{"id":7893,"date":"2010-11-22T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=7893"},"modified":"2011-04-11T11:52:24","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T15:52:24","slug":"tip-of-the-week-seed-viability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2010\/11\/tip-of-the-week\/tip-of-the-week-seed-viability\/","title":{"rendered":"Tip of the Week: Seed Viability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\nSonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. <\/span><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In my last blog I mentioned that conditions for proper seed storage<\/a> are basically the opposite of what seeds need to germinate. To grow they need moisture, warmth, and light; for storage they need cool temperatures, dry atmosphere, and darkness. Most seeds will last for about three years if stored properly\u2014often they last much longer.<\/p>\n

What should you do if you have some seeds that have been lying around for several years and you are not sure if they will germinate? There is a simple way to test a seed\u2019s viability before you prep your seed trays and waste your seed sowing medium on something that has little life left in it.<\/p>\n

Moisten a few paper towels with water. Place a dozen or so seeds spaced apart on the towel. Then either hold on to one of the edges of the paper towel and roll it up into a spiral, or place a few damp paper towels on top to create what looks like a seed-germination sandwich. Either way the seeds need to be encased on both sides by damp paper towels.<\/p>\n

Then place the towels in a plastic bag or plastic container and don\u2019t seal either all the way\u2014allow a small amount of air to get in. The idea is to create a moist chamber for germination while allowing for some air circulation.<\/p>\n

Leave the container in a warm spot (such as, perhaps, the top of your refrigerator) and check it every few days. If the paper towels start to look dry, remoisten them with a handheld pump sprayer. <\/p>\n

The seeds should take one to two weeks to germinate. Once they have germinated count your success rate. If less then 50% of the seeds have germinated, then they are probably not worth sowing. If 50% to 80% of the seeds have germinated, they are viable but you\u2019ll need to sow more thickly than you normally would. If the germination rate is higher than 85% sow as you normally would. <\/p>\n

I have a colleague who pre-germinates her pea seeds using the paper towel method in the spring. It helps her start them indoors a week or two early and gets things off to a fast start. You can do this with many of your vegetables, just make sure that the seeds are of a decent size, otherwise they can be hard to handle and are tricky to transplant once the small roots start to form. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most seeds will last for about three years if stored properly\u2014often they last much longer. There is a simple way to test a seed\u2019s viability before you prep your seed trays and waste your seed sowing medium on something that has little life left in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[394,976,974,154],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-23j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7893"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10340,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7893\/revisions\/10340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}