Waking up older seeds

[imp]

I've read several posters making allusions to waking up older seed or improving germination of older seeds by several methods.

Would anyone like to state how they do this?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by imp

I've read several posters making allusions to waking up older seed or improving germination of older seeds by several methods.

Would anyone like to state how they do this?

Yes me!
If you mean by older I wouldn't consider 5 years as old.
But any way.
A cup or two of water and a wee pinch (1/8) teaspoon of Miracle Grow or less.
Soak seeds till they sink in about 24 hours or less.
Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by imp

I've read several posters making allusions to waking up older seed or improving germination of older seeds by several methods.

Would anyone like to state how they do this?

Yes me!
If you mean by older I wouldn't consider 5 years as old.
But any way.
A cup or two of water and a pinch (1/8 to 1/16) teaspoon of Miracle Grow.
Soak seeds till they sink in about 24 hours or less.
Worth

[amideutch]

This is one of the better discussions on the subject.

Ami

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...g+up+old+seeds

[imp]

Thank you for all the answers and the good link!

[xtgold]

Soak the seeds in hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) instead of water.
The peroxide is an oxidizer.

[Aerial]

Fusion_Power's method for older beans..

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Waking up old bean seed is not very difficult. You need a cell tray or a bunch of cups that can be watered from the bottom. Fill the tray with good quality seed start mix like Promix BX or equivalent. Water thoroughly so the soil mix is completely damp to the point of dripping water. Include about 1/2 teaspoon of liquid fertilizer (miracle grow or equivalent) in the water, you MUST have some nitrogen in the soil to get a response from the seed. Push the seed one at a time just into the top of the seed start mix so the hilium is down and the seed coat is flush with the top of the soil. Put beans an avrerage of 1 inch apart in the mix. Get them too close and dead seed will grow fungi that kill any that try to germinate. Bean seed must not be covered up for this to work, old bean seed need direct light exposure to germinate. Put the trays in a warm location at 75 degrees for 3 days, then put them under bright lights continuously until germination.

Using this method, I've been able to wake up 4 varieties of beans over the years. One of them gave only 7 plants out of a pound or more of seed. Those 7 plants produced nearly 2 pounds of fresh seed.

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm thinking I would use humic acid in the initial soil drench.

[AlittleSalt]

Look at the old seeds and in a very loud voice - sing like Pink Floyd's misheard lyrics from Another Brick in the Wall - "You, yes you, I'm still waiting!"


I use the weak MG solution method. It worked on 9 year old pepper seeds.

[KC.Sun]

Was going to use weak MG, but tried weakened brew of earl grey. Soaked seeds 24 hrs. It worked on 12 yr old tomato seed.