Old seeds

[eyolf]

I'm using the Tapatalk App on my phone; search doesn't work. I'm pretty certain there are old threads about old seeds.

Long about 3/1, I searched through stashes of old seeds, and did some germination testing with nitrate soaks, plain water, weak bleach, and weak hydro peroxide, looking for any advantage.

If there is any, it's variety dependant as much as chemical. One variety from 2006 germinated in about a week in plain water, and almost none in bleach or H2O2 germinated as quickly as in weak nitrate solution.

After about 4 weeks, I stopped checking every day. After about 8 weeks, I stopped checking. I put the bags aside, thinking I'd check soon...and forgot until Tuesday.

To my surprise, two seedlings, white and anorexic, were hoping for a photon...after at least 11 weeks. Not expecting much, I gave them a chance in some potting mix...and see they are shucking their little hats today.

"Romance" is supposedly a European indeterminate high-solids home canner. Not especially interesting. And getting more than a couple of tomatoes to save seeds from may pose a challenge.

But seeds traded for in 2006, then abandoned, working so hard to survive...

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