How Old is too old for saving seeds
 

Hello,
Sorry if this has been covered but I could not find it. I have been buying and using seeds of Pepper and Tomato plants for about 5 years now. I don't use very many seeds when I buy a packet because I only need a couple of plants. What I have been doing is using any seeds I have vs. buying a new package of something I want to grow again. A couple of times I've found that when I first get a packet of lets say a tomato seed I get the best results in terms of ease to germinate and overall good plant growth and crop. A couple of times I've tried older seeds and I have not had as good luck using the same package of seeds. I get germination but the plants fruit ends up not growing as well or tasting as good as my first try. I'm wondering if there is any time frame where I should buy new seeds even though I have a lot of seeds leftover. I hate to waste as they say and then think a seed is a seed and if it germinates then it must be good. Anyway is there any feedback on what people have found with their older seeds. I would save seeds every time I grow but I have a small garden with many things going on and I keep thinking the seeds I collect will not be pure or have some crosses.
Thanks for any help.

Ron:D

Each variety of seed has different survival durations. tomatoes, if kept dry (I store mine in my office in plastic snap cap vials) can last 10-15 years or more, with excellent germination for up to 8 years or more - with slight drop off after that. Peppers don't last nearly as long in my experience - dropping off significantly after 3-5 years. I don't have enough experience with eggplant to say for sure, but up to 6 or 7 years seem OK.

I have germinated 7 year old tomato seed with no problem but the plants seem weaker... ie. less vigorous... than fresher seeds.

LarryD

Just to comment on what Cottonpicker just said - I do find that much older seed doesn't quite jump out of the growing medium as fast and some can seem a bit less vigorous, but they do, following time and transplanting, catch up and are the equivalent of the plants from fresh seed - I grew Cherokee Purple and cherokee Chocolate from 11 year old seed last year and they were monster plants that produced perfectly.

Entirely possible. Mother Nature reigns supreme. All things are possible........
LarryD

I agree with Craig on the longevity of tomato seed viability. I've done a number of seed offers in the past, two at GW and two here, and with the two at GW I offered seeds that were up to 10-15 years old and asked for feedback and folks were amazed that the seeds could have such good viability.

However, I can offer fresh seed from 2007, ask for feedback and know that that percentage will range from zero, yes zero, to 100%. And that's b/c folks use different artificial mixes, use bottom heat or not, cook things by not ensuring air circulation, and on and on.

Also, when you buy seed you see a packed for date and that tells that the seed was packed for that year, but doesn't tell you when the seed was produced.

Most of the more reliable seed sources store their seeds properly and also do germination tests.

My personal best is germinating tomato seed that was 22 yo and the record is germination of tomato seed that was 50 yo.

I am going to do an interesting experiment this year - am going to seed a flat (50 cells) of varieties that I began my heirloom tomato growing habit, returning to seeds saved between 1986 and 1991 - the majority of which were saved in 1988 and 1989, so will get a good sampling of germination percentage on seed between 17 and 22 years. I am going to plant 20 or so seeds in each cell to give me a reasonable representation....let's see what happens!

I have asked that before also and it seems the answer I get is they freeze them.
Planted radishes this year and they were two years old and not one came up??? Waste of peat pots. :lol:

Craig, I'm looking forward to the results of that experiment. It should be very enlightening (one way, or the other!)

Hello

I will also be anxious to hear the results of this experiment.

I'm always amazed at how long tomato seeds can survive.

Thanks Craig

Neil(Canada)

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Here are the varieties I am going to start, with the age of the seed...this list may change once I start gathering the vials, since I may not have any seed left of some of these...but I have plenty of other old ones to substitute![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Persimmon [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]21[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Czech's Excellent Yellow [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]21[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Yellow Cherry [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]21[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Ruby Gold [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]21[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Pineapple [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]21[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sabre [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]20[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Glesener [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]20[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Valencia [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]20[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Yellow Brimmer [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]20[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Peron [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]20[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Georgia Streak [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Banana Legs [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Old Brooks [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Prudens Purple [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Wolford Wonder [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Tice's Yellow Better Boy [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Anna Russian [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sutton [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Hunt Family Favorite [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]German Garden Time [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Holy Land Yellow [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Viva [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Lillian's Red Kansas Paste [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Fritsche [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Golden Oxheart [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Firesteel [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Goldie [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Mortgage Lifter Pesta Strain [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]15[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Tappy's Finest [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]19[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Verna Orange [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Giant Syrian [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Burcham New Generation [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Madara [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Armenian [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Transparent [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Una Hartsock [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Syrian Globe [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Black Krim [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Magellan Burgess Yellow [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Belgiam [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Magellan Burgess Purple [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]18[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[SIZE=2][FONT=Arial]Black [/FONT][/SIZE][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Aztec [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]McClintock [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Marizol Gold [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Marizol Purple [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]German Queen [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Gogosha [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Alyx Little Sun [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Vermillion [/SIZE][/FONT][B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]17[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]

Dang !!!!!!

-Jimmy

I'll also be doing, or ask someone else to help, an interesting experiment.

Today someone was helping me go thru several large boxes of stuff to look for my greatgrandfather's discharge papers from the Civil War b'c my brother has been asking about them.

I found several packs of seed, all heirlooms, sent to me by Don Podolia, now deceased, who over the years had sent me some great ones. They appear to date from 1991-1993.

So wish me/someone some good luck with these.

Odd that I stumbled onto this thread... I was doing some 'de-cluttering' today, and found some 12 year old seeds of various types. No tomatoes, and the peppers spilled out, but I think there are some eggplant seeds in there.

See my post above for seed age and variety - the clock has started - seeds started today, February 22. Let's see how they do!