Old Seed Finally Bites me in the Buttocks

[Mtnboomer]

So I have always kept all my leftover seeds in the vegetable drawer of the fridge to be used the following season. Some have been around for over 3 yrs now. I throw them out (plant elsewhere outside the garden for chickens and wildlife) when germination drops below about 60%.

Well, the corn seed ive been keeping and using since 2018 went from 90% germination last year to 10% this year. Now im having to replant 3 weeks behind optimal planting dates. We also have had a very dry spring with boughts of cool damp weather, so other variables combined with the old seed has resulted in disaster.

I knew better and it was only a matter of time, but oh well. Maybe the replant will do well.

The rest of the garden is doing great!
Do yall keep leftover seeds? How? For how long? Successful?

 

[addctd2plnts]

I DO! I have hundreds of packets of seed with at least 5 varieties in every seed! Not all stay good for a long time but I have tomato seeds that are over 7 years old and over 70 varieties. My favorites to collect are tomatoes and melons from all over the world. I have 8 adopted children from Ukraine (3 adopted at 11-14 years old). They were so excited to go to the garden and find melons and tomatoes from their home country LOL My friends aren't as excited about 70 varieties of tomatoes, but I love seeing what I can grow in St. Louis, MO area.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I also keep old seeds. I have to admit to not storing in a cold space like the fridge.
I planted 10 year old tomato seeds last year. I expected low germination. I was wrong! I was giving plants to anyone that would take them.
This year bugs ate my bean seeds before they could sprout.
I have replanted in seed pots. I know, I know....beans don't transplant well. If 50% take I will be happy.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I DO! I have hundreds of packets of seed with at least 5 varieties in every seed! Not all stay good for a long time but I have tomato seeds that are over 7 years old and over 70 varieties. My favorites to collect are tomatoes and melons from all over the world. I have 8 adopted children from Ukraine (3 adopted at 11-14 years old). They were so excited to go to the garden and find melons and tomatoes from their home country LOL My friends aren't as excited about 70 varieties of tomatoes, but I love seeing what I can grow in St. Louis, MO area.

Wow! Thats awesome!

 

[Mtnboomer]

I also keep old seeds. I have to admit to not storing in a cold space like the fridge.
I planted 10 year old tomato seeds last year. I expected low germination. I was wrong! I was giving plants to anyone that would take them.
This year bugs ate my bean seeds before they could sprout.
I have replanted in seed pots. I know, I know....beans don't transplant well. If 50% take I will be happy.

When i can my tomatoes i always throw the skins, cores, and inevitably seeds over our deck railing (just outside the kitchen door) and into a small herb garden/chicken treat growing bed (all the stuff for us is protected behind fencing). Much to my delight, i get dozens of volunteer tomato plants each spring. I will transplant them around the house as part of my edible landscape plan. They never produce as heavy as their parents. I suspect thats mostly due to them being less disease resistant (blight seems to hit them 1st and hardest), but they definitely supplement the gardens production.

This year i have 1/2 doz volunteer squash or pumpkin growing in the garden. They are also welcomed as i did not plant any of those this season to make room for larger smounts of staple crops like beans and corn.

 

[21hens-incharge]

When i can my tomatoes i always throw the skins, cores, and inevitably seeds over our deck railing (just outside the kitchen door) and into a small herb garden/chicken treat growing bed (all the stuff for us is protected behind fencing). Much to my delight, i get dozens of volunteer tomato plants each spring. I will transplant them around the house as part of my edible landscape plan. They never produce as heavy as their parents. I suspect thats mostly due to them being less disease resistant (blight seems to hit them 1st and hardest), but they definitely supplement the gardens production.

This year i have 1/2 doz volunteer squash or pumpkin growing in the garden. They are also welcomed as i did not plant any of those this season to make room for larger smounts of staple crops like beans and corn.

That is wonderful the tossed seeds grow well enough to produce even if it's not at the same rate as the deliberately planted ones.

Here any volunteers are way to late in the year to produce.

My oldest and still viable seeds are some 12 year old pea seeds.
It is a random package that was in the bottom of the big box. I wet some paper towels, placed 10 peas in between layers then slid it all in a zippy bag (unsealed) and waited. I got a 70% sprout.

 

[Mtnboomer]

That is wonderful the tossed seeds grow well enough to produce even if it's not at the same rate as the deliberately planted ones.

Here any volunteers are way to late in the year to produce.

My oldest and still viable seeds are some 12 year old pea seeds.
It is a random package that was in the bottom of the big box. I wet some paper towels, placed 10 peas in between layers then slid it all in a zippy bag (unsealed) and waited. I got a 70% sprout.

i do something similar with apple seeds. When i make apple butter I use a variety of 2nd apples (apples usually picked off the ground or dropped during the primary harvest) and save seeds from each variety.
Then i place them between damp kayers of paper towels and place them in tbe vegetable drawer of my fridge for stratification. I get near 100% sprouts. Those are them rooted in leftover plant cups. Once they reach btw 12-18" tall they get planted for wildlife or given away.
When they fruit it will be edible but may not meet all the standards of the parant tree like you would get with propagation via cuttings but cheap and easy way to provide future food for wildlife.

 

[addctd2plnts]

I don't store mine in the fridge. I know a few gardeners store them in the freezer, but I'm afraid that condensation when using them would ruin the seeds. I store mine in clear plastic shoe boxes in a dark closet in basement. Basement is dehumidified and air conditioned. Only seeds that don't keep well are pelletized lettuce and carrot seeds. I still buy them because it's so much easier to plant something I can see at my age LOL Last year I read a study that said as little as 30 minutes of a seed packet in the sun, while planting, can kill seeds, so I'm careful to plant when sun isn't hot and keep packet in the shade. Love gardening, just wish Missouri heat and humidity didn't get to me so much. I want to be an anal German gardener, like my grandfather, but by July and August I'm not weeding. I've taken to using woven plastic mulch in the garden and burning holes in it with a tool from Johnny's Seeds.

What are everyone's favorite sources for seed?

 

[addctd2plnts]

When i can my tomatoes i always throw the skins, cores, and inevitably seeds over our deck railing (just outside the kitchen door) and into a small herb garden/chicken treat growing bed (all the stuff for us is protected behind fencing). Much to my delight, i get dozens of volunteer tomato plants each spring. I will transplant them around the house as part of my edible landscape plan. They never produce as heavy as their parents. I suspect thats mostly due to them being less disease resistant (blight seems to hit them 1st and hardest), but they definitely supplement the gardens production.

This year i have 1/2 doz volunteer squash or pumpkin growing in the garden. They are also welcomed as i did not plant any of those this season to make room for larger smounts of staple crops like beans and corn.

I have an heirloom tomato plant of clusters of little yellow grape tomatoes that comes back every year somewhere in our yard. It was a free packet of seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds about 20 years ago. The original packet was burned in a fire one night when I left my seed collection under our pavilion while planting our vegetable garden. We bought a farm and I made sure to bring over 6 of the random tomato plants that came up at the original house. Those little tomatoes are like CANDY they are so sweet! I always laugh because I'd watch the landscapers cutting grass, swerve by those huge tomato plants to grab a handful on each pass through the yard... I've looked for the name for years now but Baker Creek hasn't offered anything like it again. They are the one tomato I don't prune and each plant can get 6 ft around and 4 ft high. Swear there must be 50 lbs/plant of tomatoes!

 

[Mtnboomer]

Well, i replanted all my corn. Since it went in the ground we have had 4 straight days of downpours and no sun.
Can't win for losing.