Interesting Thelma - so you have noticed a drop off in seedling 'quality' as seeds get older. In that case is it really worth sowing last year's leftover parsnip seed at the risk of nurturing inherently weaker plants when a new packet of seed costs £2?

[Jungle Jane]

In a new packet of seeds sometimes some will be stronger seedlings. Give the old seeds a try,I saw a good video on YouTube,test the old seeds to see if they're viable,then when you know the seeds are ok,sow some like normal & keep the strongest seedlings.
https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=J-7YqjoEimg

[bario1]

That link just goes to my youtube homepage Jane.