I hugely appreciate it when people let me know whether germination was OK or questionable.
Don't care if that's public or private. (I lived in NJ for years, so it ain't that easy to offend me.)
Jim said:
>> "I was thinking isn't that why names are added to seeds "
Maybe it can be said in public if people qualify it with: "Maybe it was only how I sowed them, but ... none came up."
Love the Results thread and want to contribute to it (after I retire, I guess.)
(I have many "bottom of the barrel" re-traded seeds without dates, just dusty packets that look like they should have Roman numerals instead of these new-fangled Arabic numbers! And some of those only have common names.
)
But having only one packet of something, old and re-traded, makes it seem unworthy of being entered into a seed list and then making people read it, until they get to the part "unknown age and storage conditions, at least five years old". So I don't list those.)
What I'm trending towards now is mostly NOT offering seed older than 3-4 years, especially if I have something similar, newer. When I offer packets more than 3-4 years old, I double the packets so that even germination as low as 50% will not be a big problem.
When I start seeds that old, I tend to start them indoors after an overnight soak in very dilute hydrogen peroxide. With old seeds, it seems worthwhile to start them in a "mini-flat" and then prick out what comes up. I have some "insert trays" with cells bigger than I use for plants anymore, like 32 cells per tray (4x8 rows). Those make OK "mini-flats" and take up very little room.
To me, a packet with 100+ seeds with low germination is almost as good as 25 seeds with high germination and vigor.
But I agree: many people only want fresh seeds. One lady told me that, if she's going to expend her space, time and energy, she's going to start with fresh seeds.
Me, I'm interested to see how old seeds come out!
