Sprouting Old Seeds

a reply to: IAMTAT

I picked them up when I was invited to the old Disney family home.

Did everyone skip over this point???!!!!

Wow! Do tell, do tell. How exactly does one get invited to the Disney family home?

a reply to: zosimov

Another great way to determine if seeds are viable and plant, is to germinate the seeds in moist paper towels. I admittedly learned this technique via the Internet and it has been a time and $$$ saver. I only plant the seeds that germinate.

To use this method, tear a paper towel in half and moisten one of the halves. Place seeds on half of the paper and fold the other half over the seeds. Blow open a clear, sandwich size zip-close bag. Place the paper with seeds inside and reseal the bag.

a reply to: JAGStorm

LOL!

You're absolutely right, this is quite the cool detail!

I was so caught up in The Dreaming Tree that I kind of glossed that over.

a reply to: CynConcepts

I didn't make a judgement call one way or the other.
Reason being that I used to grow quite a few things from cuttings back when I was 6 or 7; Oleander, Jade, Geranium, Ivy.

I was shooting popcorn kernels through a pea shooter one day. Couple months later corn was growing. Guinea pigs like to eat whole corn stalks. So they got em.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: IAMTAT

I picked them up when I was invited to the old Disney family home.

Did everyone skip over this point???!!!!

Wow! Do tell, do tell. How exactly does one get invited to the Disney family home?

Nothing special.

Was in town for a special event...and they opened the home for a group.

Very cool old place.

Saw Walt & brother Roy's childhood bedroom.

Fun fact: You can look out of Walt's dormer window from his bed...and see the old train station and the coal hill...which was the basis for part of the original Disneyland layout. The old train circles the park...and the coal mountain silhouette, he saw as a kid, became the model for the Disneyland Matterhorn.

a reply to: CynConcepts

I might try this next time I germinate rosemary-- I've been reading that rosemary seeds have about a 30 percent germination rate... this might be a good answer to that (although I really do see pthena's POV too! That life finds a way and sometimes works on its own schedule)

thanks for the suggestions!

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: zosimov

Another great way to determine if seeds are viable and plant, is to germinate the seeds in moist paper towels. I admittedly learned this technique via the Internet and it has been a time and $$$ saver. I only plant the seeds that germinate.

To use this method, tear a paper towel in half and moisten one of the halves. Place seeds on half of the paper and fold the other half over the seeds. Blow open a clear, sandwich size zip-close bag. Place the paper with seeds inside and reseal the bag.

I remember this technique from school. I think I'll try germinating one this way to see if they're still viable.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Fun fact: You can look out of Walt's dormer window from his bed...and see the old train station and the coal hill...which was the basis for part of the original Disneyland layout. The old train circles the park...and the coal mountain silhouette, he saw as a kid, became the model for the Disneyland Matterhorn.

Can you imagine the things swirling through his head looking out those windows.
We all know he was a genius. I find it hilarious that his school principal said he would NEVER amount to anything.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: IAMTAT

Fun fact: You can look out of Walt's dormer window from his bed...and see the old train station and the coal hill...which was the basis for part of the original Disneyland layout. The old train circles the park...and the coal mountain silhouette, he saw as a kid, became the model for the Disneyland Matterhorn.

Can you imagine the things swirling through his head looking out those windows.
We all know he was a genius. I find it hilarious that his school principal said he would NEVER amount to anything.

Sorry...off topic.

Everything he achieved in later life...came from the mind of a boy on that little farm and farmhouse in Marceline, Mo.

a reply to: IAMTAT


Well at least from my perspective, no worries at all about slight meanderings from the topic-- I really enjoy the direction the discussion has taken.

In my mind, it all goes together very well.

a reply to: zosimov

I just germinated pepper seeds from 2014 Brazilian Starfish and Black Cobra , The problem I'm having is they grow around 6 inch's tall and just stop ... Trying to figure out how to un-stunt them .

a reply to: zosimov


just an informal FYI thing here...


this year I am using store bought seeds from 2 years ago at a Dollar Tree for 10 packs for $1...
green beans, peas, lettuce packs with around 30 seeds per pack... I am also planting Bell Peppers from saved seeds that were stored 3 years in my PC table drawer...

Annually I harvest the blue morning glory seeds , the red or white Crepe Myrtle seeds, the Moringa Bush seeds and germinate/sow a seed bed as needed & where needed with only the Moringa (a water purifier plant) Morning Glory vines--- the Crepe Myrtles seeds I store in empty pill containers

my watermelons reseed each year & I weed out many sprouts each year (5 years of harvesting ~12 melons per year)

my Japanese method of onion gardening entailed the dropping of 1 seed pack onions on a prepared bed of high energy mulch over 6 years ago and the onion patch looks like the Red Square skyline with Russian Domes seed pods a big as my fist ever sense (neighbors & friends help themselves to the Bounty from Nature) As with my half-dozen Muscadine Grapes grown from cuttings & now a 50' row of bird & people food...(the old Lab loved the grapes too)


Kansas melons (cantalope) Asparagus Fern seeds, Amaranth (various variety of seeds) I plant only a small patch of ~20 plants to insure I get different years of seeds to store away for some future need)


happy gardening OP/thread originator


see:

one seed head of the Amaranth plant is all that's needed to garden at least 1000 seed producers

a reply to: St Udio

Thanks for the well wishes, and especially for the very cool, informative post!

Love that picture

As an addition to the paper towel in a baggie method of sprouting seeds, you can soak them first.

Place the seeds in a small open container of water (if it's tap water let it sit uncovered in a container for two days first to remove any chlorine). Add just a few drops of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution to the water as it softens the shell. Leave them in the water for 18 to 24 hours and if they don't sprout so you can see the start of the root, then put them in a wet paper towel. When you can see the start of the root, plant root down in soil. You should have a 90% success rate if the seeds are viable.

Stored in a dark, cool place seeds can keep almost indefinitely in human terms. Make sure the packaging allows no light and store at under 50 to 60 degrees if possible. Root cellars are good for that if you have one and if you are growing your own food you should have one and they are easy to construct.

a reply to: Blaine91555

That is a great method especially for old seeds because the non-viable seeds float .

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory with desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain

There's a real simple procedure for figuring out if the seeds are viable or dead.

Dampen a paper towel, sprinkle seeds on it, fold over, and find warm spot to pre-germinate for a few days to a week. If you see the taproot, you're good. If not, it's a dud.
Depending on humidity levels in said spot, a plastic container/ziploc bag might also be in order (not sealed, either. leave it open at least halfway for ventilation or everything will mold)
Edit: Annnnd this is why you read the whole thread before commenting. Folks gave this advice on the second page, lol.

This is usually how I sprout seeds regardless of age, it weeds out the duds like a charm. I didn't this year, though, I'm gunning for cayenne and habanero hauls (hoping to make upwards of around 3 or more 750ml bottles of hot sauce for myself) and am sprouting seeds from plants I grew a few years ago. But instead of pre-germing, I went ahead and just stuck them right in the seedling pellets this time. Wrong choice on my part.

I should have stuck to the tried & true, habs can take upwards of a month+ to sprout naturally without the "helper" method, pre-germing for me can cut down the time by about half. Ugh. Lost myself a few weeks extra plant growth time this year.

a reply to: Nyiah


Should the wrapped seeds be placed in the sun for pre-germination?

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: Nyiah


Should the wrapped seeds be placed in the sun for pre-germination?

The opposite, in a dark cabinet.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Actually viable seeds float also. They eventually sink if you let them soak long enough.