Test Old Seeds for Viability
No matter how much I plan, I always end up with extra seed at the end of the season. But just because seed is a year or two old, doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad. Sometimes I just sow seed the and cross my fingers, hoping for germination, but lately I’ve taken to testing my more precious varieties for viability before I try my hand growing them in the garden.
Below you’ll find a little video of demonstrating how to test seeds for viability. The video was produced by Demand Media and is the first in a series of five that I filmed last year. I’ll be putting the others up over the next few weeks. Enjoy! And start testing those seeds! Spring will be here before we know it.
February 8, 2010
Great video, Willi! I’m looking forward to the others in the series. The picture of the sprouting seeds is BEAUTIFUL … spring is just around the corner! I’ve got some seeds saved for a couple years that need to be tested for viability. Thanks for the reminder, Sweetie.
February 8th, 2010 at 6:51 pmMammaw
Hi Willi,
How did you know what I was getting ready to do tomorrow? I just put up the shelf in my greenhouse to get ready for seed-starting!
February 8th, 2010 at 8:39 pmGREAT video Willi!
You are so adorable and you make me want to do exactly what you say!
So I am going to reform my wreck-out gardening practices and do germination tests on my ancient seed collection before I grumble about why nothing I planted from seed came up this year!
Wonderful, Doll!
February 10th, 2010 at 7:36 pmXOIvette
Germi´s last blog ..Scrap THIS! More Me…
Thanks for the nice words about the video. It was pretty fun to shoot it and I hope to do more this summer!
February 11th, 2010 at 10:59 amI love those vintage spoon plant tags. How creative! I would have never thought of something like that.
February 13th, 2010 at 9:45 amJJacobsen´s last undefined ..Response cached until Sun 14 @ 16:42 GMT (Refreshes in 24.00 Hours)
I didn’t know about this – THANK YOU!!
February 15th, 2010 at 9:18 pmI have a flower pot full of seed packets I was going to toss – now I can test them!!
Yahoo! 60% of Omphalodes linifolia after only 4 days from 2008 seed.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:24 pmYay, Grace! That is good news!
February 16th, 2010 at 8:54 amWhat a great video – I usually just dump the pack of seeds in the soil and wait it out – but your plan makes it look quite easy. thanks!
March 1st, 2010 at 8:40 pmStevie´s last blog ..Gold Canada Gold!